Is it me or just the twerp in me, i like this but sometimes i wish Jason you would slow down a little and blues along slower with some fast riffs for effect rather than hit it hard from the start, like f#%k i really should shut up and say nothing but i just had to say it.
I know he can, just me being too critical when i should just be quiet, when your able to play fast i suspect its a tendancy that says just 'do it', but i am envious and hope it don't offend anybody.I brought his collection of cd's ages go from ebay and have great respect for his music.
I saw a recent video of Rick Beets playing the same tune (Minor Swing?) with Delta Don Andrew and others at a jam at that same fest. He played it straight, 2nd position I think, very smooth. I liked it better. I think I saw PT Gazell sitting in at that jam as well, he didn't play though, just watched.
There is no denying that Jason is a force of nature on the diatonic. He put in his time woodshedding and practicing, paid his dues and is still out there in the face of a lot of adversity.
Most play from their own personal "center". How and who they are is how they play.
Jason is most likely hyperactive internally in some way. Of course he can slow down when he wants to. It's just that most of the time he doesn't want to.
Lots of people enjoy this approach. Lots of other people prefer melodic line, mixture of slow and fast and less notes that say more.
There is enough room on this big ol' earth for everyone's likes and dislikes.
I'm glad Jason is out there - he inspires so many.
Myself, I prefer less notes saying more and gravitate away from Jason's approach and are drawn towards a Carlos del Junco, Todd Parrott, Paul deLay, Little Walter, etc. ---------- The Iceman
Complaining that Jason is playing 'Minor Swing' fast is like complaining that water is wet.
This is, of course, a tune intended for guitar, but I think it's ideal for diatonic harmonica. I like improvising over gypsy swing backing tracks because it helps me think in ways other than the standard i iv v progressions that make up typical blues structures. I don't claim to be playing Django's music or even his style; what I am saying is that it inspires me to try something different.
Jason's playing here is inspired and I think the thing that gets over looked here is that Mr.Ricci is playing jazz, not rock, nor fusion nor blues, but jazz. His phrasing is more legato than it normally is, he emphasises longer and deeper resonances when he overbends, and he contructs narrative continuity as he paraphrases previous ideas, morphing them as he goes. This is more the case of spontaneous composition in a swing format. This is strong, melodic playing, albeit at a rapid pace.
---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com
Last Edited by on Aug 31, 2012 3:15 PM
I was standing right in front of Jason when he and Zach played Minor Swing, one of my favorite minor tunes to play. I was excited to hear how he would do it.
Hey, nice pic! Now, do you see on his forearm who's going along with him? His skills are a godsend! Well, kidding, but did you listen in the first Tmf714's vid to the Barrett & Sleigh's shuffle? For other reasons, it's worth it as well!
Last Edited by on Aug 31, 2012 5:54 PM
I shot that minor swing group effort at SPAH 09 - the morning after "ultimate harp jam" - I was about to post it - and noticed tmf beat me to it. ----------
As Jason said, Gypsy Jazz is characterised by a pretty constant flow of notes, so I think it's missing the point to criticise him for that.
I think Jason has more than enough technique to play this music but (if I may make a friendly constructive suggestion :-) would benefit from studying chord harmony. It's actually a lot of fun, and a great challenge. I would love to hear the results of that!
That's where Howard Levy is so far advanced: he really knows the chord language of jazz, and can freely choose to play inside the changes or sometimes outside, for deliberate tension & release.
Minor Swing is easy enough to busk on a minor scale, but a lot of Gypsy Jazz (essentially swing jazz with guitars) modulates constantly between changing key centres. That requires a bit of harmonic understanding as well as fabulous chops.
If you want to hear a diatonic player who plays the style very well, check out Mariano Massolo of Argentina:
Sandy Weltman is also playing some nice diatonic in the genre:
You can hear how Sandy's licks tracks the chord changes with appropriate shifts of scale notes. The soulful sound of the diatonic can fit sweetly into Gypsy Jazz, similar but different to the violin and clarinet.
