Category: Tributes

The Clockwork Orange Harmonica Compositions

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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

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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.

Bach in the Bar

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.

Larry Adler harmonica videos 1972 and 2000

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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)

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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

Chromatic Harmonica Music from Tommy Reilly Tribute Concert

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Douglas Tate, Jim Hughes, Philip Achille, Frank Semus, and Ola Braein perform music for the chromatic harmonica at a concert organised by Ena Reilly in Frensham Church in 2004, accompanied by Chris Collis (piano) and the Quartet Pro Musica.

Music includes three works for Harmonica and String Quartet – ‘Divertimento’, ‘A Yorkshire Tale’ and ‘Somerset Garland’ – plus solo pieces by Fauré , James Moody, David and Tommy Reilly, Tchaikovski, and Norwegian traditional music.

The original concert included performances by singers Hannah Poulsom and Jim Heath, but this video only includes the harmonica performances. The start times for the individual artists and pieces of music are given below.

An evening sponsored by The Tommy Reilly Appreciation Society in Frensham Church in 2004

Concert Programme

Douglas Tate and Chris Collis (piano)
0:01:00 – Berceuse (Fauré )
0:04:30 – Three Irish Dances (arr James Moody)

Philip Achille and Chris Collis (piano)
0:07:20 – Little Suite, 3rd and 4th movements (James Moody)

James Hughes and Philip Achille with String Quartet
0:14:40 -1771 (James Moody)

James Hughes and String Quartet
0:18:00 – Divertimento for harmonica and string quartet (Gordon Jacob) – 4 movements
0:29:00 – A Yorkshire Tale – Ronnie Hazelhurst

Frank Semus and Chris Collis (piano)
0:37:40 – Canzonetta from 2nd Movement of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
0:43:59 – Age of Innocence – David Reilly

Ola Braein and Chris Collis (piano)
0:47:33 – Wedding march
0:49:21 – Visetone (Norwegian traditional)
0:52:00 – Lord, look upon our joy (Norwegian traditional)
0:53:28 – Vårsøg (wind of spring) – Henning Sommerro
0:56:40 – Spanish folk song (traditional)

James Hughes with String Quartet
0:59:00 – Somerset Garland (Paul Lewis)
1:13:05 – Bavarian Woodpecker (Tommy Reilly)

Concert End
1:15:24 – Thanks to Ena Reilly


Chromatic Harmonica Music from Douglas Tate Memorial

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This video contains all the chromatic harmonica music played during the Memorial Service held on April 21st, 2006, in Olney Parish Church. Douglas Tate was a charismatic UK harmonica player, engineer and teacher. He had played in World Championships, broadcast on the BBC, and written books on the maintenance and playing of the chromatic harmonica. He became President of SPAH in 2000 but his term was sadly ended by cancer.

Douglas had been involved with the National Harmonica League (now HarmonicaUK) for most of his adult life and the musicians who took part in the Memorial Service were friends from the organisation. Gerry Ezard, Colin Mort, and Harry Pitch were long time friends and Philip Achille, Eddie Ong and Jamie Dolan were youngsters that Douglas had encouraged.

  • 01:20 mins – Douglas Tate – Sonata for Harmonica (Peter Jenkyns)
  • 06:00 mins – Jamie Dolan – Mulberry Cottage
  • 09:00 mins – Harry Pitch – Last of the Summer Wine
  • 13:00 mins – Philip Achille – Ashokan Farewell
  • 17:50 mins – Jang Ming – No Place Like Home
  • 19:00 mins – Ensemble – Bach Double Violin Concerto
  • 27:40 mins – Jamie – Dark Island
  • 30:00 mins – Douglas Tate – Trio Sonata in F major (Jean-Baptiste Loeillet)

You can learn much more about Douglas Tate and his life from my articles in the Harmonica World magazine issue shown in the video above. It can be viewed here.

Here is a link to a page of Douglas’ recordings and sheet music put together by Barbara Tate.

Terry Potter – Traditional Tremolo Harmonica Player

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I learned about Terry Potter from Eddie Upton in 2008. Eddie ran Folk South West when he came to the National Harmonica League festival. He was able to give me the names of some harmonica players who were active in the English folk music scene.

