All the cool threads about "Who's that?" and Unique styles got me thinking....Those of you that have heard this before will know whats up. Those that haven't brace yourselves. This is Magic Dave (Colorado Springs). Pretty sure it's in 5th position but never even wanted to try it, no need it's perfect. Its an amazing and brilliant pass at an original penned by the man himself for his wife. The phrasing is clean, relaxed and natural to the west coast Jazz genre he's blazing through. It's as fluent as I have ever heard any instrument play. Their are no struggles, no lapses, just pure unadulterated real deal soulful Jazz chops start to finish. I have never been able to find any other music like this even from Dave himself. He is very shy, eccentric and reclusive as I have been told. I hear he is mostly a political activist of sorts now and his car is covered with old harps glued to it so when he drives around its a constant harmonica cacophony. The other recordings of his I got from his friends in CO Springs...Their blues recordings and although very good hint of nothing like what you will now marvel at below! A true enigma. There have been many past Harp L threads debating,interpreting and attempting to "solve" all the enigmatic puzzles that surround Magic Dave and his anthem "The Deb", surely they will start again here. I have always so wanted a great jazz diatonic player to play amplified well and natural and Dave really, really does it here. Anyone dissing this tune will feel the wrath of Lunar Felines everywhere so hate at your own risk and Long Live Magic Dave's "THE DEB"! GET READY!!!
I have found Magic Dave fascinating. He used to be very active on Harp-L back in the mid to late 1990's. I'm the one who produced "Harp-L IV: The H-Files" and I was amazed at the quality of his playing when he submitted those songs. Also somewhere on that compilation was a song called "You've Got A Lover" that was done by some folk artist and Dave played absolutely beautiful acoustic harmonica on it.
I only saw Dave play once, when I was going to school in Connecticut. He played at the Hungry Tiger's blues jam and blew me away with his phrasing... I never heard harmonica sound like a clarinet before. But he did it, effortlessly. I've never forgot that jam and Dave's playing.
Back when Dave kind of disappeared from the harmonica world, a few people who knew him hinted that his life had some great tragedy in it, which I took to mean major illness or marital troubles or unemployment or whatnot. He spent a lot of time writing posts on Harp-L and was incredibly nice about helping others. I'd bet a lot of the Harp-L folks will say that the list has missed his contributions dearly.
I have always enjoyed LA Jones and look forward when he comes to CT to play. I remember seeing him many years ago playing for the Roomful of Blues when they were looking to replace Ronnie Earl hen he left the band. The man just smokes on the Albert King /Otis Rush material. SHC is ok, but it is throw away material for these guys. But I digress. The Ab/C/5th position song is just awesome, some lyrical in its approach, I thought Dexter Gordon and Art Blakey was going to start swapping 8's with the harp. It reminded of me of those "Bethlehem/Blue Note records. Thanks for sharing, excellent stuff. But then again, I do like stuff that elevates harp to a real instrument.
That is some freakin' amazing harp playing. Pure and simple. Wish I liked that kind of jazz more. I don't. But I can hear the obvious mastery. ---------- ---------- /Greg
I'm not hearing a special tuning. Every note fits 5th position and the standard bends it can produce. He even finds a way to use Draw 5 (flat 2nd degree of the scale) and make it fit. And no overbends, either.
A very knowledgeable cat who knows harmony and scales, knows the harmonica inside out, and knows how to groove - on a standard-tuned, unvalved 20-reed diatonic harmonica. ---------- Winslow
Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on May 06, 2013 7:40 AM
I'm on board with you that it doesn't sound like a special tuning.
However, I disagree about the "no overbends". He's most definitely overblowing on hole 6. I hear it right between the 1:00 and 1:02 mark... sounds like 6 blow, 6 draw to 6 overblow. He's definitely squeezing every positive thing out of this harp.
Again, no harps in front of me now. This piece is way cool and I don't wish to diminish it in any way. This guy is light years ahead of anything I could come up with.
I believe the expression is "Day-Yum"... LOL! Yeah, I forgot just how hot that recording was. Whew! Dave's a monster, no doubt. I really dig that trombone sound he was getting.