Last Edited by on Sep 01, 2012 1:41 AM
Yup, Power is right, if you are gonna swing like a gypsy, you've got to play the changes. Otherwise, it's just quacking like a duck. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
First, I love Jason's playing, he's a master of the harmonica, and does some incredible stuff.
When I first heard Jason play, I was reminded of what Eric Clapton said when he first heard Stevie Ray Vaughn play. Eric said that most musicians pause for a fraction of a second and figure out where they are going next. SRV didn't do that, and it blew Eric away. I was talking to Joe Filisko once about this, and he agreed. He said that if I told the Clapton story first, he would have thought of Jason's playing.
Jason is a lot like SRV in that respect. Also, Jason doesn't just get his influence from the blues. Heck, the guy plays show tunes in his set list. That fact alone would get him some detractors from the blues purists.
That being said, going to see one of Jason's shows is exhausting for me. The band never takes a break: you get close to 3 hours of music. And its not just "music", its music that demands your attention and concentration! Jason pulls you into a groove, and instead of riding that groove out for 5 minutes, he switches gears, increasing and decreasing the intensity. When you expect him to zig, he zags. Its kind of like the remark from the movie Amadeus. "The Royal ear can only take 5 minutes of that: you gave him an hour."
Jason's music is great, but its demanding. I can't just listen to it casually. It draw me in, and makes me think and listen like no other artist I can think of. I think that's why Jason's music has its foes; they just don't want to work that hard at listening ALL THE TIME.
Jason is also a Master at breaking the rules that are in the music books at will and he creates phrasings and rhythmic grooves and musical ideas that the guys that Brendan mentioned would probably have a difficult time steppin into his territory, because Jason has an extremely strong Blues Bone running through the core of his being which I believe attributes to his utter uniqueness when he delves into other styles of music.
BTW ...Mariano Massolo has absolutely MASSIVE talent and chops and it is a blast to hear him play harmonica!!!
Last Edited by on Sep 01, 2012 2:47 PM
To help clarify, the "less is more" was not directed towards Gypsy Jazz. Obviously, Gypsy Jazz is a lot of notes at usually a pretty fast tempo.
I agree with Brendan regarding studying and understanding chordal harmony = getting inside the changes. This is why I enjoy Sandy Weltman's approach to Gypsy Jazz more than Jason's.
My impression is that Jason is more of a street smart player rather than a musically educated one.
The "less is more" was my own personal preference towards all improvised music - especially harmonica - taking into consideration the genre, of course.
For Gypsy Jazz, more is more is ok, as long as it is connected to a full understanding of the musical harmony and chord changes.
What has always intrigued me about Jason's musical endeavours has been his ability to use his expertise in musical harmony and chord changes and really take advantage of using them in some of the most incredible ways musically imaginable.
I think Frank's take on this, especially his comment just before his most recent comment (although I agree with that one, too), is exactly right. The blues bone comment.
I see Jason as essentially a blues guy stepping four-square into gypsy jazz here, but doing so trailing clouds of blues-knowledge, a blues approach. Blues reflexes. The Mariano Massolo clip is indeed remarkable, and it does indeed bespeak a specific harmonic knowledge that Jason MAY not possess in quite the same way. But what I like is precisely the fact that Jason isn't playing straight ahead gypsy jazz. He's giving it his own spin. It's the blues way, frankly, to downshift jazz changes towards the blues. I do this all the time as a one-man band; without anybody laying down changes behind me, I've always got to decide how much harmony I want to be beholden to--or enslaved to. Do I want to hew strongly to the IV chord when its time comes up? The Mississippi way is actually to let the harmony go sometimes. To stick with the groove, to focus on "worrying" the melody, working a series of progressive small changes on melodic motifs while letting the harmony fall away.
Big Walter Horton did this. He was far less sophisticated than Jason when it comes to harmonic knowledge. And he poached on jazz, songs like "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." Yet I don't sense that most people--or at least blues fans--miss whatever it is that he lacked.
I like what Jason's doing in the clip.
