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, […]
Chromatic
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]