FYI, some years ago I asked Magic Dave about that recording and he told me he was playing in 5th position on a standard Richter-tuned Marine Band (tweaked for OBs), but I forget what key harp he used. I tried to learn the head and got as far as the first four bars. LOL!
That song made me see the value of learning positions in a big way.
Many many thanks to fjm and Gary H. for following up and getting this great tune out to the "L" again. What a great community!
Harpin' in Colorado, --Ken M.
--- Michael Peloquin wrote:
> damn! excuse me, I mean DAMN! > > OB's yes > Just intonation, I don't thinks so > > but who asked me?! > > > Michael Peloquin > http://tinyurl.com/5tpjg > http://www.harpsax.com >
Cliffy THANK YOU so much for compiling this and some missing info. I also love the continued enigmatic debate over this tune. At the 77 club (secret Nashville Harp club) we ( secret super stars of the instrument) use to debate this song frequently, it was indeed our "Juke". For my money I agree with Winslow it is not a special tuned harp at all and I think Dan might be right on the 6 OB thing...But I dont care, how COOL is the amplification and use of NO vibrato for feel!!! Just amazing! And Like Rbeetsme said about the second video...Strange! Cliffy you should post ANY other Magic Dave material that sounds remotely like this or is even in the same genre. I love you guys.
Last Edited by Moon Cat on May 06, 2013 9:49 AM
@ridge - Dan, there are no OBs where you say there are. At 1:01 he does use Draw 5, which sounds strange (it's the flat 2 in the scale, and a moment later he plays a 6 Draw bend (major 3rd of the scale in a minor tune) which also sound both bent and weird. But no OBs. I think it's that slightly pinched-sounding 6 draw bend that you're taking for an overblow.
Sussing out what you're hearing can be confusing because 5th position is the relative minor of 2nd position so it's easy to be thinking 2nd and then deducing the wrong scale degrees and/or actions.
Here's what he's playing during the time under discussion (A-flat harp):
5B 5D 5B 4B
5D 6B b6B 5D <--- (there's the note in question)
4D 5B 5D 4D
3D 4B 4D 3D
2D 3D 4D 5B 4D
etc. ---------- Winslow
Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on May 06, 2013 10:45 AM
Not only is the playing great (and I´ve listened to this many many times over the years like quite a few others) but the sound has this slightly muffled ("jazzy") quality that I like a whole lot.
Okay, I won't beat this into the ground so I'll leave it at this.
Winslow, thanks for taking the time to lay out what you heard and backing it with theory. And taking it a step further to explain why in context certain notes are getting that flavor of seeming to be an overblow. I don't understand it completely, but I think I see what you're getting at.
Now that I'm home and can sit here and mash the repeat button with my Ab in hand I'm here shaking my head asking myself how he could not be hitting any overblows. I feel like the 5OB and 6OB work perfectly in here. So it seems I am putting a square block into a round hole: it may fit, but it's not right.
Well, there's no reason you shouldn't use overblows in your version of the tune, but every time I think I hear Dave use one and back up to check, it's just a standard bent-down note. ---------- Winslow
My ears heard what I perceived as an OB just as ridge first suggested. However, after checking it w/harmonica in hand, it is as Winslow described...a 6 hole inhale bend.
This is a one of a kind harmonica solo. Nothing like it have I heard since. ---------- The Iceman
Thanks for bringing this back, Jason - I've heard this several times and discussed it with G. Brooks and Michalek back when it first popped up. I've always suspected it was extensively worked out and well rehearsed, though I don't know that for sure. That is not meant to demean the performance- it sounds pretty relaxed and it is an amazing demonstration of what is possible on our instrument.
What I love about this is: 1) clarity of articulations, 2) the bullseye accuracy of pitch, 3) the placement of every note in the groove and 4) the lack of harmonic clinkers that are tied to the layout of the harp.
I'm too new to get the tech or even 5th pos but my ears connect well enough to my heart to float me down stream when listening to this. Absolutely mesmorizingly beautiful.
