Here is Howard Levy playing 'Coming Home' in all 12 keys on one harmonica (a regular Ab diatonic Richter tuned harp). Put up on YouTube by Ronnie Shellist.
What an awesome acheivement. Is there anyone who could match this?
It was interesting to note how certain positions allowed him more freedom to to be extra creative.
I should add that this is not the type of music I would normally listen to, but you have to admire his incredible skill on harp. To think that this little instrument which we love, that was designed to play simple melodies and chords should be be able to produce all these bends and overbends by some weird combination of happy accidents never ceases to amaze me.
I love Howard. There are other players just as good, but all different, and he is such a great musician. I could listen to him all day. Thanks for sharing.
Although I personally think nobody does it as well and melodically as Howard,I commend all the above players for their efforts. This is a very difficult exercise to say the least!
Great reminders indeed for where our little instrument can be taken. The players are truly amazing and certainly inspire me to push my modest skill set a little further. Thanks for these posts.
Mike Fall, the guy from the Fast 12 bar blues above, is a great guy. I've shared plenty of bourbon with him, and while I walked away drunk, I also walked away as a better harmonica player. Amazing player, knowledgable musician, and an incredible teacher, besides being a good friend.
These are all great, even if just the mere effort of it! I appreciate the skill, as someone who pretty well stays in 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 12th positions. BTW, For anyone looking for a good groove tune, to bring to a jam session, or if you are not a full-blown "all scales/all keys" Jazz player (like I am not) that old Mel Torme' tune Howrd did, "Comin' Home Baby" is something Jazz players are friendly to. I adapted the version from David Sandborn's album "Time Again". It's in Em, so if you have a D Chro it's nice in 3rd position. It's simple melody but, one of those tune's like "Cold Duck Time" where if you are with "Jazz Cats" they are good tunes with simple heads and great grooves, that you can take to a Jazz session, in case you cannot traverse the modulations like these folks above can!
