[Harp-L] Lee Oskar

[chris smith <harpshredder@xxxxxxxxx>]

    Hey Sonny,
                     I'll pick that up. I've known Lee
quite a long time and completely agree he's worthy of
kudos. He definitely wasn't my first influence. That
really would be Stevie Wonder but when I first tried
his style I couldn't make heads or tails of it . (In
fact my friend  who's harp I borrowed to discover i'm
totally in love harp blowin' ) bought a chromatic and
threw it out his car window that same day. So, really 
 Butterfield was my man. 
     When War broke out (pun intended) I was very
impressed with Lee's
ensemble playing. He was basically another horn though
the way the band came together Lee was doin' his thing
and either a manager or
record producer or Eric Burdon put him together w/ War
who were already playing as a unit. At any rate, the
result was pure magic and those records from the early
70's still sound great.
    The only classic rock band I've ever been in,, The
Boogeymen in Turlock, CA (circa 1971)  played a War
song ; actually a blues standard .It's the only blues
recording I'm familiar with of Lee's called "Mother
Earth". On first hearing it I was super impressed w/
how tastefully and in control he played. The first 8
bars he just plays a couple of notes, only the perfect
ones (b7-1 if you're keeping score). He builds his
solo masterfully and
it totally pulls you in as the listener.
   I saw War live @ The Santa Monica Civic. Lee was
The Featured Soloist
of the band and he took long ones again tastefully
building them w/total command. of his axe. He played a
Beyer mic through the P.A., not (like a blues guy)
into a guitar amp,  for his signature clean sound .
    I met him the first time in a club in Malibu and I
played a little chromatic in his ear while a loud band
played in the backbround. We
exchanged numbers. He invited me to his beach house in
Malibu and
told me his plans to build his own harps and at that
time was thinking of starting his own music school
also and he asked me if I were interested in teaching.
The latter never happened and some time went by and I
didn't know if he forgot about me or what but he paid
me the ultimate compliment : recommending to Michael
Jackson for the solo
on "Say. Say, Say " a duet w/ Paul McCartney. I'll
never be able to thank
him enough for that and unfortunately for a long while
he and I had sort of a competitive rivalry for a long
time. Very recently I had a really
nice conversation with him and  I was able to set the
record straight :
I told him I was honored  to know him and really
respected his work.
    I've heard he started on chromatic. Can anyone on
the list confirm that ? Good suggestion Sonny.
                                                      
               Chris
                                                      
             




Chris "Hammer" Smith
Hammer Smith Band
Official Myspace Page http://myspace.com/chrishammersmith
harpshredder@xxxxxxxxx

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