The Norwegian Harmonica Forum (NMf) visit to Jersey in 1987

The Vikings had problems getting music out of a harmonica, but Norwegians began to take up the chromatic harmonica seriously in the 1960s. In 1985 a group of harmonica enthusiasts met at a seminar in Elverum. Two years later, in August 1987, the Norwegian Harmonica Forum (NMf) was formed at a harmonica workshop at Klepp Folkehøgskule.

Sigmund Groven told the members about the World Harmonica Championship being held in Jersey, later that year, and they decided to go and take part in the competition. They rehearsed under the able direction of James Moody, and came together for a dress rehearsal on the day before they all left for the invasion of Jersey.

Tore Reppe was a student of Sigmund Groven and he entered for the Solo Chromatic Competition. He wrote about his experiences at the festival in Jersey.

“The whole trip to Jersey and the World Harmonica Championship 1987 was an experience of a lifetime. A plane full of harmonica players landed with a thump in Jersey on a very stormy day. Trees were blown down along the road, but things calmed down when several hundred harmonica players started blowing. The atmosphere in the Norwegian delegation was good, and we immediately began to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings and not least the concert hall. I looked into the hall and there I heard a wonderfully skilled musician on the chromatic harmonica. It was obvious that the level in the competition was high. Later I got to practice the test piece with a good pianist, and felt that this worked well.

Now it was only up to me how this would end. The tension was high on the day of the competition, and just when I was supposed to play the test piece, the TV camera team started packing up to leave. I was a little surprised, but luckily I managed to keep my concentration. I managed to perform James Moody’s test piece, Caprice, quite well. Later I played, Munnspillfantasi, by Øystein Sommerfeldt as my chosen piece. It is for solo chromatic and it requires many playing techniques on the instrument. You really have to concentrate to play it well.

This video shows the prize giving ceremony for the Solo Chromatic Competition and the pieces Tore played at the festival.

He played the test piece by James Moody, Caprice, and his free choice piece was Munnspillfantasi, by Øystein Sommerfeldt.

In the concert he played, In the Evening, Summer Nights and Duett.

After the competition I was exhausted from both the pressure and the performance. In the evening there was an awards ceremony and the excitement in the Norwegian crowd was good. They had great faith in me, and when my name was read out as the winner, it was one of the Norwegian participants who lifted me up in the air, and the atmosphere exploded. The harmonica player I had heard practicing in the concert hall on the first day came in second place (Yasuo Watani).

The members of the NMf group, including me, played in the Senior Harmonica Band section and performed very well, coming second. We played Aria by Sigmund Groven, and Rustic Scenes by James Moody. The full list of the members of the Band was Tore Reppe, Sverre Kvam, Per Hermansen, Georg Pollestad, Jon Hafsmo, Jørgen Sagevik and Tore Herrem.

The video shows the prize giving ceremony. The Laakirchen Music School Harmonica Orchestra from Austria won first prize.

We played Aria by Sigmund Groven, and Rustic Scenes by James Moody. The members of the Band were Tore Reppe, Sverre Kvam, Per Hermansen, Georg Pollestad, Jon Hafsmo, Jørgen Sagevik and Tore Herrem.

It was a fantastic evening for all of us, but especially for me of course. I called my family in Norway and told them I had won. It was a very emotional phone call. After a week in Jersey we were pretty tired when we landed at the airport in Norway. So I thought I was dreaming when I came out into the arrivals hall and there was a crowd of people welcoming me. A band and a choir from my hometown and family and friends had turned up to honour the boy from Haltdalen who had been abroad and won the World Harmonica Championship 1987. Thanks to the jury who liked my way of playing music – thanks to Jimmy Hughes who organised the festival, and thanks to Georg Pollestad who made a fantastic instrument for me – the Polle Chromonica. (Tore Reppe)


Here is a link to the World Harmonica Championships organised by James (Jim) Hughes in Jersey in 1987.

The Clockwork Orange Harmonica Compositions

Written by Roger Trobridge with major contributions and research from Mark Weber.

I first came across this story a few years ago when examining some reel to reel tapes in Tommy Reilly’s study. In amongst recordings by Arthur Benjamin and George Martin was Romenza, a piece of music by Anthony Burgess. Was he the infamous British Cambridge spy – no that was Guy Burgess. This had been composed by the author of The Clockwork Orange.

In December 2024 Mark Weber wrote to tell me about a book he had just read, A Clockwork Counterpoint, by Paul Phillips. He said one chapter in the book focused on Anthony Burgess writing music for three of the most renowned harmonica players: John Sebastian, Tommy Reilly, and Larry Adler.

Anthony Burgess wrote: “God has put me on earth to, among other things, write for the harmonica.”

Mark has the sheet music for the pieces pieces he composed for the three soloists but none had been recorded.

Paul Phillip’s book includes a reference to a 1977 BBC broadcast of Oscar Peterson Invites, where Anthony Burgess talks about Romanza, the piece he wrote for Tommy Reilly, which they then played live together on the show. This is the video of the TV program, edited for harmonica players. It turned out to be the source of the audio recording I had found in Tommy’s study.

