Before Yvonnick Prene I never considered the harmonica.
I’m embarrassed to admit that the extent of my knowledge even around harmonica and jazz mixing together was an odd little collaboration from the 1990’s. It was The Glory of Gershwin headlining the legendary harmonica player Larry Adler. The CD, like most collections, has some high points (Peter Gabriel doing “Summertime,” Sting performing “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and a spirited “Rhapsody in Blue” with Mr. Adler taking on the clarinet part) and some definite low points (Cher). You can’t put a CD on like that and just press play, you skip tracks. Your musical sanity demands it.
In many ways I am a jazz snob.
- Electronic instruments can wait at the door (Sorry Miles Davis)
- I don’t care for too much experimentation (Sorry Miles again) unless it is in the solo
- Smooth jazz puts me to sleep
- I feel more at home in the world of hard bop and be bop where the saxophone is king
Basically, even in that little rundown, I’m not sure where the harmonica fits in. It’s an anomaly, a glitch in the system, a hiccup; an almost hypnotic variation on the human voice, able to show as much emotion, passion, and charm, but fitting in… where?
Yvonnick Prene’s new CD Jour de Fete opened my beady eyes to new possibilities in jazz… and frankly, for me as a snob, that is kind of cool. (more…)
The Stories of Scott D. Southard 