Last Edited by on Sep 01, 2012 6:31 PM
Don't get me wrong Adam: I LOVE Jason's playing, and have often said so.
To me, he's up there with the true greats, the guys who created new styles that thousands wanted to copy: Sonny Terry, Little Walter, Rice Miller, Charlie McCoy, Toots Thielemans, Stevie Wonder, Howard Levy - to name some that quickly come to mind.
One of the things about great players is that they are always searching and developing. Jason may not be drawn in that direction, but it would be fascinating to hear his fabulous sound and awesome technique mixed with some jazz chord knowledge. Knowing him, it would touch both the heart and mind in a very exciting way.
@Brendan "Jason may not be drawn in that direction, but it would be fascinating to hear his fabulous sound and awesome technique mixed with some jazz chord knowledge. Knowing him, it would touch both the heart and mind in a very exciting way."
Bingo! My point, exactly. (although, I still prefer great taste, less filling). ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2012 7:17 AM
I respect musicians who go beyond their comfort zones and mix their styles with genres they wouldn't normally play, but I think the results are most interesting and brilliant when an accomplished musician retains their distinctive voice while accommodating melodies, chords and tonalities of a new style. I am thinking here of Coltrane's collaboration with Duke Ellington--Trane did modify his normally brisk pacing for a session with the greatest Jazz composer, but nonetheless kept the hard , nearly grating edge of his tone and the quick, register jumping insertions between the graduated changes on Duke's majestically rich chord work. This is to say that Coltrane approached Johnny Hodges' domain without trying to become Johnny Hodges. Likewise, what Jason does here is bring his personality to this performance--I think it pointless for anyone to try to duplicate Django's fleet lines perfectly. The point is that a musician of confidence and sure ability needs to own the song they are going to perform, to make it distinct with the resources they have both learned and created. That makes it art--this not a channeling of the genius of a bygone era but instead a means of making this music relevant, vital and exciting. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com
I like your comments - very intelligent observation.
Coltrane is one artist that doesn't move me much when he does sheets of sound (although I do understand that he set a new direction in music), but I do enjoy his playing as you've outlined in your posting.
Jason's latest post on Facebook "I love cats so much I even like the way their breath smells almost all the time, and yes, sometimes I play too many notes, and I dont always understand the total harmonic possibilities of every chord I hear and I make lots of other mistakes too even worse than those that people like to talk about an lot. But cat's breath smells good if you love them and Im doing great everyone. Take That!"
Just enjoy what this master does instead of looking for flaws.
I'm not reading "mistakes" or "flaws" in any of the comments. Just an intelligent discussion about music, influences (street, jazz harmony, music theory) and how different people approach music from different perspectives.
Likes and dislikes are totally subjective to the individual. Disagreements should be civil and respectful without trying to change these views by insistence of one reality being better than another.
For instance, I started as a "street smart" musician and then put myself through a college music program (not to graduate w/degree, but to broaden my understanding of something that I've loved deeply since birth) to help in my evolution. Therefore, when I listen and am moved, it is from this perspective.
Over the years, I've been able to increase my listening comprehension speed to where I "see" the notes flying by at a fast velocity and see how they relate to each other and how they arc over chords and chord changes in real time. I also "catalog" an artists' evolution of musical ideas and love to hear influences working within a performer.
It is obvious to my ears when an artist memorizes another ones ideas (licks, riffs, etc) and plays them note for note, even when done at faster velocities than the original. (This happens by hearing the first few notes of an idea and then accurately predicting the direction and note choices forward).
I am turned on when I start to hear an artist use this as a stepping off point, taking the musical line in a fresh direction and eventually creating their own unique musical lexicon. Here is where the magic happens for me.
As I grew older, I found that what excites me is less notes played with deeper emotional impact when hearing them.
When I was younger, I enjoyed the pure adrenalin rush of speed.
I see this as a natural evolution over time.
Those of us lucky enough to have survived this life for many years derive the benefit of putting things into a longer perspective with decades of personal experience to draw upon.