Here are some of links Mark collected when researching this the background to this unreported and fascinating story about Anthony Burgess and his connection to the three supreme harmonica players: John Sebastian, Tommy Reilly, and Larry Adler.

Anthony Burgess was a famous English writer and composer, best known for his dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange .

Mark’s interest in this story began some time ago when he came across this article on the International Anthony Burgess Foundation website: Larry Adler and Anthony Burgess’s Harmonica

As it turned out, Burgess composed several works – six in total – for the harmonica and he remains the only composer to have dedicated pieces to all three of these major harmonica virtuosi.

Works Composed by Anthony Burgess for the Harmonica

For John Sebastian: Burgess, who considered Sebastian “an all-around Renaissance man, a lover of art and literature,” and good friend, wrote two works for him in the 1970s:

1972: Panique (also known as Faunal Noon) for harmonica and guitar

1972: Sonatina in C for harmonica and guitar

For Tommy Reilly:

1977: Romanza for harmonica and piano – performed on the BBC Oscar Peterson Show in 1977 – see above.

For Larry Adler:

1980: Piece for harmonica and piano (unfortunately this work is partially unreadable – the original was never found)

1986: Sonatina for harmonica and guitar

Additionally, Burgess began composing a Concerto for Harmonica and Strings, but unfortunately, he never completed the work.

More about Anthony Burgess and Paul Phillips

Paul Phillips has written several books about Anthony Burgess. In his book: A Clockwork Counterpoint: The Music and Literature of Anthony Burgess, he dedicates an entire chapter to exploring why Burgess composed works for the harmonica.

It is definitely worth reading this fascinating book. When he began writing “A Clockwork Counterpoint”, Paul says he started with the harmonica chapter, 28 “The Sad Suck-and-Blow“. Chapters 67 and 68 of “The Devil Prefers Mozart” are about Larry Adler and John Sebastian, respectively.

Gerry Ezard – chromatic harmonica player and teacher

Gerry Ezard as a friend and organiser

A personal tribute from Roger Trobridge – former Chairman of HarmonicaUK.

Gerry was living in London as a child and studied accordion at the Hohner run, “British College of Accordionists“. He preferred harmonica and ended up being very successful in the National Harmonica League (NHL) UK Championships in the 1950s.

This led to him being asked to join the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang, a professional variety act. Gerry decided it was not what he wanted and after his National Service he established a business in his beloved Wales.

It was a big success and when he retired, he left it to his family and returned to the harmonica.

Gerry demonstrating the chromatic harmonica

This was about the time I took over as Chairman of the National Harmonica League (now HarmonicaUK) in October 2000. We met up through the forum on my website and he immediately joined the committee, where his business and musical experience was invaluable.

Gerry was very involved with the transfer of the annual festival to the Folk House in Bristol in 2001.Ben Hewlett was teaching a blues class for musicians there and he thought it would be a great venue.

He took a back seat around 2010 but continued to support the Chromatic Weekend festival which he had set up in 2006.

Gerry had other interests and he became leader of the Mid Glamorgan Accordion Band, still playing his chromatic harmonica. He also enjoyed writing and the research that went into it. When we met up earlier this year he was about to visit Scotland to check out the background for his latest novel.

You can learn out more from Gerry himself in this 60 mins video based on a talk he gave to the Porthcawl U3A about his life as a harmonica player entitled “Remember when you got your first harmonica“.

Gerry Ezard, performer, musician and author

Gerry has recorded two CDS, (“Just My Stuff” and “More of My Stuff”) and is also an author (Gerald Ezard) of a self produced book, “Mar$”, available through Amazon.

When Gerry performed on stage he would always dress for the occasion. It was part of the performance. His playing was of the highest standard, something he tried to pass on to anyone wishing to learn. From the time he joined the NHL in 2001, he ran workshops on all aspects of playing the chromatic harmonica. In 2006 he set up the Chromatic Weekend Festival, in Birmingham, along with Steve Dooley, which resulted in an increased awareness and uptake of the chromatic harmonica.

Gerry was always happy on stage and would always have something to say. As the following examples will show, he loved to act out stories, often in the style of the characters from the stories of Mickey Spillane and Damon Runyon – gumshoes, gangsters and gamblers. Like Larry Adler – no opportunity was missed to make it a better story.

with apologies to
Mickey Spilane

Harmonica World
Dec-Jan 2005

It was quiet, too quiet, when I crossed the reception at Jurys. The blond behind the desk wasn’t giving anything away through those baby blue peepers.

The lights were low and the noise of the gang drowned out the background music when I hit the bar. Wheels sat in his usual place eyeing the crowd, Babs, his doll, glanced up as I sashayed in hoping they wouldn’t notice the bulge of cold metal under my armpit.

I knew something was going down, but as long as it wasn’t me in a cement overcoat I was too tired to
care. I flung myself into a chair in the shadows. They were all there – Babyface Jamie, Fast Eddie, and
Fingers Lee and his Ma, Lady C.

