Newsdesk items

Dave “Dogfish” Colclough Editor

Editor’s welcome Dave “Dogfish” Colclough

Welcome to your autumn edition of Harmonica World! This issue has articles about diatonic, chromatic and tremolo harmonicas, also album reviews, and of the fantastic chromatic weekend. There is also a piece about the upcoming October festival, one not to be missed! Following the very sad news of the great Tommy Morgan‘s passing, we also have a heartfelt tribute from Rob Paparozzi. There have been some great stories and tutorials and lots of interesting information provided by the Newsdesk on both our website and our social media platforms. Visit www.harmonica.uk for all links and to find out how to book for our festivals on the events page. I must say thank you to Michael Green for providing us with another excellent harmonica related crossword! I plan to continue alternating crosswords with quizzes so look out for a chromatic quiz in the winter edition. There’s a new regular piece starting, where Roger Trobridge looks back at articles that have appeared in the magazine from previous times in “Blast from the Past”. I’m also hoping to start off another regular feature right here, it’s going to be a harmonica joke section! Please send any harmonica jokes you may have to editor@ harmonica.uk and the best (or worst) will feature in next issues’ editor’s section. I’m going to start you off with one for this issue: What’s the difference between a trampoline and a harmonica? You would usually take your shoes off to jump up and down on a trampoline! Grab a cuppa and enjoy the magazine!

In Memory - Thomas Morgan Edwards 12/04/32 - 06/23/22 by Rob Paparozzi Tommy Morgan, a Mentor and a friend.

I met Tommy years ago at a SPAH convention. He knew of my name as a New York City Session Player so we immediately connected and stayed in touch by phone over the years, so it’s with great sadness I write these parting words. The good news is, the permanent legacy he’s left us: 900 Movie Soundtracks and 7,030 recording sessions since the mid ‘50s to 2013, when he suffered a stroke and could no longer play.

One of his highlight performances and sessions was his live and studio sessions with the London Philharmonic at Abbey Road in 1996-97; checkout his masterful work on the recording John Barry and the Beyondness of Things. I just finished his book, a really cool short read in vignette format titled You Made How Much For Doing What?, released this year on Amazon. Starting at age 11 he wasted no time learning to read music for harmonica, and also played some guitar and piano. He was blessed with perfect pitch and honed his craft and studied arranging in college and with the US Air Force Band. If that’s not enough talent, then add a Black Belt in Karate and Master Glider Pilot of 44 years! After trying for a solo career in NYC and Canada in the ‘50s, he ended up back in California finishing a Masters in Music and quickly joining the Golden Age of recording in Los Angeles. He knew that for playing with the big guys he’d better have a plan. He practiced on all 12 Keys and also made sure he added Bass, Chord, Diatonic and all key Chromatics so he never had to tell a producer or composer “I can’t”. The problem came when he wasn’t available, then they said to the next player what do you mean you can’t, Morgan did it! Playing with Orchestral instruments on sessions he made sure he had harmonicas tuned from A=440 to 442, he became known as a player always in tune. The ‘60s were a busy time for him from Cartoon shows and Westerns, to arranging for hit shows like The Twilight Zone, secured his position in the LA scene. If he wasn’t playing on Beach Boys or Carpenters hits with the Wrecking Crew, he was a featured soloist on Hollywood box office hits like Lilies of the Field in 1963 with Sidney Portier. He was even on Elvis Presley’s huge 1968 Comeback Special. So with 64 years in the studio chances are you’ve heard his work. I’d even venture to say he’s THE most recorded and listened to Harmonicist in the World. More than Adler, Reilly, Lennon, and Toots! Condolences to his family and loving wife Lois. We owe him our respect and I miss him already

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of HarmonicaUK (formerly National Harmonica League) will be held at 7pm on Friday 21st October 2022 at Hillscourt, Rose Hill, Lickey, Birmingham B45 8RS during our October Festival.

AGENDA

1. Welcome 2. Minutes of the previous AGM and matters arising 3. Reports and accounts 4. Proposed amendment(s) to the constitution 5. (Re)election of committee members

Richard Taylor, Phil Leiwy, Barbara Tate, Simon Joy, Barry Elms,

Suzy Colclough 6. Member proposed resolutions 7. Any other business

If you are unable to attend the meeting, please appoint the Chair as your proxy by emailing sec@harmonica.uk before 19th October 2022. Please see www.harmonica.uk/pages/agm-documents for copies of papers for the AGM, including previous minutes, reports and accounts, draft amendments to the constitution, and brief profiles of existing and proposed committee members. In addition, there is a proxy voting form and a committee member nomination form. There are at least three committee vacancies so please consider whether you would like to stand yourself or nominate someone to carry out this valuable work. The main committee meets online about 6 times per annum and you will also be part of a subcommittee. A minimum commitment of 2 hours per week is expected. We are also seeking ‘helpers’ so please express an interest if you have expertise in events management, digital technology, graphic design, education, youth work, outreach or administration. Contact communications@harmonica.uk for an informal discussion.