Re: A Bit of History

[the Leones <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

>BassHarp,
>
>Someone remarked in another thread how this list is dominated by 
>diatonic players.

   * That may have been me. I wasn't referring to this in a BAD way. 
Merely that the figures were heavily in favor of diatonic players in 
this particular case. More importantly, in addition to having more 
diatonic players, there are more CHAMPION diatonic players. Other 
lists contain chromatic players AND these chromatic players ALSO play 
diatonic (to a lesser extent). But these chromatic lists contain far 
fewer CHAMPIONS, and those that ARE there either don't post very 
often, don't post at ALL, lurk, or even when they DO post, there 
isn't as much of a tendency to put out LENGHTY directions or 
descriptions as to how to handle a particular problem/technique (as 
on Harp-L.)

  * I did a series of posts a couple years ago referring to "What the 
Pros Won't Tell You" and it basically addressed the tendency of pros 
to keep secrets (that were hard-won or garnered the hard way) to 
themselves. Note; there ARE exceptions. Pros that I have know would 
say things like "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it". 
Eventually we would come to the bridge, the subject was NEVER dealt 
with, and the Pro passed away and took it with them.

>   Well, as a diatonic player, I want to say how much I appreciate 
>hearing and seeing stuff about the chromatic and orchestra type 
>stuff.  I play the diatonic because this was the kind of music that 
>I listened to growing up in the 50's and 60's.  That's what was 
>popular.

   * See, back in the "old" days when we were coming out of the 
depression, there were a quadrazillion harmonica players.There were 
also a LOT of venues to play at. As time went on, these venues dried 
up and only the most successful remained as the rest slowly but 
surely slipped into oblivion. Those that remained were careful to 
hold onto whatever "LEG-UP" they had on the competition.
   The Harmonicats are an example. They were probably the MOST 
successful group and when Don Les left the group, he went into 
(virtual) limbo for years. Al Fiore retired after 50+- yrs and had 
put enough aside for a VERY modest pension. Jerry (having invested, 
was able to retire gracefully), but MANY of the old timers barely got 
by and wound up doing other things.
   The old GREAT diatonic players basically lived day to day and as 
venues dried up, their prospects did too. Fighting for survival, only 
a few made it and NONE got rich.

>
>I have always loved hearing the stuff that groups like the Harmonica 
>Rascals were doing before the war, but about the only place that one 
>heard this stuff was if you watched old movies on the late late 
>show.  Where can I learn more about these groups.  How did these 
>players hook up and how did they get into playing their various 
>instruments.

   *Bassharp (Danny Wilson) knows more about this subject than anyone 
around but he probably wouldn't talk about it as he could tell you 
stories that would rip the corpuscles out of your heart.

>   I mean, it's one thing for a guy with a chrom or a diatonic to be 
>a solo performer (even if it's in your bedroom), but it would seem 
>to me that the chord and bass harmonicas really needed to be part of 
>an ensemble.

   * They met on the road, WPA camps, city parks (who had programs for 
the kids) Newspapers (like the Baltimore Sun), the N.Y. Hebrew 
Orphanage, Hoboing, like THAT.

>   Were there conservatories and such for learning to play in groups like this?

   * Yeah, we WISH

>   I'm really fascinated and would love to learn more about this kind of stuff.
>Thanks for posting the pictures.
>
>Howard Chandler
>
   * Human nature is a funny thing. I USED to go DIRECTLY to the posts 
from certain people (Winslow is ONE example..there are dozens). It 
has gotten to the point whereas I am IMMEDIATELY drawn to "other" 
people as well (BBQ Bob is another). I am now at a point that just 
about EVERYONE is Soooo interesting that I no longer have to wade 
through the posts on a "preferential" list.

   * I can learn as much in 61 weeks as I have learned in 61 years. 
AND, here's the best; these guys are no longer "hiding" their 
knowledge behind a smile. They are sharing above and beyond the call 
of duty.

   * Although I don't follow "mic" and "Amp" threads too closely, some 
of the TECHNICAL help is just astounding. I find that while I thought 
I knew a lot about harmonica, in the big scheme of things, I know 
NOTHING. While I use a Vocal "Peavey Black Diamond" and plug into 
whatever is available and snicker at all the CULTISH fervor over this 
equipment or that equipment, I fully realize that these guys REALLY 
know some Schitt and respect their opinion.

   smokey