[Harp-L] RE: Tony Glover's Book

[John Kally <jkally3@xxxxxxx>]

You can add my name to the list of guys that got their start with that 
book (in my case, 1971 when I was 16) and look how famous I am today 
(ok, skip that last part).  Other writers are correct, it really was 
the only thing out there that actually dealt with blues harmonica at 
the time and for some  years after .  The best part of it, for me, 
besides explaining the "cross harp" second position deal was the 
reference to the great  blues harp players, many of whom I had never 
heard of at the time (for example, and it's a BIG example, I had never 
heard of Little Walter  even though I was living near Chicago and had 
lots of records with him playing with Muddy).  I started my record 
buying in earnest based on the players mentioned in there, the Sonny 
Boys, Jimmy Reed, and the other usual suspects.   Unfortunately, even 
by the time I got it, parts were  out of date, like the way that LP 
tracks were referenced by track number and not title (not a good plan 
for things that went out of print  and/or were reissued differently; 
for example The Best of Little Walter was already a collector item by 
1971), innacurate key references, other position references, and some 
other things.    I'm sure Tony never expected this to be still in print 
so many years on, and I think  it's really more of an artifact than 
something really useful now compared to the many good materials that 
have surfaced since.  I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone today as 
anything more than a curiosity, but I'm eternally grateful for the jump 
start it gave my playing  when I was younger.  Thanks, Tony!
Incidentally, if anyone cares to see the glamorous locations my 
harp-playing non-career has taken me, see this pic from last Saturday 
night's gig  sitting in with my pals, the Rhythm Dragons:
http://www.members.cox.net/jkally3/1.jpg
http://www.members.cox.net/jkally3/2nd.jpg