A humorous, musical tribute recording compiled by Tabby Andriello for Charlie Leighton’s 65th birthday party in 1986. It contains rare recordings from Charley’s illustrious career with the Philharmonicas, Cappy Barra and as a soloist. It was played at the party attended by Charley’s wife, Roseann, Tabby Andriello, Phil Solomon, Stan Harper, Charles Spranklin, Richard Gain, Don Smith …. and many others.
Archivist Blog
The Harmonicats 40th Anniversary Testimonial Concert 1981
It Was a Great Celebration . . . Thanks, Everyone? by Norm Dobson
This audio is taken from a cassette recording of most of the concert. Microphone placement and the age of the tape has affected the quality somewhat.
Edited from Harmonica Happenings, Spring 1981.
Well, the long awaited testimonial to the Jerry Murad Harmonicats is history. I can’t believe that back in September of 1979 when I first began to plan this event, that time would fly by so quickly. You have, I’m sure, by now heard from those who were here on there that the weekend was a complete success.
I personally am indebted to first of all, the harmonica, to SPAH and Harmonica Happenings. The harmonica, of course, has become or is the common denominator. Through SPAH and H-H. I got to know so many harmonica players across the country, and met the German Blizza Harmonica Gang and through them, met many other European players. I am especially grateful to Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats — they made it all happen.
Jerry Murad, Al Fiore, Dick Gardner, and Pete Pedersen played a selection of four tunes from their classical LP, “Harmonica Rhapsody” and several more of their hits.
The “New Harmonic Tramps” of Switzerland, Ruedi Frey on the lead, Walti Noethinger on chord, and Heinz Stampfi, on bass played on the Friday night but were not recorded on this tape. Then followed the Harmonica Brothers of West Germany. The sextet is made up of two active trios, the Blizza Harmonica Gang of Gladbeck, West Germany – Siegfried Brugier, Eugen Feltin, and Svegnar Kreitz – and the Picca Trio of Leichlingen, West Germany – Hans-Guenter Post, Adolf Nagel, and Ulrich Ott. They opened their show as a sextet playing a most impressive selection arranged by Leo Diamond entitled, “Japanese Sandman”. There then were three selections by the Picca Trio, followed by another selection by the Harmonica Brothers, and three tunes by the Blizza Harmonica Gang. It all ended with the sextet playing a Svegnar Kreitz arrangement of “Chancon d’amour.” Afterwards, the Germans presented the Harmonicats with three of the largest, ornate steins I’ve ever seen!
Among the notables in attendance were Leo Diamond. Time and space just won’t permit naming everyone. I was impressed with Joe Mass and his family of California, Al Smith , Earl Williams and Judy Simpson. Everyone was just great.
Then Jack totally surprised me with a document that left me speechless. The award read as follows:
PROCLAMATION – insofar as the honorable NORM DOBSON never seems to run out of breath in the service of The Harmonica & Harmonica Players everywhere, he is hereby declared the Official & Perpetual WORLD AMBASSADOR FOR HARMONICA. Presented April 25, 1981, on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary Testimonial Dinner for Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats. M. Hohner, Inc. – Signed: Frank Hohner, Chariman, Lee James, President, Jack Kavoukian, Director of Marketing
There were five countries represented at the testimonial — Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Holland. Unmentioned previously, Cy Segeal, Canada; Gautam Choudhury and Piet Moerer, Holland; and our dedicated travellers from Sweden, Ulf and Jan Wahlberg.
My sincere thanks again to all for their support, and to the many who made the long trek to Danvers — especially to the Jerry Murad Harmonicats and their wives. My oh my, “Wasn’t That A Party?”
You can read a Tribute to Norm Dobson on this post.
SPAH – The first 20 years
The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica, SPAH, was founded in 1963 by Earl Collins (1924-88), Gordon Mitchell (1927-2001) and Richard Harris (1938-2015). Fortunately, the youngest member of the trio, Richard Harris, was an enthusiastic photographer and recording engineer so you get a chance to hear the history of SPAH as it was happening.
This blog post is taken from a cassette tape of the soundtrack of a video that Richard made in 1983, from his vast archive of recordings, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of SPAH. It is tribute to Richard Harris as well as SPAH. Richard was ahead of his time. Without his foresight and hard work this detailed audio history would not have been possible.
Here are Richard’s notes which accompanied the cassette he sent.
SPAH – The First 20-Years – featuring “THE HARMONICA MEN”, trio. Produced and narrated by: Richard Harris.