Lady C slid the paper over to Wheels and his eyes narrowed as he glanced it over. ‘Hey Jamie, you handle this stuff?’ he breathed. Babyface sidled over, casual like, and the bar went silent as he slowly pulled out a silver 48. Yeah, “Wheels”, he nodded, ‘I can fix it’. Everyone’s hands were in the open, I kept mine there too, and smiled like I knew too much.

Wheels raked the room with his eyes, nobody looked up, ‘Any of youse guys ready to roll’ he queried. The question hung in the air like a harmonic minor. The dame nodded ‘I’m in’ she drawled, ‘Me too’ added Fast Eddie, both producing mean looking 48s.

I shrunk into the shadows but it was too late, Wheels fixed me with his eyes. A long moment passed, ‘You’re in Pops’, he announced, and I knew there was no backing out. I was glad I’d packed my big 56 because this little number was going to be a doozy.

Then Fingers began to tinkle the ivories and Wheels began to play. Lady C narrowed her eyes and joined in with Babyface alongside. Me, I was with Fast Eddie, and we all watched each other to see what went down.

Well it went something like that after the festival concert, when, at 1am in Jurys lounge, five chromatic players. Carol Axford, Gerry Ezard, Jamie Dolan, Eddie Ong and Douglas Tate played Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, with Lee Axford at the piano. The bar was still crowded with hotel guests, and there were a few surprised looks as the elegant music silenced the conversation.

It was one of those magic moments, and Douglas, with his wife Barbara at his side, had somehow managed to raise us all from our post festival day stupor to enjoy playing Bach in the early hours of the morning.

I’m glad I was there. We will remember Douglas by playing this again one day.

Gerry (Pops) Ezard

Repeat performance at Douglas Tate’s Memorial Service (21 April 2006)

Here is a video of a repeat performance of the music that was played in the bar at Jurys Hotel in Bristol, on that Saturday night. Again Gerry Ezard is the narrator and a performer alongside Colin Mort, Philip Achille, Eddie Ong and Jamie Dolan. The 9 mins recording is taken from Douglas Tate’s Memorial service in Olney Parish Church, which added its own reverb to the chromatic harmonicas.

Gerry Ezard in Concert

Gerry played in many NHL/HarmonicaUK concerts and Chromatic Weekends. He loved the film music and Light Music of his youth. Here he plays two arrangements by Tommy Reilly from the Festival Concert in 2011 and also demonstrates his sartorial elegance.

Tribute from HarmonicaUK

It was with sadness and heavy hearts that we learned of Gerry’s passing. Everyone who had the pleasure of meeting him will miss him greatly.

Gerry played a major role in rebuilding HarmonicaUK and the teaching and promotion of his beloved chromatic harmonica.

A professional performer on stage – off stage he was warm and generous with an impish sense of humour.

The Gerry Ezard Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Tribute Fund

There is a Gerry Ezard – Forever By the Sea Tribute Fund page for donations. Gerry was an avid Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) supporter. He loved life aboard his boat. Our first meeting was through a link to his Moonraker boat club.

Tommy Reilly Retrospective

Growing up

Tommy’s father, Captain James Reilly, was a bandmaster at the Royal Military School of Music (RMSM), Kneller Hall in Twickenham, London. He left for Canada after WW1 to become the bandmaster of the Guelph Army Battalion and also the leader of the OAC Symphony Orchestra and a local choir. Tommy Reilly was born there in Aug 1919.

When the depression started in 1929, Captain Reilly moved to the local Elmdale Public School as custodian and in 1930 he started a harmonica band at the school. It was very successful. Tommy studied violin and also played harmonica and accordion.

In 1935, James Reilly returned to England with his family to become a Musical Director of Hohner’ new Harmonica Song Band League. Within a couple of years Tommy was performing in a circus troop as a musician and acrobat and touring in Europe. In 1939 he was studying violin in the Leipzig Conservatory when war was declared and he spent over 5 years in German POW camps. He used this time to develop his prodigious harmonica technique utilising his knowledge of the violin and the playing of Jascha Heifetz.

You can hear more details of Tommy’s early life in this video from the Elgin County Heritage Society, in Canada.

Life as a harmonica soloist

After the war, Tommy returned to the UK and began performing with John Still, a pianist he had met in the POW camps. He quickly built up links with the BBC and played regularly on radio shows like Variety Bandbox and Workers Playtime. Tommy joined the Clarkson Rose Music Hall Review, Twinkle, and met Ena, the Principle Girl. They married and had a son, David.

Tommy was a household name by 1950 and he started composing for himself and Production Music companies like Conway and recording 78rpm records for the popular music market. His producer was George Martin who had just been made head of EMI’s Parlophone label. His best known recording is probably the Jack Warner 78rpm – An Ordinary Copper (Dixon of Dock Green), heard on the TV show and released as a single in 1958. These 78 rpm singles were never re-released.

Writing for the Production Music Libraries was very profitable and several pieces became well known as themes for TV and radio programmes in several countries. In the UK the best known were Family Joke (The Grove Family) and Trade Wind Hornpipe (The Navy Lark). Tommy wrote under several pseudonyms – Max Martin and Dwight Barker – and also with James Moody and his son, David.

