[Harp-L] Adler's Hands
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- Subject: [Harp-L] Adler's Hands
- From: "Tom Costelloe" <tcostelloe@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 10:10:07 +0000
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In Larry Adler's autobiography, "it ain't necessarily so," there is an
anecdote about a
performance of Ravel's Bolero:
"For about forty bars I kept in time with the orchestra; after that I
got
lost, couldn't tell where one phrase was supposed to end or the next to
begin. What I heard from the orchestra seemed like something that got in
by
mistake. I felt that the orchestra was a few bars behind and, to get
them
to catch up, I waved one arm like a crazed semaphore operator while
holding
the mouth-organ with the other...I played the last note with a flourish
and
a swoop up the mouth organ that Ravel never intended and certainly didn't
need.
I couldn't believe what happened next. A roar of applause, shouts and
cheers - the number was a big hit... The performance next night was
better. I played the right notes in the right time. I was relaxed and
at
ease. I was also a flop, getting only two curtain calls. Sid Grauman
came
backstage. 'What's happened to you, kid? You lost your showmanship!'
What
showmanship? He meant flailing my arms in a frenzy, acting as a
conductor
as well as soloist...Screw the material, said Grauman, put back the
showmanship. Grauman was the boss, back in went the showmanship, out
went
the music and the orchestra leader never spoke to me again."
I think that confirms that Larry was aware that the hands create an
emotional bridge to the audience, and that he used them far more than
'merely' to produce one of the most beautiful tones ever to be heard on
the
mouth-organ. His biography is very well worth reading, he's a good
writer,
a funny man, refreshingly cynical about the music business, mentions the
harmonica very little, and for anyone who thinks he was 'difficult'
without having met him, allows people like me, born in a different time
and
country, to appreciate the horror, unconstitutionality, and evil of
McCarthy
and his witchhunts, and why Larry felt that he could no
longer live in his country of birth.
Tom Costelloe
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