RE: STAGG McMANN - OLD MYSTERY

[Jack Ely <IMS_ELY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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