Tommy’s concerts included popular and classical music, usually transcribed for harmonica. His fame led to pieces being composed for him by Michael Spivakovsky, Robert Farnon, James Moody, Gordon Jacob, Fried Walter, Graham Whettam, Alan Langford and Sir George Martin. He also performed works written for the harmonica by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Arthur Benjamin, and Villa-Lobos.

Another area where Tommy was active was on film soundtracks, The Sundowners, Yokohama Holiday and most notably, Midnight Cowboy, which is the subject of another of my blogs.

Tommy Reilly International Club (TRIC)

Tommy was always interested in education and like his father, Captain James Reilly, he wrote several instruction books. Tommy went further and decided to teach harmonica at his new home, Hammonds Wood, in 1977. He started TRIC and several musical events were held with some top players from around the world. It proved unworkable and lasted only for a few years. This is covered in detail in another of my blogs.
Tommy Reilly International Club

Concerts and Workshops

Member of the Order of the British Empire – 1992

Queen Elizabeth presented Tommy Reilly with the MBE for ‘services to music’ in 1992.

Discography

Here are links to Tommy’s vast collection of audio recordings.

Singles and EPs 78/45rpm
LP Albums 33rpm
CDs and featured Artist Recordings
Music Library/Production Music

Larry Adler harmonica videos 1972 and 2000

Here are some videos I have restored or edited showing Larry Adler at the peak of his ability in 1971 and also from his final year in 2000/2001.

1971 – “Playing the Thing

In 1971 Chris Morphet created his harmonica film “Playing the Thing” and this included visiting Larry Adler at his flat in Brighton (UK) where he was interviewed and recorded playing several pieces of music. Some of the footage was included in “Playing the Thing” but most of it was lost on the editing floor. I recovered most of the out-takes and reconstructed the original full interview and performances. Here are the resulting videos. The quality is not perfect as some of the 16 mm film was damaged or missing and was from different sources.

Interview  https://vimeo.com/987579664

Malaguena – https://vimeo.com/987579584

Gavotte – https://vimeo.com/987579649

Smoke gets in your eyes – https://vimeo.com/987579604

Genevieve – https://vimeo.com/987579631

The full story of my continuing reconstruction of “Playing the Thing” with the interviews with Larry Adler, Sonny Terry, Cham’ber Huang, James Cotton, Bill Dicey, Andy Paskas, The Herold Trio, Hohner ….. can be found on the Playing the Thing” website.

The website also has a video of the original film, “Playing the Thing“, which was released in 1972.

2000-2001 – Larry Adler’s final years

Here are some other videos from Larry’s last year before his death in 2001.

One is from his appearance at the Millennium Festival in Bournemouth (UK) in 2000 organised by John Walton and the IHO.

The others are from his last days when he secretly left his hospital bed to play in the Albert Hall, and the tribute concert held a few months after his death.

You can watch these on my blog page – The final years of Larry Adler (1914-2001)

The final years of Larry Adler (1914-2001)

Despite his poor heath, Larry did what he always did.
He played until he finally had to leave the stage.


I first got to know Larry when I joined the National Harmonica League (NHL, HarmonicaUK) committee in 1999. Larry was our President and needed help with his office. Gout had frozen his fingers making it very difficult for him to answer emails and write his articles and reviews. I visited Larry regularly and made his computer more accessible.

I had set up the NHL website which had a page listing his many gigs around the country and in his favourite location, Larry’s Room in The Pizza in the Park , London, where his bronze was on show.

Larry Adler Bronze

Larry returned from a successful concert with Cham’ber Huang in Hong Kong in December 1999 and after a series of UK gigs he made a short tour in Australia in May 2000. On his return he wrote, “I’m playing at the Edinburgh Festival Aug 5 and 6, later in September at the Palace Theatre, London as part of the Soho Jazz Festival. Found a sensational piano accompanist whom I’m importing for these events.” This was the 18 year old Simon Tedeschi from Australia. He looked after Larry’s musical needs until his death, a year later.

Simon Tedeschi

Larry was set to tour Australia in 2000, and for whatever reason his pianist was indisposed. When he found out that a teenager was due to accompany him instead, he wasn’t happy in the slightest, and as anyone knows, Larry came from an era in which feelings were not held back. But when we met, the music flowed instantaneously. He called me son, and I called him pop. We exchanged Jewish jokes and talked about the world. He was a complex man, with many sides, some of them difficult, others charming and affable.

We went on, after that tour, to travel the world together. As his health failed, I had to do more and more to ‘fill in the gaps’ musically, but I never stopped learning from Larry, simply from being around him. I never quite worked out which of his stories were 100% true and which were confabulated, and I don’t think he quite knew either.

We performed at Pizza on the Park in Knightsbridge at least twenty times, and each time was a joy. We travelled on the Orient Express together, which I will never forget. We argued and laughed, jostled and teased. He was the first ‘legend’ I ever worked with.