History of SPAH via music and the spoken word. Relive excerpts from the first SPAH meeting, Dec. 1962. Here the voice of founder Earl Collins, words of wisdom from harmonica greats like Tommy Reilly, Blackie Shackner. Remember firsts such as Richard Hayman’s Harmonica Concerto, April 1978, the first CanSPAH concert November 1965. And the radio and TV programs – a sampling includes the “I’ve Got A Secret” Show and the 8′ harmonica that stumped the panel. But, that’s history – history that will be remembered by early SPAH members and now 20 years later by you. All on a premium cassette in stereo (recorded 1983 converted to digital in 2018).
You can read more about the history of SPAH by visiting the excellent SPAH Archives webpage written by Manfred Wewers.
Tommy Reilly – In his own words
Tommy Reilly set the standard for playing chromatic harmonica and he was mainly responsible for the acceptance of the harmonica as a solo instrument on the classical stage. He had a prolific recording career. He was born in Canada in 1919 but spent most of his life in the UK.
Here Tommy talks about his musical life and plays some music on two BBC radio programmes – Music Weekly (Michael Oliver, 6 May, 1979), and Studio Portrait (Wilfred Parry (piano), 10 February, 1967).
Tommy’s silver chromatic harmonica was developed before the first radio programme in 1973 and after the second one in 1967.
Tracklist
1 – Music Weekly – Talking about the harmonica – Tommy Reilly
2 – Music – James Moody
3 – Talking playing the harmonica and repertoire – Tommy
4 – Villa Lobos Concerto for Harmonica – Tommy Reilly
5 – Talking about his Silver Harmonica – Tommy Reilly
6 – Parash’s Aria – Stravinsky
7 – Studio Portrait – Talking about composers – Tommy Reilly
8 – Caprice – Gordon Jacobs
9 – Scherzino – James Moody
10 – Talking harmonicas – Tommy Reilly
11 – Strawberry Fair – Leonard Morris
12 – Seventeen Come Sunday – Leonard Morris
13 – Talking history and harmonicas – Tommy Reilly
14 – Chanson Russe – Stravinsky
15 – Talking film music – Tommy Reilly
16 – Après un Rêve – Faurè
17 – Talking about Polish customs – Tomy Reilly
18 – Bulgarian Wedding Dance – James Moody
Larry Adler – In his own words
Larry Adler was the first harmonica superstar. He was born in 1914 and he took the chromatic harmonica onto the concert stage and into films, playing popular and classical music.
This recording was made in 1998 for the BBC when Larry was 84. Larry Adler’s Century was broadcast as seven weekly programmes but Larry produced an edited version on a tape cassette which he gave to his fans.
Larry was an entertainer in the full sense of the word and he enjoyed playing the harmonica, writing in magazines and appearing on radio and TV shows. He had a fantastic knowledge of classical and popular music and would play with anyone, anywhere.
Here he talks about his life and plays some of his recordings.
Tracklist
1 – Introduction – Larry Adler
2 – Smoke gets in your eyes – Jerome Kern
3 – Beginnings – Larry Adler
4 – Minuet in G – Mozart
5 – First jobs -Larry Adler
6 – I want to be loved by you – Stothart
7 – Al Capone – Larry Adle
8 – Playing the harmonica – Larry Adler
9 – Summertime – Gershwin
10 – Playing the chromatic harmonica – Larry Adler
11 – Bach goes to Town – Alec Templeton
12 – Meeting Ravel – Larry Adler
13 – Bolero – Ravel
14 – Meeting George Gershwin – Larry Adler
15 – Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin
16 – Musical Joke – Larry Adler
17 – Lets call the whole thing off – George Gershwin
18 – Harold Arlen – Larry Adler
19 – Blues in the night – Arlen
20 – Musical Joke – Larry Adler
21 – Somewhere over the rainbow – Harold Arlen
22 – World War II Jack Benny – Larry Adler
23 – The Continental – Conrad
24 – Meeting Ingrid Bergman – Larry Adler
25 – Song for Ingrid Bergman – Larry Adler
26 – Gettysburg Address – Larry Adler
27 – Relationship with Ingrid – Larry Adler
28 – As time goes by – Hupfeld
29 – The House Un-American Activities Committee – Larry Adler
30 – It ain’t necessarily so – Gershwin
31 – The blacklist – Larry Adler
32 – Genevieve – Larry Adler
33 – Writing Genevieve and the blacklist – Larry Adler
34 – Genevieve – Larry Adler
35 – Yesterdays – Larry Adler
36 – The effect of music – Larry Adler
37 – Ode to Joy – Beethoven
38 – Speech in Australia – Larry Adler
39 – Meeting with Sting – Larry Adler
40 – Ten Summoners Tales – Sting
41 – Glory of Gershwin with Elton John – Larry Adler
42 – It’s very clear – Elton John
43 – Programme credits – Larry Adler
44 – Nice work if you can get it – George Gershwin
Concerto Scherzoso – Graham Whettam – Setting the record straight
Jim Hughes saw a video of Graham Whettam’s composition Concerto Scherzoso for Harmonica and Orchestra on YouTube, which was attributed to Larry Adler but did not sound like him. I checked with the person who posted the video and he said that his recording did not name the harmonica player. Because the piece was written for Larry Adler he had assumed Larry must be the performer. My first thought was Tommy Reilly, but when I checked with my friends, Jang Ming, Art Daane and Sigmund Groven, the truth was established. The harmonica was played by the Dutch soloist, John van Vuuren, also known as John Larryson, the lead player of the harmonica group, The Larrysons. This performance by John van Vueren and the Dutch Orchestra conducted by Hugo de Groot was recorded for the publisher, De Wolfe, and first published in 1962 on the “Music De Wolfe” label, no.DWLP 2732. Click to hear it for yourself.
