Re: [Harp-L] Tommy Reilly with Judith Durham

Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> · Fri, 15 Jan 2016 03:15:18 +0000 (UTC)

Evidently I was mistaken about Judith Durham and David T. Reilly being married. They were songwriting partners in the late 1960s and Tommy Reilly recorded some of their songs, including the title tune of his album "Colours of My Life," which is also the title of Judith Durham's biography. Tommy Reilly also played harmonica on some recordings by Durham's pop group, the Seekers.

My point about pre-war Tommy was that he wasn't introduced to the harmonica by his wartime incarceration; it was already an old friend.

Winslow Yerxa
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition: ISBN 978-1-118-88076-0
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School
President emeritus, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica

________________________________
From: "philharpn@xxxxxxx" <philharpn@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Tommy Reilly with Judith Durham

Dept of Corrections. FWIW: Edith Durham was born Judith Mavis Cock (not Cox). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why she used her mother's maiden name for show business starting in 1963 when she started singing with Frank Traynor"s Jazz Preachers. Judith met Athol Guy who was in the folk group The Seekers that performed in a coffee lounge on Monday nights on her first day on the job as a secretary of J.Walter Thompson.

I have no idea who Tommy Reilly's son, composer David Reilly, married. Judith Durham married her music director, British pianist Ron Edgeworth in 1969. 

Tommy Reilly's father, Captain James Reilly conducted symphony orchestras and launched one of the earliest jazz bands in Canada, as well as the Elmdale Harmonica Band. Under the military tradition, wind players often learn string instruments. Tommy started learning violin at the age of 8 and harmonica at 11 as a member of his father's band.

So was Tommy Reilly a violin player who doubled on the harmonica or the other way round? I could be wrong, but I don't think Tommy was studying harmonica at the Leipzig. I also strongly suspect that without his enforced concentration (5 years?) on the harmonica he never would achieved such mastery. Remember, he was already playing harmonica professionally when he was a teen.  I get the sense that he played classical on violin and pop/marching band music  on the harmonica early on. 

The real significance of the violin in his life was that Tommy based his ideas of phrasing and interpretation on the playing of Jascha Heiftz -- not on the playing of other harmonica players. (Judith calls the instrument a mouth organ but Tommy calls it a harmonica in the video.) Tommy was a student at the Leipzig Conservatory when World War II started. 

Now back to our regular programming.

-----Original Message-----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>; Philharpn <Philharpn@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Harp-L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Jan 14, 2016 6:33 am
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Tommy Reilly with Judith Durham

Tommy Reilly was already a harmonica player when he went to Germany. His father, Captain James Reilly, led harmonica bands and wrote one of the books I learned from.

Judith Durham was married to Tommy Reilly's son, composer David Reilly. His granddaughter Georgina Reilly is an actress who was featured for several seasons on the Canadian television series Murdoch Mysteries.

Winslow Yerxa
Producer, the Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, Second Edition: ISBN 978-1-118-88076-0
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool Community Music School
President emeritus, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica

________________________________
From: Vern <jevern@xxxxxxx>
To: Philharpn@xxxxxxx 
Cc: Harp-L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2016 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Tommy Reilly with Judith Durham

Chandos Records LTD of England offers eight Tommy Reilly CDs.  

See:  https://www.chandos.net/searchresults.asp?zoom_query=tommy+reilly&x=0&y=0 <https://www.chandos.net/searchresults.asp?zoom_query=tommy+reilly&x=0&y=0>

Vern

> On Jan 11, 2016, at 5:18 PM, Philharpn@xxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> Over the years, many people have mentioned the name of the Canadian/British classical harmonica player Tommy Reilly, but I've never seen too many -- if any -- videos of Tommy playing. After Judith plays the Minute Waltz on the piano, Tommy points out that the waltz is not a minute long, but minute as in little waltz. 
> 
> For those who never heard of Tommy. He was a Canadian violinist taking a travel/music education tour in Europe when the Second World War broke out, He was arrested and held by the Germans for being an alien. Then when Canada joined the war, he was declared an enemy alien. The Canadian Red Cross provided him a monthly provision package, which included a pound of coffee. He was able to trade the real coffee (which did not exist in Europe at the time) for a bunch of chromatic harmonicas. Since he had nothing but time for the duration of the war he concentrated on transferring his violin skills to the harmonica. By the time the war ended, he had not only mastered the harmonica but become a virtuosos. He went onto a fantastic European concert and broadcast career. 
> 
> One of my favorite early jazz singers, Judith Durham (of the Seekers fame) did a TV show in the 70's that featured Tommy. Australian singer piano player Judith Durham did about a half-dozen years with the Seekers and later had a solo career that included old time jazz (Cake Walking Babies from Home is my favorite) and pop songs. She's in her early 70s and still going strong. Her voice sounds just as good as it did in the 60s.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tommy appears at about the 20 minute mark in the video. 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lplHF3k_xJk
> 
> 