[Harp-L] We DO get respect!

[Bobbie Giordano <bobg@xxxxxxxxx>]

As I said, Michael summed it up pretty nicely, as in the words of "that
other" esteemed jazz harmonicist we've heard of, quoting Howard Levy:

"With the harmonica, it's really driven by your imagination in terms of what
you can play. You can't really see anything else, and what you play is all up
to what you can do with your mouth."

Here's the article that came from.  Have fun reading!!

Groove y'all,
Bobbie
============================================================================

>From NashvilleCityPaper.com
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=48&screen=news&news_id=
37227

Harmonica virtuoso lends skill to latest NCO concert 
By Ron Wynn, rwynn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
November 15, 2004
   
Though he's an exceptional multi-instrumentalist at home in numerous musical
situations, many Nashville music fans will immediately remember Howard Levy
for his stint with Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. A superb harmonica soloist,
Levy appeared on the first three Flecktones releases before departing for a
career that has seen him appear on hundreds of CDs, win both a Grammy and
Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Original Music for a Play, and also work with
jazz, rock, country, Latin and classical artists.

But when Levy returns to Nashville Friday and Saturday, he will appear in a
new role. His "Harmonica Concerto," a work that incorporates Celtic and jazz
influences as well as classical elements, is one of three works featured in
the Nashville Chamber Orchestra's (NCO) latest Music Without Boundaries
program. The Harmonica & Strings concert also includes Virgil Thomson's
"Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra" featuring Emmanuel Feldman and a
performance of Mozart's "Symphony No. 40." 


"I have long admired Howard Levy's playing in both live performance and on
various recordings," NCO conductor Paul Gambill said. "When we were putting
together plans for this program and thought about including the Thomson
piece, then we immediately thought about also adding Howard's concerto. Both
those pieces have vernacular music origins. The Thomson [piece] uses
variations on a Southern hymn and the Levy has Celtic and jazz parts, so we
felt they both really fit into the program concept."

Levy's versatility also embodies the NCO program's theme. In addition to
being one of the nation's finest harmonica players, Levy plays piano, flute,
mandolin, saxophone, ocarina and percussion. He's been a member of Trio Globo
with Eugene Friesen and Glen Velez and also served for several years as music
director the Chicago Latin jazz band Chevere, whose debut CD will be released
early next year. He also heads the quartet Howard Levy's Acoustic Express,
and his harmonica solos have been featured on the soundtracks for such films
as A Family Thing, A Time To Kill, Straight Talk, and Vietnam, A Long Time
Coming.

"I always visualize playing the keyboard when I'm doing harmonica solos,"
Levy said. "People tell me sometimes that it seems like they're hearing a
saxophone or a violin rather than a harmonica, and part of that comes from
the fact that I can play those other instruments. With the harmonica, it's
really driven by your imagination in terms of what you can play. You can't
really see anything else, and what you play is all up to what you can do with
your mouth." 

Levy's first instrument was the piano, when he began playing as an
8-year-old. He started playing classical music, but he added, "I started to
improvise as soon as I put my hands on the piano." 

He turned to harmonica as a teenager after hearing some Chicago blues albums
courtesy of another musician friend. 

"This guy played me some blues records and it was incredible," Levy said. "I
later met a violinist that also taught himself how to play the harmonica. I
asked him to teach me and he said he couldn't, because it was all in your
mouth and learning your way around the harmonica. So I taught myself. The
first six months I was terrible, then one day I just started bending notes
and playing all those licks I'd heard, and I went from there into doing jazz
and that's when it really took off."

Yet, despite all the sessions and dates he played, including his appearances
on the Flecktones' releases, it wasn't until the late '90s that Levy wrote
"Harmonica Concerto." 

"I had composed a chamber suite back in 1995 which was a work for a
five-piece chamber group plus harmonica," Levy said. "I kept getting calls
from symphonies that wanted me to write a harmonica concerto, but I felt
because I played the diatonic [the standard 10-hole harmonica] rather than
the chromatic [the more advanced version that combines two harmonicas and
allows the soloist to alternate between the keys of C and D flat through the
use of a control button] that I couldn't do it. But finally when the Chicago
Symphony called, I sat down and wrote the concerto. It took me six months,
but it's been gotten a lot of interest from various orchestras."

"We've been thrilled with the reception that this series is getting and the
type of diverse audiences we're attracting, and I think Howard's inclusion is
another bonus for the series," Gambill said. "These programs have attracted
some people who normally come to our concerts as well as a lot of young
people, many of whom seldom if ever attend any classical concerts. We're very
happy with the series and I think the Harmonica & Strings will be another
great concert."  

What: Harmonica & Strings, 
      the latest in the Nashville Chamber Orchestra's 
      Music Without Boundaries series
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Friday at The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road; 
      Saturday at War Memorial Auditorium, 301 Sixth Ave. N.
Cost: $29, students half price
Info: 255-9600