A few months back, after the Katrina disaster, I was attending an Austin
HOOT club meeting and pushing my harmonica business pretty hard, being
otherwise unemployed. Dale Spalding came to one the meeting, invited by a
local friend who was also a member. I talked a little bit about my harp
business and gave Dale a card and a few weeks later he called me about doing
some repairs for him, which I gladly did. He came up to the house and we
talked harp and music for quite a while. He's a great guy, and very humble,
despite his illustrious career.
I talk to Dale now and again -- he's living in and based out of Austin now
-- and have built him a few harps (I still owe him a couple!). One later
HOOT meeting I had the extreme pleasure of jamming with Gary Primich on
guitar, Dale on vocals, and myself on harp. Talk about an ego
boost! That's a story for the grandkids, the time Gary Primich asked ME to
play harp while he covered the guitar work!
-tim
Michael Polesky <m.polesky@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Tim said:
> Last month I went to see funk master Maceo Parker, and in the audience
> I bumped into my friend, harp player Dale Spalding, who
> commented "Man, these guys *live* on the 1".
Hey Tim,
Are you talking about the same Dale Spalding that lives/lived in Long
Beach,
CA and played on the recording of "Mary Ann" with Ray Charles and Poncho
Sanchez on the album "Out of Sight"? Dale is a wonderful diatonic player
who plays mostly blues and jazz. He studied with Sonny Terry and other
greats. The story of Dale Spalding getting involved with Poncho Sanchez is
rarely heard. I understand he met Poncho Sanchez when Poncho and the band
were getting a drink at the club Dale played at every week. Poncho Sanchez
loved what he was doing and, eventually it lead to a few recordings
including the one with Ray Charles.
You can find out more about "Out of Sight" at:
http://www.jazzitude.com/sanchez_outofsight.htm. Dale was also on the
Poncho Sanchez album named "Latin Spirits". Apparently, Dale has also
released a DVD of the Dale Spalding band that can be found at:
http://www.aixrecords.com/catalog/dale_spalding.html.
I am not Dale Spalding's publicist. I am just a fan. I started to do an
article about him for Harmonica Happenings - the SPAH magazine - but I
never
quite finished it. So, a quick search around the internet and I got the
extra info.
Anyway, I think that, if it is the same guy, its pretty cool that he knows
Tim ;-). Tim, anything to add?
Michael
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