Harmonica Music sur Cher 2017
Harmonicas sur Cher is my favourite festival. Great location, great organisation, great music and great local support from the people of Saint Aignan. For three days, harmonicas can be heard on the streets, in the cafes, the church and the Salle des fete.
Saint Aignan is a small old town with narrow cobbled streets in the wine valley of the river Cher, near where it joins the Loire at Tours in Central France.
There are some small daytime events but the core of the festival is the three evening concerts in the Salle des fêtes. Each concert features two artists/bands and this blog features music from all of them. As usual at this festival, the range of music and harmonica styles is very wide. You can look for something that you like or, maybe, sit back and listen to some of the places the harmonica can take you. You might be surprised!
Thursday (Jeudi) 25 May. The concert was opened by the Zanella Trio who play acoustic jazz and world music featuring Jérôme Peyrelevade : diatonic harmonica, Gilles Zanella : guitar, and Cyril Cianciolo : bass. Jérôme’s latest CD is called Somewhere on the Edge of Time – www.jeromepeyrelevade.com. The track which is featured is Nadia’s Nights.
The concert was closed by Cory Seznec, a band playing a mix of blues, country and African music. Cory plays guitar and banjo and David Chalumeau is the featured harmonica player. Their latest CD is called Backroad Carnival – www.coryseznec.com. The track which is featured is Sell You My Soul.
Friday (Vendredi) 26 May. The concert was opened by French Canadian harmonica player and storyteller, Gérald Laroche, who presented sound images to illustrate his stories. He used harmonicas, Celtic flute, Indian mouth bow, Jews Harp and percussion instruments to create a unique fusion of sound and speech. His latest CD is called Rubato: Stealing Time – www.geraldlaroche.com. The track which is featured is Last one to leave.
The concert was closed by jazz chromatic player, Will Galison, who performed a musical fantasy based on Homer’s story of Odysseus. He was accompanied by a jazz trio with the composer, Karim Maurice on piano and a small string section, la Camerata – www.willgalison.net. The track which is featured is Circe. The website for Karim Maurice’s Odysseus project is www.karimmaurice.com/enw-galison-k-maurice-la.
Saturday (Samedi) 27 May. The concert was opened by new group, Liouane, led by chromatic player, Thomas Laurent. The music included traditional compositions and music influenced by Eastern Mediterranean and Balkan music played on oud, clarinet, percussion, harmonica and double bass. Their latest CD is Liouane – www.coursharmonica.com. The track which is featured is From Bethlehem to Angers.
The concert and the festival was closed by Mountain Men, featuring Barefoot Iano on blues harmonica. They played their own mix of rock and roll and blues (with a touch of Madness) which had grandparents, parents and children dancing in the isles as the evening drew to a close. Their latest CD is Black Market Flowers – www.mountain-men.fr. The track which is featured is Still in the Race.
That was the end for 2017 but Christophe Minier will be back with another Harmonicas sur Cher festival in 2019.
If you want to see what the town and the festival looks like, here is a video I made at the festival in 2011. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrWYRd8qI8Q
1 – Jérôme Peyrelevade – Nadia’s Nights – 00:00
2 – Cory Seznec – Sell You My Soul – 03:26
3 – Gérald Laroche – Last one to leave – 08:17
4 – Will Galison – Circe – 11:51
5 – Liouane – From Bethlehem to Angers – 19:03
6 – Mountain Men – Still in the Race – 24:20
Homage to Toots – Steven De bruyn
When I started to play the harmonica 27 years ago, Toots was big in Belgium. He did not only play on films and in concerts, but also on many local music shows and local television series. He was also the godfather of the great Jazz Middelheim Festival and played the national anthem before an International Soccer game.
