Re: [Harp-L] Standing in the Shadow of Motown

[Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Tom -

Yeah, terrific documentary.

While there may be no harp playing in the movie, one of the Funk  
Brothers guitarists, Joe Messina, is also an incredible jazz chromatic  
player. His harmonica cds are very cool. Danny Wilson has some info on  
his site. I don't remember where I purchased the cds from, it may have  
been through Danny:

http://www.bassharp.com/joemessbio.htm
http://www.bassharp.com/mm.htm

For extremely serious jazz students, Joe wrote a book called "Giant  
Steps Progression Studies, Over 500 Exercises" available here:

http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/GuavaberryBooks/Domino/fbBooks.html

Not for the faint of heart ;-).

- Slim.

www.SlideManSlim.com
www.JazzHarmonicaSummit.com
www.SlideManSlim.com/blog

On Apr 16, 2010, at 12:08 PM, Tom Halchak wrote:

> I was channel surfing a couple nights ago and stumbled across a  
> movie on TCM
> called Standing in the Shadow of Motown.  If you've never seen it,  
> it is a
> movie about the studio musicians at Motown Records.  They came to be  
> known
> as The Funk Brothers.  Produced in 2002, it is a musical documentary  
> based
> upon a book written by Alan Slutsky.  The musicians were the surviving
> original members of The Funk Brothers.  Interviews were interlaced  
> with old
> films and videos of the acts made famous by Motown and each segment
> culminated with one of the big Motown hits sung by someone other  
> than the
> original artist.  That said, the vocals were all excellent.  There  
> is no
> harp playing in the movie, but I really enjoyed it anyway.  As I  
> watched, I
> couldn't help but think about what must have been happening at Chess  
> Records
> in the 40's - 60's.  Unfortunately I missed the movie Cadillac  
> Records when
> it was out and Pocket Full of Soul has come nowhere near Florida  
> yet.  I am
> going to make it a point to find a copy of Cadillac Records to  
> watch.  I
> would recommend you do the same with Standing in the Shadow of Motown.
>
>
>
> Tom Halchak
>
> Clearwater, FL 33763