---------- The "Old Curmudgeon" Iceman
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2012 9:26 AM
I really like Jason's version of Minor Swing, but I don't know anything about jazz harmony. Thanks for turning me on to Mariano Massolo. He has some great music up on Spotify. Also, I really dig the clarinet player with him. I've never been particularly interested in clarinet, but he sounds wonderful.
At the risk of hijacking this thread, I'll say that I've been having a great time over the past six months taking my first real steps on the chromatic. I'd had a chromatic many years ago; in fact, at one point, inspired by William Clarke's "Blowin' Like Hell," I bought four 14 hole chromatics in the keys of A, Bb, C, and D. I gave them all away--to Jason, as it turns out. The one remaining chromatic has languished in the bottom of my kid's toy box. I just didn't care.
But when I made the move to becoming a one-man band, and to playing gigs in that format, I realized that I would have to expand the range of sounds that I put out. So I asked on this forum for suggestions, and I ended up getting a Super 64 Chromonica.
If I spent any time worrying, as I commenced my romance with the instrument, about where I stood vis a vis competency, or vis a vis the best players in the world, I would have quit right there. But the truth is, I fell in love with the sound, and I realized that I had just enough musical knowledge points--from past noodling, from all the work I've done with overblows on diatonic harps--to have some fun.
That's where it begins and ends for me. Do I enjoy picking up the instrument and playing it? Do I enjoy the challenge of picking out melodies on the new instrument and then doing the hard repetitive practice that it takes to groove them, to make them feel natural and expressive? Do I enjoy the challenge of being challenged--the challenge of realizing that I'm still on the lower rungs of the ladder? And, importantly, do I care where I rank relative to the pros who have been playing chromatic for many years--the Rick Estrins, Rod Piazza, and Dennis Gruenlings of the world?
(to be continued.....)
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2012 1:21 PM
The answer to all of those questions except the last is Yes. The answer to the last question is No. Just picking up the instrument, playing the same set of melodies day after day, enjoying the sounds, working on improving a couple of small things day after day, then pulling the thing out on a gig and playing a couple of songs that I couldn't have played a year ago: that's where the big satisfaction is. It's MY satisfaction. It's a selfish pleasure, finally. It what musicians, with luck, figure out how to do in order to satisfy their own souls.
What other people say about my playing is entirely extraneous to all that.
And I know that this sort of pleasure--having fun, slowly improving, then turning around one day to realize that you're doing something you couldn't do a year ago--is THE great pleasure for many beginning and intermediate players.
It's a mistake to think that more advanced players, even guys like Jason, don't take this pleasure. They do. If they don't--well, then they're just playing the same stuff they've always played. I've been there, too. That's why it's fun to pick up the chromatic and start growing again.
Key advisory to all players: never make the mistake of confusing intrinsic with extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are, for the purposes of this particular conversation, everybody telling you that you're playing fantastic stuff. The moment you please everybody all the time, you're Coke. You've either lost your edge or you're churning out some familiar (albeit high-quality) product or you're a "legend" and people gain cool-points if they say they like you and have always liked you or you're adapting, corraling, your playing in some way so as to achieve universal praise.
Or else you're Little Walter, you're a radical innovator who has been dead and gone for a good long while, and everybody has finally come up to speed about your aesthetic achievement. You're "safe" now. You're an Acknowledged Genius. Beethoven. The Beatles, now.
At the risk of repeating myself, I'll note once again that Charlie Parker was savaged by the jazz critics of his time, many of them, for playing too many notes and having a thin tone. Now he's an acknowledged genius. He was just ahead of the curve. I think about this--the way in which taste is historically conditioned and contingent--every time I hear somebody say that Jason plays too many notes. What is too many notes? What is too fast? Some people mocked Chuck Berry because he sang songs about high school. What a falling off from "real" blues! Oh, that's right: he was inventing rock 'n roll. Blues purists dismissed B. B. King in the early 1960s because he songs were all about failed love, rather than having the broad range of "poetic" themes that, some insisted, characterized the great country blues tradition. B.B. was the purveyor of a "degraded" blues tradition--too loud, too flashy--for urban negroes. Music critics actually talked like that. B.B. just kept on playing the music he wanted to play.
