Thank you for sharing this video! This is the second time I've heard him play his 264 G bass, polyphonias, and a tremolo! Howard's one of the main reason why I ended up getting in bass and polyphonia harmonicas after I first heard him demonstrate them. Clearly, this song is done at such a blazing fast tempo and with comedic effects while using those orchestra harmonicas. I think also one thing to keep in mind is that it was also a live performance with comedy in mind.
As a player who's also playing diatonic harmonicas chromatically, it's interesting that so many think overblows are the, "problem." Often it's regular bends that have more issues with timbre and intonation. As you learn about them, actually regular bends and overblows (overbends) are almost the exact same thing functionally with how the reeds operate with the player's oral cavity resonance. I think if anything, more people are just accustomed to the various sound qualities of bends and just accept them as the norm.
I am one of Howard's students, so I also might be a little biased, but I think no musician will do everything 100% to performing a single phrase to even the biggest fan's preference. He's is much more than just the overblow technique, but a true musical genius that is always pushing his own limits. Here's another clip of Howard playing live. He plays some very beautiful musical phrases with a lot of appropriate baroque ornamentation, and a beautiful improvisation as well at 1:30.
https://youtu.be/rRfGJGsoXSc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRfGJGsoXSc -Boaz
(Edited to try and get the YouTube video to show up in the post.
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