Re: [Harp-L] Recreation of Bobby Gentry's classic 'Ode To Billie Joe' album

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I should add that the first cut on the original album is the only one with diatonic harmonica; all the other cuts have chromatic (except the title cut, the only one without harmonica). That high bent note you hear on several cuts is Draw 11 on a chromatic, the only note on chromatic that sounds like a diatonic bend. 

Tommy Morgan typically arrived at a recording session with a truckload of chromatics in all 12 keys multiplied by each key in several pitch levels, ranging from something like A435 thru A444, just in case the orchestra or band was in something other than A440.

Tommy was part of an elite group of studio session players known as the Wrecking Crew that included, among others, guitarists Tommy Tedesco and Glenn Campbell, bassist Carol Kay, and drummer Hal Blaine. It'd be interesting to see how many of these stalwarts (who also backed the Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, and the Carpenters) appear on this record. Listening to the album, at first I was reminded of the jazz-folk-blues fusion of Tim Hardin's first record (which, by the way, featured John Sebastian's harmonica on several cuts along with several New York jazz stalwarts). Later it seemed more like the mid-'60s LA pop session that it is. Not on the level, perhaps of Pet Sounds or Revolver, but it's worth noting that Ode to Billie Joe knocked the Beatles off the #1 spot in the summer of 1967.
 
Winslow 
zzzz


----- Original Message -----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: 
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2014 11:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Recreation of Bobby Gentry's classic 'Ode To Billie	Joe'	album

It's definitely not Charlie McCoy. The diatonic playing is about as far from McCoy's clean, well-defined sound as you could get, and the chromatic playing doesn't sound like him, either. In fact, the player sounds more adept on chromatic than on diatonic. When he plays diatonic it's fumbly, hope-this-sounds-like-dirty-blues licks.

The album was recorded in LA, so Tommy Morgan is a candidate. The diatonic playing is consistent with the way he played diatonic on TV themes such as the Rockford Files and Sanford and Son. 

Winslow 
zzzzz



----- Original Message -----
From: Wilbur Euler <dubyail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Ansel Barnum <anselsb@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2014 7:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Recreation of Bobby Gentry's classic 'Ode To Billie Joe'    album

Anybody know who played harmonica on the album?
Regards, Wil