RE: STAGG McMANN - OLD MYSTERY
Danny Wilson (BassHarp) writes...
>Great to see references to Stagg on the Harp-L - and the info posted by Jack
>and Richard.
>I'll add what I know about Stagg (Hugh "Pud" McCaskey). The story of the 3
>albums in the Happy Harmonica series on Sunnyvale Records is told on page 71
>of Kim Field's book.
>8<---
I should have looked in Kim's book - I made a few errors trying to quote from
memory - Danny gives the straight scoop here.
>The first album, titled "The Great Harmonica Hits", was
>recorded in 1976 with Stagg and Jerry Murad sharing the overdubs. The bass
>parts were played by Jerry on a 64 chromatic through an octaver effect.
>8<---
That's interesting - I've recently been thinking about getting an octaver to
fool around with.
>Stagg was getting anxious to get it done, he made the 2nd album himself,
>playing all the parts himself. It was titled "Best Of The Big Bands" (1976),
>and featured stock chart arrangements of Glenn Miller, Harry James, Benny
>Goodman, Glen Gray, and Billy Rose.
>8<---
I bought an 8-track of this from Stagg in '76 or '77. Actually he returned my
check and sent me the tape with his compliments. I had met him at SPAH earlier
and struck up a friendship with him (which was all too short due to his
untimely death). He was one of the funniest men I ever met.
>The Stagg McMann Trio album that Jack spoke of was recorded in 1950, and Tony
>& John Luisi were the arrangers for most of the charts. (That in itself is
>another story.) Agreeably "an incredible display of virtuosity"
>8<---
If Farrell does have this I recommend it to anyone.
>The names of the 3 members of the trio were: Emanuel W. Smith
>(Manny) - Chord, Hugh K. (Pud) McCaskey - Chromatic, and Paul H. Steigerwald
>(Stag) - Bass - thus the acronym, Stagg McMann.
Thanks Danny, I know I misspelled some of their names.
P.S.
This morning I went through my LP's and found duplicats of two of the Happy
Harmonica albums.
Both are unplayed - never been opened. I used to grab these whenever I saw them
in the bargain bins.
a. HAPPY HARMONICA - "The Great Harmonica Hits"
b. HAPPY HARMONICA - "Show Stoppers"
Send me private E-Mail and offer me $5.00 per album to cover mailing
expenses and They're yours. They're worth more than this but I'm not
here to make money - I'll be pleased if someone can enjoy them.
First Come - First Served. Don't forget your snail mail address.
Jack Ely - Columbus, Ohio --New Addr--> IMS_ELY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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