wolfkristiansen
269 posts
Mar 16, 2014
12:09 AM
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My harmonica is a sax. My harmonica is my voice.
Crank your computer speakers up and let the sound wash over you:
Thank you, YouTube, for letting us see and hear performances that would otherwise be forever lost.
Saxophone is the closest instrument to the human voice. Hank Crawford is singing with his sax.
Singing is the great musical art. I wish I could sing. I can't. I wish I could play saxophone. I can't. I will settle for playing my harmonica as if I were singing. I will settle for playing it like a saxophone.
What does that mean? I will not play harmonica as a rhythm instrument. I will not play out of rhythm, but I will not play as a pianist or rhythm guitar player. I will not play like Sonny Terry or Madcat Ruth, though I totally respect both. I backed up Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in another life (no kids, no mortgage) and have utmost respect for Sonny; Madcat too.
I play or strive to play like Little Walter (post Muddy) or Lee Oskar. One day, I shall try to play, on harp, what I see and hear in this video. I will need an excellent jazzy bluesy band to make it work, but what are dreams for?
How many besides me see their harp as a saxophone?
Cheers
wolf kristiansen
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EduardoFS
6 posts
Mar 16, 2014
2:06 AM
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Wolf, maybe you can not believe, but I was (just 1 minuto ago) looking for the relation between harmonica and sax,I mean... 1 minuto ago, glad to see your post. I'm brazilian, and was listening the song called "Vento Bravo"(perfomed by Tom Jobim, Edu Lobo, Chico Buarque and another great musicians), I was listening the sax solo, and imagining me doing the solo on the harp (what a dream). I just realized the name "mississippi saxophone" is a great name to describe harmonica. I found some interesting threads about that: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/db_and_ab_harps_and_sax
http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/2593507.htm
I'll watch the vid you posted now, really glad to see your post now (btw my english isn't so good haha, sorry for the mistakes).
Last Edited by EduardoFS on Mar 16, 2014 2:06 AM
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EduardoFS
7 posts
Mar 16, 2014
2:15 AM
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What amazing stuff, Wolf.
Here the version I was listening, hope you like:
http://youtu.be/wDa-lM7igWU
Is just... indescribable, untranslatable.
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EduardoFS
8 posts
Mar 16, 2014
2:35 AM
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I'm kinda affected (is that the word?) to see your post... haha, I mean, I didnt see your thread before end my research about that, and probably we was listening/thinking/imagining the same thing at the same time, really glad to share that.
edit: I realized something else, pay attention to how he ends the solo, sound familiar to you? Many harp players do that when they finish their solos haha, really great.
Last Edited by EduardoFS on Mar 16, 2014 2:49 AM
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King Casey
24 posts
Mar 16, 2014
2:58 AM
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Hank Crawford. A great alto player that influenced the likes of Dave Sandborn (the white dude with the big hair syndrome in the background).
cheers, Mark.
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Greg Heumann
2647 posts
Mar 16, 2014
9:00 AM
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Great stuff. THAT is phrasing!
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
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Thievin' Heathen
300 posts
Mar 16, 2014
11:07 AM
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I know a very accomplished multi-instrumentalist who plays (among other things) sax and harmonica. It is a very good combination of instruments and while I am sure sax enhances and contributes, his harmonica playing is all harmonica. IMO, as it should be.
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bluemoose
954 posts
Mar 16, 2014
5:20 PM
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Brings to mind the great Paul deLay, his tonality and phrasing. His band had a great sax player Cris Mercer and along with Paul's chromatic work and some great keyboard/organ players they had 'that' sound going on, big time.
Was jammin' along at home the other night to Paul deLay, rocking out on my Buddha harp and stopped, realizing they were both gone. Almost cried.
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Last Edited by bluemoose on Mar 16, 2014 5:21 PM
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slaphappy
11 posts
Mar 16, 2014
5:26 PM
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I was watching "The Freakout list" last night. It's a fascinating movie on Frank Zappa's influences you can watch on Amazon prime.
I learned that Jon Luc Ponty taught himself to play sax in order to learn improvisation. Then he took everything he learned and applied to his violin playing, pretty cool!
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Martin
634 posts
Mar 17, 2014
6:00 AM
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Fabulous playing.
Entirely agree with OP: my harmonica is my saxophone, no interest in in "chugging" etc. But of course I kick myself that I didn´t take up the sax when there was time for it.
(And David Sanborn should SUE whoever it was that advised him on hair matters in that period.)
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The Iceman
1528 posts
Mar 17, 2014
11:15 AM
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ah, a perfect example of the power of LONG TONES...
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The Iceman
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