Re: Pete Peterson

[GREENWAY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Christian Laferriere asked about Pete Pedersen.

Pete grew up in Chicago and as a teenager was in a band called the Harmonica Madcaps with, among others, Jerry Murad and Al Fiore, who went on to form the
Harmonicats. Pete spent eight years in Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Rascals,
who were a very popular vaudeville act for many years. He then joined
former Rascal Fuzzy Feldman and Don Henry in the Don Henry Trio; they recorded
several fine tunes for Regent. Pedersen and Feldman then worked as a duo for
nearly a decade and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times.

Pete remained close to  the 
Harmonicats. He arranged quite a bit of their material and even played
on some of their recordings, especially on their classical album,,
Harmonica Rhapsody. Pete moved to Memphis and began a successful career
as a jingle writer and producer.

In 1976 Pete was hired by a record company to produce a disco record in
Canada. The tune was a huge hit and Pete ended up living in Canada for
the next five years and producing records. He did help to promote a
harmonica synthesizer, the Millioniser, which was invented by a Swiss
harmonica player named Walt Miller. He moved back to Memphis, where he
still lives and has resumed his work as a jingle producer. (Pete was
the moving force behind having the 1994 SPAH convention in Memphis.)

Christians' friend was right: Pete Pedersen is absolutely one of the
finest musicians to ever pick up a chromatic harmonica. He contributed
a marvelous performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (featuring
several overdubbed harmonica parts, including a diatonic part) to
Hohner's Heavy Duty Harpin' album. It's worth buying this record just
for this cut alone. Pete is one of those rare players who is
comfortable playing any kind of music. He's also an incredibly nice
guy and an hilarious character, which makes him in great demand as
an emcee at the SPAH conventions and other harmonica gatherings.

--Kim Field

I should also mention that the Farrell Company sells Pete Pedersen
recordings.