[Harp-L] RIP- gustavo lezcano

[Randy Singer <randy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of my best friends and harmonica player has passed away.

He was truly an amazing personââHe leaves us way too soon.

randy

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/29/4145800/miami-sound-machine-musician-music.html

Gustavo Lezcano, Miami Sound Machine member and music teacher, dies at 59 
 

Musician Gustavo Lezcano, right, shares a post-concert moment with carioca/funk musician Seu Jorge backstage at Hollywood ArtsPark after the Experience Rio concert in July 2013. The night was dedicated to the music of Brazil. Lezcano impressed Jorge with riffs from his harmonica. Deborah Ramirez

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â Use original player
Miami Sound Machine - Dingui Li Bangui (ViÃa Del Mar, 1983)
By MiamiSoundMachineSP
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BY HOWARD COHEN
HCOHEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Musician Gustavo Lezcano, a member of Miami Sound Machine in its formative years, loved to stay in one place. He avoided the club-crawl lifestyle endemic to the musicianâs trade.

Indeed, he spent 32 years as a music teacher at Gratigny Elementary School in North Miami. There, he taught music appreciation and often filtered American history lessons through musicâs lens. He took his students from lyricist Francis Scott KeyâsThe Star Spangled Banner to Elvis 101, The Beatles 101 and beyond.

But through music, the Havana-born Lezcano was akin to a world traveler.

Lezcano, who left Cuba at age 7 for Brooklyn and, soon after, South Florida, followed his muse onto concert stages, recording studios, classrooms, and a dusty road on the Mississippi Delta to steep in the rich history of the blues.

His sweet and soulful riffs on the harmonica gave lift to the music of Gloria Estefan and the Bee Gees.

âIf you told him there was a harmonica player in any radius, he wanted to go there,â said girlfriend Deborah Ramirez on Wednesday, hours after Lezcano collapsed after emceeing and playing harmonica with his Gratigny students at a school talent show. He died at age 59. The cause probably was heart failure, said Ramirez, an editor with El Sentinel.

Earlier this month, Lezcano reunited with Miami Sound Machine mates Gloria and Emilio Estefan at the reopening of the Estefansâ restaurant, Larios on the Beach, as he hopped onto the stage to jam on his harmonica with a Cuban band.

âHe used to play the blues with an incredible feeling. Heâs going to leave a legacy of great music,â said Emilio Estefan, who was touched that time hadnât diminished the friendship. âTo see him perform there was one of my special moments. Iâm so sad, but the good thing was it was a week before he passed away and we saw him happy and performing.â

Lezcano joined the Miami Sound Machine in the early 1980s after he graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in music education in 1976. Lezcano was originally tapped for his skills on guitar and keyboards, where he exhibited some funky Stevie Wonder-like flair. But the harmonica was his passion. Lezcano, who graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, recommended his guitarist pal Wesley B. Wright for his spot.

âHe was a uniquely talented individual and, with his whimsical personality, he always brought a laugh to the table of any project he was working on,â Wright said.

Former Miami Sound Machine drummer Enrique âKikiâ Garcia also remembers a musician free from the hardened temperament often caused by long nights in the studio and miles on the road.

âGustavo was one of the most talented musicians I have met, and one of the best harmonica players in the world,â Garcia said. âOn top of that, what a soulful human being. Good natured. Always laughing. It was a pleasure and an honor to play with him in Miami Sound Machine for many years.â

Lezcano wrote the title track for Eyes of Innocence, the Sound Machineâs first English-language crossover attempt in 1984. The albumâs single, Dr. Beat, a Top 20 hit on Billboardâs Dance Club Play chart, sports one of Lezcanoâs distinctive harmonica fills.

He would remain in the Sound Machine through the groupâs breakthrough in 1985, Primitive Love, an album that featured three Billboard Top 10 pop singles â Conga, Bad Boy and Words Get in the Way. Gloriaâs name moved out front in 1987 as the group was retooled as a vehicle for its star vocalist.

Lezcanoâs favorite band was War, and its harmonica player, Lee Oskar, was his inspiration during his time with the Estefans. âHe thought he might be able to carve out a role for a harmonica player like Lee Oskar did in War, like heâd become the Latin Lee Oskar,â Ramirez said. Years later, in 2002, Lezcano played with Oskar and War at an in-store appearance at Bob Perryâs former, beloved Blue Note record store in North Miami Beach.

âWe hosted the band for a midnight release party, and Gus came and sat in at 3 a.m. and tore it up. I will never forget him performing on Slippinâ Into Darkness and The World Is a Ghetto. He lit up the place as he did every time he came by. The sweetest, most beautiful cat I have ever met,â Perry said.

The gig wouldnât be the last time âhave-harmonica-will-travelâ Lezcano unexpectedly sat in during a performance. In October 2013, Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler ventured off his concert stage at Miami Beachâs New World Center for his encore to join Lezcano in the third row. The performer was enticed by something he had heard out in the seats during an interactive moment with his fans.

âGustavo whipped out his harmonica and did a little riff,â Ramirez said. âHe figured what key [Drexler] was in â he loved the minor key â and Drexler, playing guitar, hears him . . . and invites him to continue playing with him. The audience was applauding, and someone recorded that onto SoundCloud. That was the kind of thing he did.â

During his run with the Miami Sound Machine, Lezcano taught music at Gratigny, but his name would appear on Miami-made projects after he left the group. Most notably, Lezcano contributed a lilting harmonica lead that carried the melodic hook on the Bee Geesâ acoustic ballad, Blue Island, from the 1993 album Size Isnât Everything, and that year played a charity concert for diabetes research with the Gibb brothers.

âHe was a fantastic musician, but above all he was an amazing father,â said eldest daughter Maria Angel. âHe was always there for us and supportive, and I feel like itâs my brothersâ and sistersâ job to carry that light he put in our lives out and shine it through as a memorial to him.â

Lezcano is also survived by his other children, Gustavo Jr., Brando, Alessandra and Celina; his mother Raquel; his sister, also named Raquel; and brother Jose.

Visitation is scheduled for 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday at Vista Memorial Gardens, 14200 NW 57th Ave., Miami Lakes, with burial at 9 a.m. Monday.


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