When I attended a workshop by Toots I had the nerve to play him a tune. He said Cool man, let’s start the second part like that and to my disbelief we played this tune together, Toots on guitar and me on the harmonica in front of all these music students. Afterwards he give me a big hug. He was a lot of fun with his Brussels accent – a true ambassador for Belgium.
After his seventies Toots could no longer play the guitar well, due to a stroke, and only from then on he became a full time harmonica player. He constantly reinvented himself and in the last years of his public performances he really got to the essence of his playing. Very bluesy, very sparse and soulful. He made me cry and laugh at almost every concert I heard him.
Amazingly, the longer I play, the more I play the chromatic, and I realise how wonderful Toots was and will ever be as a human, as a musician and as a mentor.
Thank you Toots for your kindness, humour, passion and inspiration!
This appeared in the October 2016 issue of Harmonica World as part of a special tribute to Toots.
Toots’ Funeral – William Galison
On Saturday 27 August, I attended the funeral of my friend and mentor, the incomparable Toots Thielemans. I was on tour in France when I heard the news of Toots passing, and I knew I had to go to Belgium to pay my respects.
I drove with Belgian harmonica player, Steved De bruyn, to Toots home town, La Hulpe, a peaceful little town not far from Brussels. People lined the streets and pictures of Toots were displayed on a large video screen.
The Prime Minister and Prince of Belgium attended the service in the local church, which was full to its capacity of about 500 people.
Kenny Werner, Toots’ accompanist, played Bluesette beautifully as the pall bearers entered carrying the coffin, The pastor gave a moving eulogy about the breadth of Toots’ contributions to the world, as a musician and as a kind, generous and loving human being. Several friends spoke, including Kenny Werner who read out a personal message from President Obama.
After the funeral friends gathered at a nearby hotel to reminisce to the sounds of Toots’ Brazil Project albums. Even as I chatted with others, I was constantly distracted by the sheer mastery of Toots’ playing on this masterpiece recording. It brought home to me once again the significance of Toots’ musical legacy.
This appeared in the October 2016 issue of Harmonica World as part of a special tribute to Toots.
Toots and Jazz – Howard Levy
I was lucky to meet Toots and play with him on two occasions – once around 1980 at a club in Chicago, and then at the Harmonica Summit in 2000 in Minneapolis.
When we met in Chicago, I told him how I chose to play Jazz on diatonic because I loved the bluesiness of the instrument and wanted to play everything on it. I told him that I visualize the keyboard when I play diatonic harmonica. Toots told me that he did the same – he called it keyboard vision from starting music by playing the accordion. I felt a real kinship with him.
He invited me to play a tune in the second set – he had heard of me and I think that he was a little curious. I was very excited and a little nervous so I picked Autumn Leaves, the simplest Jazz tune I could think of. The audience liked my playing. He then played a fantastic version of Speak Low. His knowledge of harmony gave me something to aim for- not just as a harmonica player but as a musician.
In 2000 Toots shared many stories of his early days playing sessions in NYC. When musicians showed a lack of respect for the harmonica. he showed them a stub from a royalty check from Bluesette with him. I loved this story. It showed his fierce, determined side and his great sense of humour and irony.
Toots was a total original. He didn’t imitate other harmonica players. He was inspired by all the great Jazz musicians – guitarists, pianists, trumpeters, horn players etc. and he played with many of them including his explorations of Brazilian music with Elis Regina and Oscar Castro Nueves. He combined these high- level musical collaborations and his encyclopedic musical knowledge into a powerful and emotionally compelling style that appealed equally to casual listeners and the most advanced Jazz players.
Toots was truly beloved by the harmonica world. His personal warmth was genuine. His playing was inspiring and directly touched people’s hearts. He also endeared himself to millions of children by playing the Sesame Street theme song. Many other people enjoyed his playing on film music without ever knowing it was him.
And finally – Bluesette. This innocent, seeming little tune that he wrote around 1960 is actually a 24 bar blues, and he put the clue right there in the title. It took me about 20 years of playing it to realize that. It uses descending be-bop 2-5 progressions a la Charlie Parker, but goes several steps further than the convention of going down to the 4th, continuing down the whole tone scale all the way to the key of the b2 before the final turnaround. It’s also a European-sounding waltz – graceful, humorous, elegant, harmonically advanced and bluesy all at once.
Just like Toots.
This appeared in the October 2016 issue of Harmonica World as part of a special tribute to Toots.