[Harp-L] Big Walter, Toots, Howard Levy

["Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

  Just a follow-up to the Big Walter/chromatic posts.  Had a buddy named
Don Bennett who used to go fishing with Big Walter a lot.  Walter didn't
drive so Don wound up chauffeuring him quite a bit.  Both men were
eccentrics, which made for some great stories.  Like the time the steering
broke on Don's old beater.  He had to devise a way to pick up Walter, get
him to a gig and back---all in a vehicle that could only make right hand
turns.  Or the time Don had to coax a sleepy, crabby Walter out of bed to
make a scheduled gig.  Perched on a barstool in front of the band, an
unhappy Horton fulfilled his obligation.  When returned home, he marched in
silence through the front door directly to his bed; pausing only to remove
his long winter coat (which he had worn in the club all night).  No need to
change for bed.  Walter had blown the blues that evening in his pajamas and
house slippers!
  Don told me that, back in the late 70's, he had tried to get Walter to
catch Toots Thielemans one night.  Toots was playing a week long engagement
at an upscale lounge (Rick's Cafe) in Chicago.  It was his first time back
in Chicago since the George Shearing days.  Though somewhat interested,
Walter declined.  His reason?  Don told me the old man was afraid
he might come home inspired and start spending most of his time on the
chromatic, possibly at the expense of his diatonic playing.  He just didn't
want to get drawn into that.
  Don went without Walter that night and had a nice chat with Toots.  But
he was dumbfounded that Toots had never heard of Big Walter Horton.  Made
sense to me, but Don loved the old man so much he just assumed that everyone
knew his friend.  All wide-eyed, he asked me, "How could you play harmonica
and not know who Walter Horton is?"
  So unfortunately, these two harmonica titans never met.  But there was an
historic first meeting during the engagement.  The late Michael Rasfeld,
owner of Acme Studio and a whistling fanatic, stopped by to check out
Toots' prowess on the "puckolo".  He brought with him a jingle musician who
had been doing amazing things at the studio with a diatonic harp.  When
Toots explained to both men that he had chosen the slide instrument so he
could have all the available notes, Mike's friend Howard Levy quickly
produced a chromatic scale on his diatonic harp.  One thing led to another
and Howard wound up sitting in.  He told me later that Toots had been
"playing really corny stuff" up to that point but things changed
after Howard came off the bandstand.  It was jazz for the rest of the
evening.
  It's a shame that all three gentlemen couldn't have all converged on
Rick's that evening.  Would've made for an interesting encounter.  But I
guess that's the sort of thing we have S.P.A.H. conventions for.  Hope to
see everyone in Denver.

---Mick Zaklan