Re: Practice, Practice

[sawyer@xxxxxxx]

<From my posting here last May:

  Announcing a potpourri of jazz and blues harmonica music by a gifted
  and little known harmonica player from Boston, named Mike Turk:

  "Harmonic Salad"
  Tin Sandwich Music
  P.O. Bos 121
  Cambridge, MA 02140
  (800) 932-2018
  $15, including shipping and handling ($20 for international)

  Mike is a disciple, student and friend of Toots Thielemans.  He plays
  both diatonic and chromatic, with a strong preference toward the
  latter.  Turk has been playing the best jazz rooms in the Boston area
  for many years.  He has a devotion to his craft that would be the envy
  of every musician.  He was a founder of the Cambridge Harmonica
  Orchestra which has marched in parades in numbers approaching
  50-strong!

Mike confirmed for me the accuracy of the earlier sightings mentioned
in the other posts here. His record with Linda O'Shaunassey (sp?) was
called "Pizza Boogie".  The recent release, "Harmonica Salad", was
recorded in several sessions over several years' time.  Some listeners
might not appreciate the wide variation in musical style and recording
techniques; others, like me, will like it plenty.  Among the cuts are
one or two made with bluesman Ronnie Earl.

Mike has devoted 25 years to the instrument, the last 15 of them on
chromatic.  Nowdays he most often plays with three or four side men.
He was featured recently in the lunch-time slot at House Of Blues. He
appeared a few weeks ago at bookstore party for Kim Fields' and his
new book here in Boston.  Fields' treatment of Thielemans includes an
account of Turk's playing.