Until only a week or so ago, I had no idea any footage of us playing together existed. I was his last pianist and according to him, the finest Gershwin exponent he’d ever heard. I still like to use that quote wherever I can!

Videos of Larry’s last performances

Larry Adler and Simon Tedeschi performed together on many occasions including at the IHO Millennium Festival Concert in Bournemouth, UK, 7-10 September, 2000. Larry was very ill but he did not want to disappoint his harmonica friends – he was President of the NHL. He arrived in a wheel chair and was assisted to and from the stage.

Here is the video from the concert.

After Larry’s death in August 2001, there was a Tribute Concert in The Arts Theatre in London, 30 October 2001. It was attended by lots of Larry’s friends and colleagues from the entertainment industry, including his brother Jerry, and Sir George Martin. Music was provided by Simon Tedeschi, Hot Club de Londres, Izzy Van Randwyck, and Harry Pitch.

Here is a link to the video of the concert.

This was Larry’s last gig. He was in hospital in June 2001 and there was a big musical birthday party for his old friend, Prince Philip. His doctors would not let him take part so he slipped quietly out of his room, went to the concert in the Albert Hall and returned to the hospital.

Unfortunately for Larry the concert was televised by the BBC…

Here is a link to the video of Larry’s Great Escape.

Larry died in the hospital on 6 August, 2001.

Simon Tedeschi went on to have a successful career as a musician and writer – https://simontedeschi.com

Other Larry Adler pages on my blog


Larry opened the the doors which the harmonica players who followed him were able to walk through.

Here is a link to my one minute tribute video

Larry Adler thank you

The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 8, from 2000)

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021.


Roger Trobridge takes over from Colin Mort and John Walton

The new millennium, 2000, brought about a rebirth of the National Harmonica League. John Walton and then Colin Mort had created and kept the now independent NHL running since 1981, but at a personal cost to themselves. The membership of about 300 was not growing and many of the members who had helped to run and inspire it had stood down or died.

The friction between the John and Colin and their respective organisations, the IHO and the NHL, was not helping. The successful International Millennium Festival in Bournemouth run by John Walton marked the end of the IHO and Colin asked me to take over as Chairman of the NHL. Apparently my experience developing Mars/Dove ice cream made up for my inability to play the harmonica. Larry Adler died in 2001 and Paul Jones agreed to take over as President.

Moving into the digital age

Times had changed and I was familiar with the (then) new world of the Internet and I had already started integrating our activities into a website packed with information about what we did, plus educational resources and forums to bring the membership together. The improved communication by Skype and email also meant that meetings no longer had to be held face to face and documents could be shared instantly rather than sent by post. Another effect was that the committee could now function with members based in their home. Administration costs almost disappeared.

Other things had changed. The older members had been mainly chromatic players but younger diatonic blues players were getting involved. I am a researcher at heart and it was apparent that there was no archive of what had been achieved so I set about collecting what I could from previous Chairmen (John Tyler, John Walton and Colin Mort) as well as Steve Proctor (Sutherland Trading) who was part of Hohner at that time, and collectors like John Bryan and Brian Holland. These showed that the tremolo and traditional music, particularly English music, were not really represented in the NHL. A meeting with Ernie Gordon and his friendship with Will Atkinson was instrumental in remedying this.

The expanded annual festivals

In 2001, I attended the SPAH Convention in Denver and the World Harmonica Festival (WHF/Hohner) in Trossingen, Germany.

Both of them lasted for four days and showed the value of “total immersion” festivals.

The contacts I made with artists, enthusiasts and administrators turned out to be vital as the NHL began to evolve and grow its range of activities.

We needed to find a way to do the same and we were very fortunate that Ben Hewlett was teaching at the Folk House, in Bristol. In 2001 we convinced them to hire out the whole building to us from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and we established a long running, tolerant, agreement with Jurys (The Bristol Hotel), and as they say, the rest is history.

Taking part in the official side of the SPAH and WHF festivals showed that we were a member of the international harmonica community.

We became more outward looking both in the magazine and the many overseas artists we invited to our annual festivals, including a young Greg Szlap and Rachelle Plas, and established artists like Joe Filisko, Willi Berger, Will Galison, Pete ‘Madcat’ Ruth, Fata Morgana and Antonio Serrano. Howard Levy gave a workshop and concert in London.

The new committee members

Colin Mort and Frank Eatwell stayed on to help the new committee which was fortunate to pick up some very useful members. Pete Wheat had great contacts with the European Blues Association, Gerry Ezard combined a business background with a lifetime playing chromatic at the highest level. Phil Leiwy kept a tight grip on the finances and Dave Hambley modernised the membership systems. Barbara Tate looked after our IT needs. Many others helped where they could especially at the annual festival which Ben Hewlett organised. The membership rose steadily to over 600.

The Chromatic Weekend and Blue Saturdays

By 2005 it was clear that we needed to provide support for chromatic players as we had been doing with Blue Saturday tuition days for diatonic players.

