Re: [Harp-L] Toots last year

[robert <harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Interesting..thanks!
WVa Bob

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 24, 2013, at 5:55 PM, "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The diatonic accordion is what Toots played as a kid (probably the only thing a small child could manage physically). That instrument is about as sophisticated as a diatonic harmonica in terms of its ability to produce or educate the player about harmony. Also, the left hand side of larger accordions produces push-button chords - press this key you get a major chord, this one a minor or a 7th or a diminished - that donât really produce harmonic understanding beyond knowing the circle of fifths, which is how the bass notes (and their chords) are arranged.
> 
> Toots once mentioned in an interview that he and George Shearing studied harmony together out of the same book sometime in the early 1950s; Shearing had the braille edition. They spent a good deal of time on it, especially during a long-ish stay in San Francisco. Given bebopâs heavy use of harmonic extensions and alterations, and substitute chords and scales, Iâm sure Toots had been puzzling out harmony for a long time before that. However, this book must have helped him put all the bits together into a coherent whole. (Sorry, I donât remember the name, but it was standard sort of academic text if I remember correctly.)
> 
> Winslow
>  
> 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: robert <harpbob@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Rob Paparozzi <chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>; The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx> 
> Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 8:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Toots last year
> 
> 
> Actually I'm pretty sure Toots started on accordion, then came chromatic, then guitar came third. I heard him say all this in an interview. He played the accordion for a good while and evidently got pretty good on it; perhaps this is the foundation of his knowledge of harmony?
>