Sorry, A.J. This should have been filed
in the Diatonic section of SlideMeister
Forums.
Jerry Adler coached Jimmy Stewart.
In the Hollywood movie, Pot O' Gold,
Stewart imitated playing the harp.
According to Adler, Jimmy tried to actually
play the diatonic harp in the movie, but
he was continuously playing wrong notes.
So, they covered the mouthpiece with tape.
For one scene's recording, Jerry removed
the tape, as a prank.
Jimmy blew onto the harp, getting harp
sounds.
"Hey, did I do that?", Jimmy asked.
Everyone had a good laugh.
Later, Jimmy was a bomber pilot in
the US Army Air Corps over Germany
in World War 2. The name of the
military branch was later changed
to "U.S. Air Force".
By the mid-1940s, Jimmy was good
enough on the harp, to play real
tunes on the harp. He continued
study with Adler after the war.
Billy Joel, as A.J. wrote, is like
Bob Dylan's level of playing.
But, I'd say that Billy's playing is
better than Bob's. Where Dylan
played mostly chordal sounds, Joel
played chordal, then melodic sounds.
In 2001, I transcribed 8 harp players'
tunes for the Hal Leonard Fast Track
Harmonica Songbook 1.
Transcriptions of Blowin' in the Wind,
as played by Dylan; and Piano Man,
as played by Joel, were 2 of the 8 tunes.
Other tunes included
Back at the Chicken Shack,
as played by Charlie Musselwhite;
I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man,
as played by Muddy Waters;
Love Me Do,
as played by John Lennon;
Miss You,(Rolling Stones)
as played by Sugar Blue;
Wonderful Tonight,
as played by Eric Clapton;
You Really Got Me, (The Kinks),
as played by Ray Davies.
Hal Leonard wanted exact transcriptions,
so I did that. But when the songbook was
published, I noticed that a few of the songs
were simplified. The songbook was made
easier for new harp players.
Best Regards, Stay Healthy
JB