We decided to run a weekend residential course in Birmingham partly for the location but also to be near to Jim Hughes and Philip Achille. The Chromatic Weekend started up in June in 2006 and following work by Gerry Ezard, Steve Dooley, Colin Mort, Neil Warren, David Hambley, Davina Brazier, and Hilvert Scheper. It is still running and is now located at the Hillscourt Hotel.

The NHL becomes a Charity

The NHL had wanted to be officially recognised as a charity like many other similar organisations, for a long time. In 2009 the NHL was granted Charity Status in recognition of the work it does. This had financial implications but it also is a public record of status of the organisation.

Ben Hewlett takes over as Chairman

I stood down as Chairman in 2012 and Ben Hewlett took over.

This the end of the history as I need to tell it.

I stayed on as editor of the magazine which I had edited since 2002 and continued its development as the modern, international magazine that it had become.

Pete Hewitt becomes Chairman

Ben kept the NHL moving and tackled the three major problems he inherited. How to find a new editor for the magazine as I was long past retirement age, what to do about the name of the organisation, and to find successor to run the organisation? Dave Taylor took over as editor in 2019. The name change took a few years to happen but finally he solved his biggest problem when he persuaded Pete Hewitt to take over as Chairman in 2020.

Pete has revolutionised and reinvigorated the organisation using his management and people skills to find and entrap many new volunteers. The responsibilities are now spread more broadly making the organisation more resilient, as shown by its reaction to Covid restrictions. A series of On-line Festivals, regular workshops and a coffee morning were established to expand the contact with members. Barry Elms, Dave Colclough and Steve Pardue brought a totally professional approach to the magazine.

Working with Richard Taylor, Pete oversaw an impressive brand relaunch program which has resulted in the official change in name to HarmonicaUK. A set of brand images and core values which have been applied to the new web site, the magazine and all other activities like the Outreach programme.

Into the Future with Barry Elms and Dave Colclough

HarmonicaUK has a secure and developing future, building on it’s deep roots in harmonica history.

Barry Elms took over as Chairman in 2022 and Dave Colclough succeeded him in 2023.


Back to History of HarmonicaUK home index page.

The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 7, 1986-2000)

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021.


In the Part 6, John Walton stood down as President of the National Harmonica League having tried to build up a sustainable organisation. His move to a more International, monthly A4 magazine in 1986 had resulted in both his personal company, Able Music Ltd, and the NHL becoming unprofitable. Colin Mort agreed to take over as President in 1987, and he began a series of loans needed to keep the NHL running. John Walton became the Secretary, Treasure and Magazine Editor.

Colin needed to make more fundamental changes to the organisation to help it break even. John’s A4 glossy magazine was soon replaced by a much simpler and cheaper A5 version. Larry Adler agreed to become President of the NHL with Norm Dobson remaining as Vice President. Colin became Chairman and he invited more people onto the committee to share the load and make it more democratic. Dave Beckford, David Michelsen Pat Missin, Jim Hughes, Victor Brooks, Tony Perry, and Ken Howell are just some of the ones who helped over the years. Steve Jennings edited the magazine until 1995 when Colin took it over. John Walton became more involved with the International Harmonica Organisation (IHO) and when its President, Peter Janssen, died in 1993, John replaced him.

The winners of the 1987 Open Competition took part in The First Harmonica World Championships organised and run in Jersey by Jim Hughes with support from some NHL members.

The NHL settled into an annual cycle of events with a small informal Spring Hoolie, an Open National Harmonica Championships and a weekend Convention/AGM. This broke down after a dispute at the 1994 Open Championships when the judges decided that none of the chromatic players reached the standard expected of a National Champion and the prizes were not awarded. The competition restarted two years later but as a best on the day event rolled into the annual festival and AGM.

Mike Sadler ran courses in the Victoria Adult Education Centre in Gravesend using his own method to teach harmonica and he formed a group called The Blowhards. Derek Yorke and Dave Bedford were members. The only recent UK quartet, Four in Accord, started there. Colin Mort set up Southern Harmonics for players in the Hampshire area.

About the same time, 1989, Norman Ives was introducing the scouts in the 5th St Mary’s Group in Great Yarmouth to all types of harmonica. David Michelsen joined to provide more teaching and with financial support from NHL members and its own magazine, Kiddin’ Around.

This group of children progressed over the next 6 years from beginners to performing at Glastonbury, playing for Disney in the USA and appearing at numerous festivals and TV shows. Known as Harp Start, they achieved a very high standard of solo and group playing, including winning World Championships in Trossingen, Germany in 1993. Unfortunately the activity had to stop.

Norman Ives ran the best known harmonica shop in the UK with the tag line – You can get one of
those from Norman
. Along with David Michelsen he held a popular series of Residential Blues Tuition Weekends in Caister from 1994-96. David then worked with Steve Jennings and later, Pat Missin, to develop a one day event which could be held anywhere. This was called a Blue Saturday and the first one took place in Corby in July 1996, They continued up to 1999 and Johnny Mars and Colin Mort assisted at some of them. The experiences learned from the Blue Saturday events led to similar events being run by other players around the country. Another off-shoot of this activity was the attempt to provide certification for harmonica teachers, The Harmonica Teachers Accreditation Board (HTAB). This is no longer active.