These are included in my blog page on British traditional harmonica players.

It is work in progress.

Terry Potter is a tremolo player who has been active since the 1960s with the modern traditional musicians like Ashley Hutchings (‘The Compleat Dancing Master‘, ‘Kicking Up The Sawdust‘) as well as playing with the Etchingham Steam Band, Potters Wheel and his family group, Cousins and Sons.

Along with Richard Taylor, I interviewed Terry Potter in his home in Sussex in 2009. I am using this and subsequent written communication to write this blog.

Terry was born in 1935 and is a traditional folk musician. He first became involved after his extended National Service in Germany, when he attended a local folk club in 1957, in the Free Christian Hall, in Horsham, West Sussex, where he still lives. It was run by his parents and he joined in all the dancing. He wanted to play this sort of music and remembered he had some old mouth organs at home. His father had played mouth organ and Terry had played a few pop songs – but not in public! Both his father, Charlie, and mother, Marjorie sang folk songs and were recorded by local collectors in the 1950s. Their original songbook was presented to the Horsham Museum.

He was allowed to join in at the next dance and soon learned to play a number of tunes, like ”Joe the Carrier Lad‘, from three ladies, The Benacre Band, who came to the club. They invited him to play with their band. He played his first concert that year which lead to to his first band, ‘The Derrydowners Folk Band’ with Geoff Hedger (piano), Derrick Smith (accordion), George Whetton (banjo), Lionel Bounton and Tony Wales (drums). It played for Barn Dances throughout Sussex for over 25 years

Terry formed a folk club in Horsham in 1958 with Tony Wales called called Horsham Songswappers, and the Horsham Folk Club continues to this day. Folk musicians were a close knit group and Terry joined up with Paul Morris (guitar/banjo) and Mike Howley (accordion) and played with them at ‘The Troubadour‘ at the time of the London folk boom, and with ‘Benacre Band‘ at the Albert Hall, in London, in 1958. There was also ‘The ‘Pandemonium String Band‘ with Pete Marsden (fiddle, guitar and vocal) in 1958 and ‘Country Cousins‘ began in 1962. Terry collected folk albums and played in the Ceilidh, jazz and blues clubs in Dublin and made visits to Germany.

In 1970, Terry was in Martyn Wyndham-Read’s band, ‘No Man’s Band‘ and they were heard busking in Leicester Square, London. They were playing Ned Kelly songs outside the premier of the film ‘Ned Kelly‘, staring Mick Jagger, and they ended up playing them on the BBC2 late night TV show.

Terry met Ashley Hutchins in 1972 when he was recording an album of traditional tunes with well known folk musicians, ‘The Compleat Dancing Master‘.

Terry played on the three tracks below:
First, ‘Haste to the Wedding‘ –
2:10 mins, ‘The Triumph‘ –
4:25, ‘Off She Goes‘.

Here are a couple of tracks from Shirley Collin’s 1974 album, ‘Adieu To Old England‘. First, ‘The Chiners‘ and then ‘Portsmouth‘.

From the 1970s, Terry played mouth organ occasionally with several progressive folk bands such as ‘The Albion Band‘, ‘Kicking up the Sawdust‘, ‘The Etchingham Steam Band‘, ‘Potters Wheel‘, and ‘No Man’s Band‘. These bands included great musicians Ashley Hutchins, Shirley Collins, Dave Mattocks, Simon Nicol, Martyn Wyndham-Read, John Kirkpatrick, Bob Cann, Grahame Taylor, Peter Bullock, Michael Gregory, John Tams, and John Rodd.

You can see glimpses of Terry in the first part of a video documentary about ‘The Albion Band‘.

Here is a link to the 1974 John Peel session with the Etchingham Steam Band.

Here Terry is featured on ‘Speed the Plough‘ on the ‘Kicking up the Sawdust‘ LP.

Some of these bands became very popular and some of the musicians went full time and toured Europe. Terry had a job and could not continue so he stood down and continued to play locally. He had worked with Metal Box but later did a series of local jobs.

