6 posts tagged “harmonica”
Better known as an amazing jazz bass player, here is the late Jaco Pastorius on piano accompanying the wonderful Toots Thielemans on harmonica. This is called Three Views of a Secret.
Having written about Philip Achille and meeting him at the National Harmonica Championships, this is a track by a good friend of mine, Kieran Doherty alias Rev.Doc and his band the Congregation. Doc won the British Blues Harmonica Championship on a number of occasions and is a real character as well as being a wonderful player.
I got to know Doc through our common interest and being atendees at the Championships/Festivals. He busked for many years at Ashton Lane the well known hang out of actors, musicians, media types and bohemian westenders just off Byres Road in Glasgow. He's now based in Warrenpoint County Down but I still bump in to him in Glasgow on occasion when his or my band are playing there. They have recently played on the same bill as Van Morrison, John Martyn and Dave Kelly/Paul Jones
This track, Doc's Blues is from an album he and the band made in the mid-90's entitled The Blues Come Knockin'. You'll love the opening line.
I used to be a regular at the National Harmonica League Festivals. I was often roped in to helping with the compering and M.C'ing. I've been at festivals in Ely Cambridgeshire and also Bristol. On one occasion there were only two competitors in the junior chromatic (the harmonica with the push button) competition. One was a young nervous lad called Philip Achille who hailed from the West Midlands. He was attending his first festival with his mum April Fay and if memory serves he was 11 at the time. I introduced Philip and stood back to hear his performance which was a piece by Bach. The audience were spellbound to hear such a performance from one so young. Douglas Tate, a wonderful professional player and teacher who has since sadly passed on, was amazed at Philip's gift for the instrument.
I was not surprised at all to learn that a few years on from that experience Philip is now playing the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. As well as being a superb harmonica player he is also an accomplished double bass player, pianist and saxophonist.
In this video Philip plays music from the film Genevieve originally composed and performed by Larry Adler.
By my calculations he'll be in his late teens now. He's an incredible musician.
Thanks to Mark Hummel Click Here for the following
"Lee Oskar - was born in Copenhagen, Denmark,moved to the States in the late sixties,and along with Eric Burdon,went on to become a founding member of the soul-funk-rock group WAR. Hits like "Lowrider", "World Is A Ghetto", "Spill The Wine", "Me And Baby Brother", and "Slippin Into Darkness" were huge records that got national airplay coast to coast and stayed high up in the charts for months. Oskar's unique approach to harmonica earned him the distinction of being voted 1976's Instrumentalist Of The Year in three major music publications, Billboard, Cashbox and Record World. Lee went on to start the Lee Oskar Harmonica company in 1983,which is second only to Hohner Harmonicas in popularity and sales. www.leeoskar.com"
Lee was responsible for one of the most memorable riffs in rock music (Listen and watch Low Rider above)
I actually met Lee and introduced him on stage at an event in Ely Cambs a few years ago. He blagged my copy of Q magazine which had a picture of him in it (War's Greatest Hits had been re-released) and promised me a harmonica in return. Still waiting for that harmonica Lee if you happen to read this!
Not to worry I do have a collection of about fifty Lee Oskar harmonicas in various keys and tunings so I won't run out soon.
Low Rider was also memorably used in Cheech and Chong's 'Up In Smoke'.
Some things are always with us. I first learned a tune on the 'moothie' when I was about three years old and it was an ever present in my toybox when I was a kid. My dad would teach me little tunes which ranged from nursery rhymes to Ulster folk tunes (!).
Then for many years I didn't play it at all although when I joined a band in my teens playing guitar and singing I'd stick a harmonica in a rack and play All Along the Watchtower and Knockin' on Heaven's door in true sook blaw Dylan style.
Many years passed and I almost forgot about the wee instrument. Then in my early 30's I bought a couple of harmonicas and began to practice again. I decided to learn how to play blues properly, auditioned and before I knew it I was back playing and singing live in a band after a break of about 14 years. Years later I'm still managing to get away with it!
The Song of the Mouth Organ - Robert Service (Abridged - The full text is HERE )
The soundclip here is of Radio Scotland presenters Jim Spence and Robbie Shepherd along with myself at the BBC Christmas Scotland Christmas Lunch a couple of years ago. Possibly the first and only time Scotland the Brave and Stone Fox Chase have been made in to a medley!
I am indebted to Alastair over at his blog (See Alastair's Heart Monitor on my links). He posted another one of this series of prints. I actually have this one on my office wall at the emporium. Look at these guys. Hundreds of feet up on a steel beam on a construction site. No hard hats,safety slings or protective clothing and posing for a photo playing harmonicas. Actually I don't think the three guys at the back have really got moothies at all.
When I was in New York in the 90's and visited the Empire State Building, the speed of the lift (elevator) was enough to give you a fright! I can hardly look at this picture without a shiver yet it was all in a day's work for these guys. In the 20's and 30's, the competition amongst the monied elite to build the biggest and best towers and office blocks was incredible. I'm sure there was some phalic symbolism as well as monetary boasting going on.