After 1995 Colin found himself short of volunteers and he was doing much of the committee work himself. I joined the committee in 1999 as Colin tried to find a way to pass on the control to someone else. My role was to build an Internet presence for the NHL which we did very successfully that year, with the harmonica.co.uk website (now harmonica.uk) and an email based forum for members. Volunteers were found for some of the other roles.

There had always been a strained relationship between the IHO and the NHL despite there having been a shared Hoolie festival in 1994. Some players were members of both organisations. Things came to a head when the IHO decided to hold an International Centennial Festival in Bournemouth in 2000. John Walton wanted to run it with financial support from the NHL, but Colin had worked hard to make the NHL sustainable and he wanted assurances about financial liabilities.

Colin did not get them so John Walton went ahead alone. John pulled it off but both he and Colin were worn out. The IHO organisation had also run out of steam and when Colin asked me if I would take over as Chairman said I would do the job if the infighting stopped.

Next time we will see what the new century would bring.


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The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 6, 1981-1986)

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021.


Life after Hohner

We left Part 5 in our history at the point where Hohner had enlisted a prominent NHL member, John Tyler, to reinvigorate their organisation, the NHL. Things came to a head in 1980 when John Tyler felt he had done all he could and the Hohner management decided that they could not continue to promote the NHL in the way they had done for the previous 50 years. They needed a way forward.

John Walton was born in South Africa in 1940. He was a successful chromatic harmonica player and entertainer who had met many of the top performers.

John had worked in Variety and on cruise ships before moving to the UK in 1978. He settled in Bournemouth with his family and immediately got involved with the NHL.

John Walton was born in South Africa in 1940. He was a successful chromatic harmonica player and entertainer who had met many of the top performers. John had worked in Variety and on cruise ships before moving to the UK in 1978. He settled in Bournemouth with his family and immediately got involved with the NHL.

In 1981 John had meetings with John Tyler who had decided to step down and dedicate more time to his job as a headmaster. John Walton agreed to take over as Director in 1982. He had always wanted to start a harmonica club – now he had one and he set out to make it successful. A new membership card and a lapel badge was produced.

At the time of the handover, the membership of the NHL was over 2000 but the majority of them had paid £1 to receive the magazine. Once Hohner decided to withdraw its financial support for the NHL, John had to raise the membership fee to £6 to cover the forecast running costs, and the membership fell to a couple of hundred.

Initially Hohner continued to edit, print and distribute Harmonica News and John Walton provided the content. John became frustrated when Hohner edited his writing and controlled some non-Hohner content.

By the time of John’s first NHL event, The Convention, at the Guildhall in Southampton in Nov 1982 he had decided on some major changes. At the AGM it was agreed that the name of the magazine would be changed to Harmonica World because Harmonica News was registered to Hohner. Operating costs had to be brought under control so they reduced the magazine size from A4 to A5, and the Walton family printed and posted out the magazine themselves.

The NHL was fully independent of Hohner but controlled by John Walton. John became President with his wife Jeanette as Secretary. Norm Dobson (US) was appointed as Chairman and Area Secretaries were set up to encourage local activities.

The Convention became the NHL’s main annual event with the 1983 event being held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Stratford upon Avon. John held a competition for the Young Harmonica Player of the Year, which was won in 1982 and 1983 by Rowena Gelling (now Millar). She was awarded the Fred Southern Trophy. Many familiar names were members at this time – Frank Eatwell, Colin Mort, Jim Hughes, Doug Tate, Ken Howell, Jimmy English, Alf Clay, Windsor Carlisle and a future Chairman, Pete Hewitt.

The Convention became the NHL’s main annual event with the 1983 event being held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Stratford upon Avon. John held a competition for the Young Harmonica Player of the Year, which was won in 1982 and 1983 by Rowena Gelling (now Millar). She was awarded the Fred Southern Trophy. Many familiar names were members at this time – Frank Eatwell, Colin Mort, Jim Hughes, Doug Tate, Ken Howell, Jimmy English, Alf Clay, Windsor Carlisle and the current Chairman, Pete Hewitt.

Subsequent Conventions were held in Westcliff-on-Sea (1984), Blenheim Palace (1985), Bournemouth (1986) and Western-Super-Mare (1987).

An additional event was added to the calendar in 1986 when Frank Eatwell held the Open Harmonica Championship in Banbury. Jim Hughes organised a similar British Harmonica Championship and Gala Concert in Shirley, Birmingham in 1987. Later that year, Jim produced the first genuine World Championships in Jersey (Channel Islands) which was the template on which the subsequent Hohner four yearly festivals were based.

John Walton always wanted the NHL to be an international organisation and he travelled to many overseas harmonica events. In 1984 he visited SPAH with this family harmonica group, the Harmonaires, and in 1985 he took a party of NHL members, including Jim Hughes, to a week long HarmonicaFest run jointly with the renowned chromatic player, Cham’ber Huang, in Silver Bay in Upstate New York.