Terry had continued to play with his cousin, Ian Holder, and wife, Margaret, since 1963 with various musicians but the band finally settled into, literally, Cousins and Sons‘ when they were joined by their sons, James Potter and Gary Holder. In 1978, John Tyler included their gigs in Harmonica News. They played together for 50 years but no longer play regularly in public. Fortunately, Dave Arthur recorded the group in 1993 in Terry’s sitting room.

Terry does not read music so he has built up his large repertoire of music by learning by ear. He only plays a tremolo but this has all the diatonic notes and it lets him play in many styles of music besides folk, including popular and some jazz tunes for fun. The mouth organ’s musical range is similar to other instruments in the bands but he can play in the higher octaves to have a more distinctive voice. He also uses a small Hohner mic and amplifier when playing in the band. Like Sonny Terry he plays the mouth organ upside down (back to front) with the high notes on the left.

Terry has made lots of recordings but the financial rewards are slim. His checks of the Royalties website suggest he may have to wait a while before they reach the level where they start paying out. He plays music for the heart and still gets nervous when he performs.

Terry has a large collection of mouth organs but his favourite is a Golden Melody which he plays in the keys of C,G,A,D,E and F. Hohner liked to get value from their brand names and this is not the well loved blues harp, but a tremolo harp.

Terry has made a collection of tracks called “Terry’s Collection – 1974 to 2001” which illustrates the range of his musical performances with different groups.

A = ‘Country Cousins‘, B = ‘Potter’s Wheel‘, C = ‘No Man’s Band‘, and D = ‘Etchingham Steam Band‘.

Track 1, A, Walpole Cottage

Track 2, A, Cumberland Reel/Rosin the Bow

Track 3, B, Acre of Land

Track 4, A, Cross of Arboe

Track 5, A, Michael Turner’s Trip to Cheltenham

Track 6, C, Three Morris Tunes

Track 7, B, April Morning

Track 8, A, Austrian Pottery

Track 9, A, Portsmouth/New Rigged Ship

Track 10, B, Dark Eyed Dinah

Track 11, A, Three Sea Captains

Track 12, A, Salmon Tails/Maggie in the Woods

Track 13, C, Shelter

Track 14, A, Bonnets so Blue

Track 15, D, Orange in Bloom

Track 16, B, Soldiers Glory/Brothers in York

Track 17, A, The Guilded Cage

Track 18, A, The Fyket and Bainbridge Girls

Log Cabin/Lisa Jane

Big Corral/Kemo Kimo (Sing Song Kitty)

Kitty McGee/Paddy Cary

Return to my blog page on British traditional harmonica players.

Chris Barber introduces touring US Blues Artists (1958/9)

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Chris Barber died 2 March 2021. Here he introduces some of the US blues performers who toured with his band in UK and Europe in the 1950s. Chris brought over a stream of American artists who helped to inspire the British Blues boom in the 1960s, through Cyril Davies and then youngsters like Paul Jones, Brian Jones and Mick Jagger. This is from the Chris Barber’ archive CD album, “Lost & Found Volume 2”, on Blues Legacy.

From CD “Lost & Found Volume 2”

Track list
1 – Intro Muddy Waters – Chris Barber
2 – Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters
3 – Intro Sonny Terry – Chris Barber
4 – Poor man Blues – Sonny Terry
5 – Intro Champion Jack Dupree – Chris Barber
6 – Merry Christmas Blues -Champion Jack Dupree

Dave Beckford (1935 – 2014)

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Dave Beckford’s story is a great example of the way many people took up the harmonica in the 1940s. Similar examples can be found in the lives Jim Hughes, Douglas Tate and the many other people who went on to play in local harmonica contests as soloists and members of harmonica groups.

Dave Beckford was born in Greenwich and spent most of his early life in Welling, London. He took up the diatonic harmonica at a young age and was soon playing popular dance tunes.

After learning how top players like Larry Adler were able to play so well, he saved up and bought his first Super Chromonica in 1950 for £2.16s.4d (£2.82) and played in the school’s Christmas party. When he left Bexley Heath Secondary school in 1951 he took part in a talent contest which led to some appearances for the Granada Theatre in Welling.

