TONE

[ejacob4]

In acting, Paul Newman talked about filling a moment. You be saying something, or listening to another performer, and doing something, not something distracting or big, just something folks do while speaking or listening.

We can do it with scales or flourishes, but sometimes it’s just staying there, listening to what the mouth does with the harp, be it big and round, or soft and light, almost quick, or a whisper that barely holds the note.

Maybe no one else will recognize it, but there you are, having a moment, preferably by accident..

Best regards,
Ed

[Scotty]

Wow! Yer right. Hi did get better!

Forgive my saying this (for any group or trio players reading), but to me, it's possibly because he's playing alone - and not sand-
wiched inbetween a chord and bass player. Yes, I know he still does 'those' gigs as well here and there, but to me, Phil shines far
more brightly when he plays solo. Being with others is always far more comforting (my take on it since that's how it is for me), and
when Val and I first became friends, it took a while longer for Phil, but then I recognized his innate shyness and 'got it'. I doubt
many others who weren't likewise painfully shy as children recognize it in him. (We've never talked about this, btw). His tone is
so rich and full and just soars even more when he's playing solo (imho).

scotty

[smojoe]

Phil can play with a bass, chord, or any other instrument because they are not chromatics. One thing I noticed in our long friendship is that if you play alongside him on another chromartic (or dia.), it messes up his ear. He plays, you play, someone else plays. And that's the deal. It has to be seperated.

smo-joe

[SlideMeister]

The tone is unmistakably "Phil," that's a given! However, it sounds to me like his playing (I should say: articulation) got much tighter and cleaner than I've ever heard him play before. Very cool!

[Scotty]

The tone is unmistakably "Phil," that's a given! However, it sounds to me like his playing (I should say: articulation) got much tighter and cleaner than I've ever heard him play before. Very cool!

Here's another, done a couple of months ago...he posted it himself: should put paid to the idea that one's tone is affected by
a microphone? (I've no idea how he can play holding a mic and a chromatic and STILL get that incredible sound, but he does!)



scotty

[Scotty]

Phil can play with a bass, chord, or any other instrument because they are not chromatics. One thing I noticed in our long friendship is that if you play alongside him on another chromartic (or dia.), it messes up his ear. He plays, you play, someone else plays. And that's the deal. It has to be seperated.

smo-joe

weeeelllll, back during our GSHC Wednesday nights, Phil would set up his BOSE player afterwards (as some were leaving for home) and
get in some really enjoyable play time. When I heard the opening notes to  Billy Joel's - I think it was 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' (which I'd actually never played before), I took out my A CX-12 and decided to see if I could play along. Phil had been resetting the song while others were talking to him, then he heard me and sat down to play along - he of course was playing a 16 in C. Somehow, it worked amazingly well - that was the time Frank Grova came over to try to join in but couldn't figure out what we were doing - so I tilted my instrument to show him the A label - his eyebrows shot up and he said to Phil 'how on earth is she doing that'? Phil shrugged and said'I've no idea, but it works' - and kept playing. HE of course, did all of the 'twiddly bits' as I call 'em, as well as playing along with me. It was all I could do to stay with the melody. But we were two chromatics playing happily together - and of course he played with other chromatic players as well - teaching so many.

scotty

[SlideMeister]

https://www.SlideMeister.com/lobby-jazz-jam.html 

[Scotty]

https://www.SlideMeister.com/lobby-jazz-jam.html 

I just listened to the whole thing again, Age. Delicious! You might have forgotten, but I was there too. The lobby was fairly
narrow - not really wide enough for extra chairs, so I stood up against a wall (out of camera range) or in a little alcove during much
of the playing, although this time around I could hear my voice occasionally here and there...the playing was so good, it was
impossible not to react. I wish I could remember if it was SPAH or Buckeye, but alas...my memory has melded so many of those
conventions together as well. It's GREAT that you captured it on audio - back then I wasn't yet videotaping the jams, so doubt I even
got photographs. That was FUN!
Thx much,
scotty

[SlideMeister]

Yeah, and I was amazed it came out as well as it did (in stereo yet) with just that little stinkin' MP3 recorder. Gotta hand it to Val; she didn't make any noise or move an inch for the whole show.

[smojoe]

That would have been a Buckeye. Why? Age usually doesn't appear at a spah unless it's closer. It wasn't the Denver 2006, that year I was hanging around with Scotty. The previous Denver spah, he WAS there and I was playing over the country/western dinner with Bob Spanky McFarlane and That year the Adler Trio headlined.
This would have been either 2005 or 2007 Buckeye. I headlined those years. 2006 Jim Lohman headlined, and 2008 Phil headlined. So, I'm guessing 2007.
I was truly blessed to have been even in the same TOWNSHIP with these monsters. I was doing the higher pitches and waterfalls. I don't play the tune itself if Phil is playing. Just accents. You don't put paprika on ice cream.
As for Scotty. You can play along with her because she has her ear 'nailed' into the tune. And it doesn't distract her. The late GREAT Frank Grova, a man who could actually handle 'Cavaquinho' and 'Amorada' AT speed, was totally amazed at her ability to adjust.
Frankly, I never understood her shyness. 

smo-joe

[Scotty]

It must have been 2007 since I didn't begin going to either Buckeye OR SPAH until 2005 and didn't know anyone at all (let alone
you, Val, Phil, Age or anyone of note except the diatonic guys like Jason, Buzz, Joe Filisko, Pete 'MadCat', Chris Michalek and those guys) until the following year (2006 Buckeye and SPAH) when I began hanging out more with Chromatic people. So, 2007 does sound more like it - and probably Buckeye, as you've figured out.

The shyness is something I came by naturally--I didn't outgrow it in my personal life until I was grown, but it's still part of my playing,
somehow. Wasn't there as a kid--but, as you know, circumstances changed in my teenage years so.....'it is what it is'.
Appreciate your kind words about my playing, although I wish I had the same confidence there. It was nice to have someone as good as Frank be confused about how I managed to play on an A chromatic and still be able to play so well with Phil, lol --I had no explanation. Phil didn't care, as long as we were able to play together and make the song sound good - and it did! Others came over to listen and actually sing along - but quite far into the song. Once in a while I can get 'into the groove' and stay there, and boy that does feel amazing. It's not all that often, though - since I have no one else to play music with.

I still occasionally hope that Val and Phil would grow to dislike Florida (as my nephew did) and come back to the NorthEast--they
lived in a gorgeous house in New Jersey. Even though it took us 2+hours to drive to meet them, I'd do it again to get the chance to
play music with Phil - and Val too, since she was working on playing chord harmonica before they left.
scotty

[SlideMeister]

Yeah, Joey's right; it WAS a Buckeye. I've only attended two SPAHs outside of Ohio (a Denver and a Millwaukee)