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From: Winslow Yerxa <76450.32~ompuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 22:06:07 -0400
Subject: Gold is Where You Find It

TO: internet:harp~arply.com

So, did I buy the Django-Adler sides at Tower Records? Nope.
Saved that for later, and left Tower to head over to Haight
Street where Amoeba Records now takes up a huge expanse in what
used to be the Rock'n'Bowl bowling alley, out where Haight
Street ends incongruously with the largest McDonald's in San
Francisco, facing Golden Gate Park. I mourn the decimation of
bowling alleys (along with skating rinks and drive in movie
theaters) as much as anyone, but I also welcome used record
stores - these are the real repositories of our musical culture,
and represent a far truer cross section, and a richer lode, than
any new record outlet could ever do.

I was looking for French accordion records, specifically Emile
Vacher, but found nothing. Until I headed over to the distant
ceiling sign labeled "Pop Instrumental." You know, what also gets
called Easy Listening - Ferrante & Teicher, Al Hirt, Boots
Randolph, Ray Conniff, etc. Well, lately this music has become
ultra-hip for a certain segment of the population, and books are
written about the twisted aesthetic of this music (they have an
interesting take on the Harmonicats, largely informed by surprise
that they don't sound like blues harp), replete with
reproductions of the album covers with eye-popping '50's babes,
the fake-exotic native villages, bongos, strange tableaux of
hokey props adorning uncomfortable dance poses juxtaposed with
disheveled abandon, swooping necklaces, long cigarette holders
and so on.

When I got there the bin cards read LOUNGE-CORE (as in Hard Core
Lounge Music), which gave me a grin. Well, I started going
through the top bins which were labeled. This yielded several
original Harmonicats on Mercury (the choice pre-Columbia stuff,
including several cuts with Don Les playing solo diatonic and a
fourth player who may be Pete Pedersen), a Boris Draper, and a
Richard Hayman (which I may already have, but for a buck it was
worth the chance). But I was hoping for Leo Diamond. Underneath
were the unsorted, unlabeled $1.00 and 50 cent clearance items.
Despite my navy blue pinstripe suit direct from the cleaners, I
sat down on the rough cement floor and inched my butt along 30 or
40 feet of this stuff while flipping through mouldering cardboard
with increasingly grubby fingers. I found:

An Eddy Manson LP I'd never seen before

A George Fields (no, not the Pocket Bach)

A Leo Diamond

More Harmonicats

A 50's vintage MGM George Shearing with TWO Toots Thielemans
harmonica instrumentals, Caravan Parts 1 and 2 (the studio
version) and Undecided (it was 50 cents and pretty hacked, but
the Toots cuts looked playable - the same album in good condition
was going for $20 in the Jazz section)

AND - AND - ****AND****

Well, I should pause here and relate a story that came to me from
Pierre Beauregard via Kim Field. Kim tells me that Pierre
(co-inventor with Magic Dick of the new line of "Magic" tunings)
had once played him, over the telephone, a big band version of
the Little Walter instrumental "Off the Wall" by Buddy Morrow, a
trombonist and bandleader who took over the Glenn Miller
orchestra after Miller vanished over the English Channel one
night in a small plane late in WWII.

Did I find that?

No.

I found Buddy Morrow doing a big band version of "Quarter to
Twelve," properly attributed to a composer named Little Walter.
Does it sound *exactly like the Little Walter version, inflated
to big band size? No, but it's an interesting approximation.

Well, then I decided I needed to find the Godley & Creme album,
recently mentioned on harp-l, that has a chord harmonica on the
cover. I remember the original album cover, circa 1980 because it
is the most sensually attractive harmonica photograph I have ever
seen. Most harmonica photos are boring - how much can you do with
a rectangular box with a row of holes along one side - make the
chrome sparkle - yeah, that's the ticket! Some of this borders on
Pavlovian pornography - look, it's a harmonica - you like
harmonicas, so salivate and buy the record like a good consumer.

Well, this photo is appealing in a way I've never seen. A single
bare arm is holding a chord harmonica up horizontally (normal
playing position) across the top of the photograoh, with the
holes facing the viewer, with the Grand Canyon as a background
panorama. The wood of the combs has a slightly reddish tinge, and
the color and the grain and the pattern of double holes combine
in a way I've never seen. The reddish rocks in the background
echo the reddish tinge of the wood, while the blue sky, wispy
clouds and chrome covers make the whole thing dazzling.

Did I find this? Yes, but in a 1988 re-issue that dulls the photo
in a disappointing way - I once saw a CD reissue in a cutout bin
that gave the same wonderful impression as the original. Still,
it was only $2.95, and the record is in good condition. Somehow
it escaped me originally that harmonica is featured prominently
in this album. I'll have to give it a listen.

Like I said, gold is where you find it.

Winslow Yerxa
Harmonica Information Press
Z

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