@ Mooncat: I'll see if I can upload the acoustic song. The folk artist is named (I think) J.H. Blumert. I'd love to see if you guys can figure out what position Dave's playing as well.
The Harp-L IV compilation was a lot of fun to do. It was the first time I heard a lot of really unique harp playing that didn't fit the standard bar-band formula. Clint Hoover had two pieces on the 3-disc set (he didn't know that Chris Michalek had submitted them for him, insisting the world needed to know about Clint Hoover). Clint was initially mad that his work had been used and I felt awful... Chris never made it clear that Clint was not aware of the submissions. Ken Deifik had a really cool piece on the compilation, there were harmonica trios and quartets, what a lot of fun it was. I made the mistake of burning all the CDs on my home computer rather than paying a place to duplicate them, and the quality of the finished CD's is spotty, which annoys me to no end.
@everybody.... is anyone out there in touch with Magic Dave? Does anyone have a real good idea of why we "lost" him from the harmonica community? Not to be macabre or to dwell on someone's troubles or life choices, but he was a very generous guy with information and advice and it was sad to see him sign off.
It's the tone, phrasing and effortless swing that makes Dave's solo sing! (We always gravitate to focusing on which notes are played, whether or not he used OBs etc.)
It's hard to find any current info on Dave or his whereabouts. He stopped posting on HarpL for personal reasons around the same time he apparently lost his job but all this was years ago.
Looking at some past Harp L posts filled in some of Dave's background and is interesting and he was clearly highly regarded and liked in the Harp L community.
On 9/11/08, hashbb@xxxxxxx wrote: Nice to see all these posts about my friend Dave. Richard's time line of when Dave started playing harp is correct, and he did not know magic Dick back then, that would come later. He first started playing with the Derek James Band fron the Hartford, CT area, Dave is from Rockville, CT. Alot of folks don't know that Dave was a very accomplished trombone player, with a college schollarship that decided not to use. When Dave started playing harp he would practice 8-10 hours a day. Many times I saw him practice from sun up to sundown trying to perfect something in his playing. He has a true mathematical brain and a very adept knowledge of chord construction and musical realtionships, not your typical harp player. I remember when he recorded 'The Deb', at the time it didn't have a name. I remember the guitarist's name was 'Frock'(last name Frockton). I just tried calling Dave to ask > him about that recording, got his voice mail. Anyway, nice to see him > mentioned. > HB *********************************** just chiming in on the Magic of Magic Dave. . . Jan 2006 I remember talking to him on the phone about this awesomely played tune of his. the recording was circa 1981 (maybe 1980?), and I remember him telling me no OB¹s, used an Ab-harp, I recall him saying ? in honor of his wife, Deb. he told me he was a trombonist and he certainly captures the phrasing, tonality, and articulations of a trombone with our favorite little toy. and....no clams at all.....
Magic Dave opened my eyes and ears to many things. I remember there was a nicely heated pucker vs. TB debate on the L, and Dave made the claim that he could do anything using TB that anyone could do puckering. I was doubtful (in particular certain ³phonetic² articulations). Dave politely and patiently proved me wrong.
one of the more fascination lessons he gave me was how to create a Leslie speaker sound in TB-position. I can sort of do it as a parlor trick, but Dave could can do it magically....
a humorous and active poster of high-quality, I really miss his participation. (Dave: come back!).
Moon Cat, thanks for posting this. Every couple of years it gets mentioned; it's good to see a fresh discussion of it. I have been working on transcribing this tune, and trying to play it, on and off for the last few months. If I get somewhere with it, I will post the results... but it's gonna be awhile. I'm just in awe of each snippet that I replay over and over with my slower-downer software. What a brilliant piece of music!
@BlueDoc In staff or tab? I retuned a harp for this tune and started to learn it, but there is no gig associated, so it got abandoned. I realize the artist played it on a "normal" harp, but as we all agree, he is a very skilled player.
I have the "The H Files" CD's... love having them on my iPod so that I can re-visit the songs without pulling out the CD's.