Dave became All Britain Chromatic Champion at the first post-war Championship held in in the Central Hall, Westminster, London in July 1953. He was 17 and this was his first major contest.

As Champion, he performed at a regional harmonica contest at the Elephant and Castle Cinema, in South East London, to promote the film Moulin Rouge. This is captured on the cover of the November issue of Harmonica News.

Dave then went out to Germany with Johnny Pluck to play in the World Championships in Duisberg. In 1954 he played with the Steve Race Orchestra on BBC TV, before doing his National Service.

Dave took time out after his time in the Army to raise a family and worked in the printing industry. It was not until the 1980s that he got involved with the harmonica again.

He joined the Blowhards Harmonica Club, a successful educational project run the by Mike Sadler in Gravesend in the late 80s. Dave was able and willing to help with members’ problems. He continued to do harmonica repairs for many years.

It was at one of these meetings that he met Derek Yorke and with the help of a chord player called Ron Mealin, they formed Three-in-Accord. A local headmaster, John Tyler, joined to play bass and so began Four in Accord. There were several personnel changes over the years. Jack Lewis took over the chord when Ron left. When John Tyler died, Dave helped Jim O’Driscoll to take on the bass. Jack Lewis left and Pat Lynus took over on chords. Four in Accord were the last performing quartet in the country and played all over Essex and Kent as well as at harmonica festivals.

Travelling to gigs became a problem for Pat so Roy Green took over the chord for the final line-up of the group after the Bournemouth Centennial festival in 2000. This line-up appeared a number of times at NHL Festivals up to 2007.

Four in Accord with Pat Lynas

Four in Accord with Roy Green

All of the group were members of the National Harmonica League (now HarmonicaUK) and Dave served on the committee for several years in the 1990s as the Secretary. Together they organised joint meetings with the Dartford Folk Club and ran important NHL festivals in Sible Hedingham. They were also important members of the IHO and were very involved with the Millenium Festival run by John Walton in Bournemouth in 2000.

Dave had to stop playing in his later years due to ill health, but he was always good company and a great musician.

Four in Accord – El Cumbanchero
Dave Beckford – Genevieve

Arikę’s Harmonica Bench

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I received an email from my friend Colin Parratt asking if I knew anything about a bench which his friend Martin had come across. I had to confess it didn’t know anything about it so he sent Martin’s photo to me. Martin lives in Folkestone (UK) and was the drummer in the barn dance band Colin used to play in.

The image looked like a bench based on a 7 hole harmonica. Across the back of the seat there is an inscription “Where Souls Meet”. The back of the bench was a strange shape so I decided to find out more about it.

There was an inscription on the side of the bench so I asked Colin to send me a picture of it so we could see what it said.

When I received Colin’s photo things became clearer. The plaque on the side read,

In memory of Arikę 

Musician, visual artist, teacher, therapist, inspirational blues harp player, father, grandfather and a proud black man.

At the bottom of the plaque was a QR code and when I scanned it it revealed a website – https://originsuntold.com

The website belongs to a charity, Origins Untold, a volunteer arts organisation presenting music, poetry, visual arts, fashion and food inspired and created by people of the African diaspora.

The website shows an event was held 12th June 2022, the second anniversary of Arike‘s death, to unveil.
a Blues Harp bench, designed by Pete Phillips and made by Cut Once Woodworks. The group walked from the Bandstand on the Leas in Folkestone, down the Zig Zag path to the Lower Coastal Park, where the bench is situated.

Origins Untold was founded in 2015 by the late, great Arike (aka Stan Grant), who sadly passed away on 12 June 2020 after a tragic accident.

Arike’s vision for the organisation was to broaden and change the conversation about race and about members of the African diaspora. To honour this, it is committed to breaking stereotypes, making unseen connections and unearthing buried histories, acknowledging the contributions that Black people have made to the history of this region and to its present.


In memory of Arikẹ, founder of Origins Ontold – 1949-2020

“Whatever a Black man can do to remind himself that he is fully human, to do it and to keep doing it… I don’t think we need to do more than that…it is just to remind ourselves that we are fully human.”

Arikẹ, 2020

(from the Origins Untold website)

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