Helpful People Who I Should Thank
- Steve Orich : Conductor, Composer, Arranger....Jersey Boys is one of his......It was on one of his shows that I was encouraged ($$ and the chance to wear a cowboy hat) to learn enough chromatic harmonica to sound like a cowboy.
- Tommy Morgan : Tommy has provided over ten years of lessons, in person, and, these days, at times, on the phone. In return, Tommy now has someone who he can call and coherently discuss the numerous Problems of the Chromatic Harmonica, (21 at last count), and how he manages to overcome them.
His wife now has much more free time, not having to listen, nod wisely, and pretend she cares about a certain sequence of blow, draw, slide in, slide out, or even how Tom managed to play in tune with a Rock 'N Roll Tenor Sax player playing clarinet at work that day, by changing instruments mid-stream to accommodate some of the player's "unique" pitch choices.
- Dick Gardner : One of The Almost Original Harmonicats, and my favorite horn-smasher and White Castle 'Hamburger' Devotee....He's taught me most of what I know about setting up and repairing my instruments. It's because of Dick that I know which state MN stands for, (FlyOver, USA)and of the existence of Cottage Grove..... where, unlike Cheers in Boston, EVERYBODY knows Dick.
He has no website, HOWEVER, he is the proud user of one of those much-coveted Dial-Up Internet connections....and probably a rotary telephone....and decades of experience with The Instrument, and its owners.
Did YOUR repair person win an award from WHITE CASTLE????
Mine did.
- Gary Lehmann. Harmonica, Harmonica Repair, and Guitar.
Gary's been the best unpaid PR guy I could possibly have wished for. Early On, he managed to inform interested people about my recordings. Gary is a great horn-smasher, and tuner of The Instrument. Works for Suzuki during the days, and for himself when he's not at Suzuki. Last time I spoke to him, he was tuning some Suzuki Chimes. It seems that their Harmonicas work so well that little repair or warrantee work is needed.
Gary brings new meaning to "Agreeable", and could certainly help the US Diplomat Corps immeasurably with .....uh.... Diplomacy. If he ever gives me the OK, I'll put his email address here and you can have him fix or retune your harmonicas, OR, to explain to your wife just why you need to buy yet another instrument and have her agree.
UPDATE: Gary's contact information is gnarlyheman@gmail.com, and that's a link to his email inbox, so send him some love and perhaps a horn or two to tune, adjust, or otherwise cajole into playing its Best.
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Toots Thielemans A long-time trendsetter for chromatic harmonica jazz, for sure. Hasn't stopped growing musically yet, at 90+....I'm starting to understand how he picks notes, and it's opening my mind to lots of things that I hope to learn before I'm too old to hold the instrument up. Between Toots and Tommy Morgan, there's inspiration enough for the rest of my life, if I don't live too much past 105 years old. (At that point, we add Tommy Reilly as additional inspiration.)
I'm sure I've left out some people who have influenced me along the path to becoming an advanced hobby player of jazz on the Chromatic Harmonica, so if you feel you actually ARE one of those, Bless you and I'd be happy to add your name to this list. Just send me an email. Please include your Credit Card number and expiration date, (including that funny number on the back) and, for good measure, your mother's maiden name, in order that I might personally thank you.
