[Harp-L] Douglas Tate at seventy

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I add my voice to the worldwide chorus singing the praises of Douglas 
Tate on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. 

I remember first running across his name in the newsletter of 
Brtitain's National Harmonica League and feeling that this was 
somehow an extraordinary person (I first encountered Brendan Power 
the same way).

I remember first meeting him by transatlantic telephone sometime 
after that. He seemed witty, urbane, highly intelligent and very 
knowledgeable, but a shade aloof.

The perceived aloofness changed in a big way when I first met him in 
person at the Buckeye Harmonica Festival in 1996. I think this was 
the beginning of a tremendous growth phase for Douglas. He had been a 
sort of known and respected character in the UK harmonica scene but 
not really celebrated, though visiting Brits sometimes spoke in tones 
of hushed awe at his ability to play at concert hall volumes with 
seemingly no effort. He had plans for updating the design of his 
stainless steel 270 chromatic but nothing as radical as the 
Renaissance.

But coming to the U.S. seemed to change perspectives - both how 
otheres viewed him and how he viewed things. 

To Buckeye attendees, here was a truly amazing musician with a 
refreshing perspective, and a sly, impish sense of humor. He seemed 
interested in everything, even to the point of sitting in on blues 
jams with his classical chromatic approach (somewhere there exists a 
photo of him and me playing an improvised duet on third-position 
blues chromatic), and his personality seemed to interact in fun and 
productive ways with everyone he encountered. He just seemed to 
blossom in the U.S. harmonica festival environment.

The partnership with Bobbie Giordano changed everything in his 
approach to harmonica building. They had been chatting both on harp-l 
and privately for many months, two inquiring, opinionated, free-
ranging minds. The face-to-face meeting and the sharing of ideas, 
schematic diagrams, and theoretical questions led to a radical new 
set of ideas that soon evolved into the Renaissance, a radically new 
harmonica design and by the account of many, the finest chromatic 
harmonica in existence.

It seemed that in that first visit to the American scene, Douglas 
started a fairly quick transition from being a delightful visiting 
character to being a fully integrated dynamo helping that scene to 
evolve in new and needed ways. His later partial move to Florida and 
assuming of SPAH leadership at a critical time have only proven the 
potential he showed back then.

One thing that I have always admired - and cannot emulate as much as 
I'd like to - is Douglas's seeming endless catholocity of taste and 
interest in everything that anybody does in relation to the harmonica.

While I encourage everybody to do everything, I have to confess there 
are certain aspects of harmonica activities that make my eyes glaze 
over. I take this as a commentary not on the activities or people 
involved but on my own lack of ability to embrace absolutely 
everything. 

Douglas, on the other hand, has that grasp, that energy, that ability 
to embrace everything related to harmonica activities that I find not 
only amazing but incredibly positive. That's the sort of person we 
need at the head of organizations like SPAH - someone who is a true 
friend to all who play the instrument no matter what they do with it.

I raise my glass in your general direction, Douglas (somehwere east 
of here, be it England or Florida) and wish you another seventy, and 
may they be as fruitful as the last eight.

Winslow Yerxa