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

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

Joe is a fantastic musician. He was part of a studio band that backed up John Coltrane on a tv show in the 60's . John was so impressed he asked if Joe would be interested in touring with him (Joe is a great jazz guitarist). Joe is a real low key guy and declined at the time.


I also almost had him as a special SPAH guest in 2000, but he backed out at the last minute. He is a very private guy these days, tinkering in his basement with music/recording and living off his drive through car wash located in Livonia, MI.





-----Original Message-----
From: Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tom Halchak <thalchak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; harp-l harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 5:05 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Standing in the Shadow of Motown


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