Towards the end of 1985 John Walton made a big decision. He changed the focus of Harmonica World and renamed it Harmonica World International. The simple, quarterly A5, personally printed magazine became a new glossy, monthly A4, international harmonica magazine printed by his family company, Able Music. John continued to feature NHL News but he opened it up to all harmonica clubs around the world. He had wanted to build a world wide harmonica magazine with up to date news, but he was about thirty years too soon. It would need the Internet and live, online digital magazines before this could be done profitably.

At the same time that John changed the magazine he became a founder member and Treasurer of the new International Harmonica Organisation (IHO) set up by Peter Janssen from Holland. The IHO decided to use Harmonica World International as their official organ. NHL members were encouraged to join both organisations.

John Walton stepped down as President at the AGM at the end of 1986, having agreed that Colin Mort would take over. John stayed on as Treasurer/Secretary. He had achieved a lot in his 5 years in charge, raising standards and building up the organisation, but a new approach was needed. The losses incurred by the new magazine had become too great and the 18th issue in June 1987 was the final one.

The next part of our history will cover the move to a true members’ organisation and the recovery of the NHL finances.


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The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 5, 1975-1981)

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021.


Hohner’s final attempt to keep the organisation going

The decline in Hohner’s financial and marketing support for harmonicas and accordions in the UK came to a head with the breaking of links with the NAO, the National Accordion Organisation, and the halt to the production of the magazine “Accordion Times incorporating Harmonica News”, in 1974. From 1959 the NAO and the magazine had been the “home” for the National Harmonica League (NHL). It included a harmonica competition in its annual Accordion Day. Now there was no harmonica magazine to capture its history.

In 1974, the Accordion Day was held in Brighton. The harmonica competition was mainly for chromatic players and the winner was 16 year old Ivan Richards from West Heath, Birmingham, a pupil of Jim Hughes. In 1975 the event was held in Scarborough and the Larry Adler Challenge Cup was again won by Ivan, only this time he was the only contestant. Interest was waning.

Later that year, Hohner invited several blues harp players to take part in a competition sponsored by Hohner and “Sounds” magazine in the Kings Road Theatre, Chelsea which was judged by Steve Rye and Judd Proctor. Six were chosen and asked to travel as a team to the World Championships in Offenburg, Germany. They were the first blues harp players to take part in the World Championships. They included Steve Smith, Paul Lamb and Chris Turner and they won the Group Contest. Chris also won the diatonic competition. The other member of the British team was Ivan Richards and he won the Chromatic competition at the age of 17. He had been fourth in Ypres, Belgium in 1973.

Here is an image of “The Magnificent Seven” who took part in the Championship.

Britain’s harmonica heroes

(from left): Chris Taylor (winner of Diatonic Harmonica Championship, Antony Grant, Paul Lamb, Spitfire” Andrew Walton, Peter Hopewell. Centre: Ivan Richards (winner of Chromatic Harmonica Championship). Front: Steve Smith. Except Ivan Richards, all players formed a new harp group called “Blowjob” which also came away with the top prize in their group section (Sounds)

There is little information from 1976 but there was a chromatic championship in Weston-Super-Mare, which was won by Paul Templar. He had been a performer in the 1960s and was recovering from a serious lung disease.

He released a four track EP, Harmonica Magic.

Hohner’s last throw of the dice

At the end of 1976, Derek Kirk was Marketing Manager at Hohner under their Managing Director, Dirk Kommer. With their PR man, Les Stewart, he invited John Tyler, a headmaster from Essex, to become the Director of a relaunched NHL organisation which would be supported by Hohner. John had been a prominent member of the NHL and an accomplished chromatic player since the end of the 1950s. He accepted the challenge and set about opening up the organisation to all styles of harmonica, especially the popular blues harmonica players.

There was a strong membership drive with a small annual charge which included the new magazine – still called Harmonica News – and the circular NHL logo was born. The membership was about 1000 in 1977 and rose to over 2,500 by the end of 1979.

John’s big idea was to hold Get Together concerts in London, Birmingham and Manchester. The London ones were held in Cecil Sharp House in 1977 and 1979, and the other two were held in 1978. These concerts included many top players including Steve Smith, Harry Pitch, Paul Jones, Johnny Mars, Steve Rye, Paul Rowan, Jimmy Andrews, Carol Axford, Paul Templar, Brian Chaplin, Fred Southern …

If anyone has any programmes or tape recordings from these events, please let me know.

Alongside this activity the new “Harmonica News” (A4 size) was a huge improvement. Probably one of the best the NHL has produced.

It was full of topical news, articles, images and interviews with top touring players like Toots, Charlie McCoy and Sonny Terry as well as British artists.

By the end of 1979 it had become obvious that all this great work was not being rewarded by a growing and paying membership. The NHL had always had an international appeal and in 1980 they decided to make the magazine more colourful and broaden its appeal. It became the “International Harmonica Magazine incorporating Harmonica News”.

They published a couple of issues of the new magazine in 1980/81 before Hohner finally decided to call it a day. One of the main drivers, Derek Kirk, had moved on and John Tyler had done all he could.

Where did the NHL go next? South Africa?


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