Re: [Harp-L] Toots last year

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tots played accordion first, and as a small child gave a command performance for the king of Belgium. (I've seen video of him playing piano accordion at a party as an adult.) He took up the harmonica in 1938 (age about 16) after seeing Larry Adler play it in a movie. The guitar came later. He won it on a bet from a friend who couldn't figure out how to play it. Toots figured out how to play a Fats Waller tune and won the guitar.

Toots is a lifelong asthmatic (though he claims he's never missed a gig because of it). A hospital stay could have been for that reason, in which case the guitar is more likely than harmonica.

(I have notes on al this stuff cobbled together from decades of magazine interviews, but it's buried in the garage at the moment.)
 
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Harmonica Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
To: harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Toots last year
 


The story I heard was that Toots was a guitarist/whistler, but early on ended up in the hospital for an extended stay.


He couldn't play his guitar, so started to learn chromatic.


The rest is history.


Can anyone verify this?



-----Original Message-----
From: robert <harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, Dec 22, 2013 7:11 am
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Toots last year


Wow. Toots sounds so wonderful. At ninety!!! I heard Robert Bonfiglio say 
something to the effect that we should be grateful for Toots, that a musician 
like him had chosen harmonica.
WVa Bob

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 20, 2013, at 7:20 PM, "Greg Heumann" <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Stumbled across these two videos of Toots from his 90th birthday celebration a 
year ago - marvelous. 
> 
> The Dolphin: http://youtu.be/g0E-oOC9Umk
> 
> Midnight Cowboy: http://youtu.be/Nb-5aQ1EIgc
> 
> Smile: http://youtu.be/MBcgc31s_m8
> 
> The shameless self-promotion part is simply to point out that he is using his 
BlowsMeAway Productions Ultimate 58 microphone - he very much likes the lighter 
weight and integrated volume control....
> 
> 
> /Greg
> 
> http://www.blowsmeaway.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>