YouTube has allowed an extraordinary amount of sharing, but creative musicians need to be wary of the medium, and I have slowly become wary of the medium. Almost every professional vocalist has a vocal coach, but few professional vocalists, I'd bet, think that the unsolicited input of a hundred or a thousand vocal coaches, of wildly varying degrees of competence and experience, is the optimal recipe for improvement. Yet that's the YT model. I'd urge everybody here, of whatever level, to be wary of it. This doesn't mean that we can't help each other with the help of constructive feedback here, especially if it's solicited.
In this case, it's quite evident, Jason wasn't soliciting feedback, since he didn't post the video. He was sharing something with an audience. Performers sometimes workshop things in front of audiences--try out things they're working on, things they might record one day, or just something that's caught their fancy. Something "in process."
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2012 1:18 PM
Adam you made me cry again this time with your words. You will always be one of my top 3 influences and heroes. To hear/read you write these things humbles me. Thank you. I would like to add we need more Ice Man Vids, Meow!
@MEOW : Wish I had some vids...only ones are those taken by others over the years at jam camps, augusta heritage, or other gatherings.
Two years ago I played w/Savannah's premier blues band The Bluesonics for 3 months - got hired after sitting in on harmonica with them at Augie's in Richmond Hill, but no one videod these gigs.. Eventually lost the gig because I got too musically creative - freaked them out - couldn't help myself.
Since moving to GA 3 years ago, there is no music scene in this small coastal area - local musicians are either southern rock or karaoke back up w/guitar singer.
Been in semi retirement musically except for teaching harmonica/piano/improv and stage presence to students. I am an hour from any major city, so the students are few and far between.
Focusing all my creativity in developing gourmet foods. Use the same approach I did to music, only translated it to understanding tongue receptors, where they are and how they function as well as learning spices, herbs and how they affect the tongue. This along with a preconceived idea of how I want a food to dazzle the mouth has lead me to some measure of success. (My Gourmet Olive Tapenade won the prestigious Flavor of Georgia Gourmet Food Competition in Atlanta in 2010).
Gourmet food industry is a blast.
Sorry I don't have anything to post - current recordings or vids.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program of all things harmonica.
---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2012 3:39 PM
WOW! Holy shit! Are fucking kidding me! Jason that was very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The beginning was rough! And you know it was!! After that it was sweet! Parts of it wren't perfect because of your hand movement, but other parts were text book perfect! Like Frank said you could feel it! An overblow player than can play out of both corners tongue blocking! SWEET! Jason Ricci is the Modern Day Larry Adler! My momma told me if you don't have nothin nice to say then just don't say nothin!
I just watched that again and am floored by Jasons TONE, it is just friggin dripping with the pure fatness of two fisted TONE...Those octaves he slams into at minutes 1:33 are gigantic!
You guys are dead on about the octaves and tongue blocking. If you're not going to take advantage of what makes the harmonica unique, you may as well play clarinet.
Maybe Mariano Massolo and Sandy Weltman are better at jazz theory, but Jason does this song better as a harmonica piece by doing more chords, double-stops, and octaves. The way Mariano does it sounds wonderful, but his clarinet player comes very close to making him superfluous.
I think Jason did a great take on the song. Jason opened our ears and for some their souls. Brendan just suggests we also open our minds. Jazz players have been playing Jazz over Blues progression ever since Jazz was born. Couldn’t one approach to blues be to play blues over other progressions, be they older or newer?
As Adam points out a lot of times blues does not really follow the melody and that is one of its signatures. Jason showed that that signature can work here. However, there are other times when the blues is spot on with the changes.
I think Brendan just did on this forum what most great musicians do in their head…acknowledged that what they heard was cool and then asked “What if?”
Here are some great players that respect each other and whose talent is respected by much of the music community showing how music evolves.
So, who is the player that is going to take gypsy jazz and put the definitive blues stamp on it by mixing the ingredients of both styles and giving everyone something that is true to both but is neither?