I must say, that "The Deb" is one of those songs that I have learned to really like over the years... I must be getting better musically, appreciating this song so much more than when I first listened to it.
Magic Dave's song "You've Got a Lover" was a favorite from the beginning, but only because I loved the song "You've Got a Lover" by Shake Russell, and have been a long time fan of Shake Russell since the late 70's.
did someone say sublime? i'm floored. one of my problems w/ 'jazz harp' is it rarely sounds right. this sounds idiomatically correct and not like a dancing bear. you know, " well he's playing jazz, it's on a harmonica but it's still a harmonica". he makes the harp sound perfectly at home in this genre. absolutely perfectly at home. like paul desmond is perfectly at home, or dave sanborn, or stan getz, or dexter gordon etc. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by MP on May 08, 2013 12:13 PM
According to Hash,it WAS custom tuning used-a post from harp-l Sept. 2008 in answer to: speaking of Magic Dave and back to the recent thread on 5th position... there was a recording of Dave doing 'The Deb.' Wasn't that, after some harp-l analysis, determined to be a fine example of fifth position playing? Is that recording still out there? smoking number.
That was a custom tuning job. Dave has always been tweaking tunings, doing ti for years. He had been colaborating with Magic Dick and Pierre Bouregard(cambridge harmonica orchestra) on some tunings. Sadly, he is not really playing right now. HB
Last Edited by tmf714 on May 08, 2013 12:46 PM
@iceman I think it is an altered tuning. It sure is cool! I sat down with an Ab and noodled along--lots of draw bends but no extended techniques. Dave is really good at draw bends! As far as alterations, hole 9 draw is tuned sharp (D), and 10 blow is tuned flat (G), but all that stuff on the bottom is just a bunch of controlled bends--and how about that trombone sound?
@Gnarly -- I'm transcribing first in staff, because it seems easier at first to use a keyboard to figure out what notes he's hitting. But then I'll do a tab from that. I'm new at transcribing, so the process is taking a long time.
What's the point of tuning Draw 9 sharp when you can just bend Blow 9? Dave does this very cleanly - he doesn't swoop into it; his pitch and articulation are very precise. That may lead some to conclude that he's using a special tuning, but if you actually slow it down you can hear the bent tonal color.
I haven't transcribed all 11 verses of this 12-bar tune, but every time somebody points out something that they take for an overbend or a special tuning, close examination proves otherwise. ---------- Winslow
I'll just chime in with my own big Wow! Thanks, Jason, for posting this. I believe I'd heard it once before--a French player played the recording for me and I assumed, wrongly, that Dave was French because of his last name. I seem to recall being told that Dave was playing a diminished harp. To find out that he's doing all that on a stock harp is mind-blowing. I'll agree with every word of Jason's characterization. It's effortless brilliance. I'm not surprised to find out that there's a jazz trombone player behind it. Awesome stuff. The arguments about position, OBs, etc., are fun, but I hope they don't distract from the Wow! factor, which should remain front and center.
Most people play their instrument from a "what it can do" frame of mind. Guitar players don't like playing in Eb and sax players have their keys of dread. I think B is a nightmare key for the chromatic (correct me if I'm wrong). With the diatonic harmonica and the range of available keys, the temptation is to approach music in the most familiar way in which it's played, so a Joe Blow harp player would pick up a harp and play in second or thirds. Maybe, he'll thrown in some overblows and bends, but the net result is that it will sound like a harmonica. This sounds nothing like people's preconceptions of harmonica and brings the instrument up to sit at the table with the "real instruments".
wow, my mind was just completely blown. He really is speaking the jazz vernacular here like its his mother tongue! Everything about it has my wheels spinning. super inspiring thank you so much for posting this!
That clip just made me love the harp so much more. I have always imagined the diatonic playing jazz with that tone but never heard it till now. Thank you for sharing.
Frank, I'm working on this one now :) I will post it in week or three :) Yesterday I finished creating backing track for it. ---------- my music
Last Edited by wheel on May 10, 2013 5:57 AM
