Anyone know who played the harmonica in the "Race For Your Life Charlie Brown" cartoon movie? It's filled with harmonica throughout the entire movie in just about every key, and whoever it is, they are great. I tried contacting the guy who composed the music for that movie, but received no response.
Listen to the harp in this clip at the following times:
Yes, and you know... now that you mention it, it does sound a lot like Norton. Can someone give a listen and confirm? I never heard enough of Norton's playing to identify him 100%. Perhaps someone more familiar with him would be able to tell.
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2011 3:46 PM
Sounds just like Norton to me. I saw him live once at a small club in Folsom, Ca. and he set down with me and had a beer during intermission, or maybe he watched me drink one. Had a nice chat about his Steve Miller days.
I agree with Reverblow. All signs are pointing to Norton in what is being played here. And his discography lists playing on the "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown" soundtrack as well, which would seem to confirm the hunch.
Thanks for your responses. Not sure if there was a soundtrack for this movie or not, but I'd sure love to have those harp jams. This is a movie that every harp player should watch.
I think it is Norton playing, and man what a nice sound.
I had the good fortune of meeting Norton when he came to NZ six or eight years back . What a fantastic guy and with such a unique style and musical/melodic approach to the instrument. The two albums he did late'70's, both produced by Steve Miller, IMHO, are real gems.('Lovin in the valley of the moon' and 'Desert Horizon')Originally on Capitol records, Edsel re-released them both on one CD a while back... ---------- KiwiRick
I'm almost positive that it is Norton Buffalo. When he got divorced, he relocated from Sonoma County to the town of Paradise (coincidentally and unintendedly quite close to Lazy Lester). I was at a very informal barbecue jam where Norton was wearing a sweatshirt that had a huge Charlie Brown face on the front. I made some sarcastic comment about it and he said that it was part payment for a "gig". Draw your own conclusion from that.
good old charlie brown! Charles Shultz, like Greg said, lived in Santa Rosa, Ca. I lived and taught middle school there. I would take my special education students to his ice rink a couple times a year. He built it for himself and eventually opened it to the public. He had his art studio next door and would work a couple hours each day on the strip and then walk over to the rink. He was an avid hockey player and skate enthusiast. He had a cafe there with great food that was cheap and his reserved table was next to the fireplace. My students loved to talk with him. He would admire their drawings and give them lots of encouragement. The community made no big deal over him so he could go anywhere without hassles-just never ask him for an autograph. Once a year he put on a world class ice show centered around snoopy. The community came out to see the world class skaters, costumes, and great christmas spirit. He also put on a great hockey tournament every year. It was set up in age brackets. Teams from all over the world came to it and he gave out leather snoopy jackets, cheap hotels, food, and dirt cheap registration. When he died his family stopped it all. He lost hundreds of thousands on those two things over the years. They were some fun days in Santa Rosa!
Norton also lived in Sonoma County. He was good friends with Diamond Jim, a country musician and baseball umpire. I lived on Diamond Jims property for a bit and got to know Norton somewhat with his frequent visits. Sonoma County use to be a great place for live music. I was able to play about 15-20 gigs a month there and make a living! Them days are gone, like most of the clubs that supported that scene. Greg do you know the Pulsators? Doug the guitarist has played in my bands on and off since the late 70's. If you see him say hi from me. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Many thanks to all of your for your help and responses on this one. It's good to find out after all these years that this was Norton Buffalo. I remember watching this movie after I'd been playing for about 1 year, and almost wanting to give up, thinking that I would never be able to play as good as the harmonica player on the soundtrack... but instead, it encouraged me to keep on trying. This was before the days of the internet, YouTube, etc. Back then we learned the hard way, from rewinding the cassette a zillion times and trying to copy licks, or from LP's. But this forced me to rely on my ears, and made me a better musician.
A few months ago I ran across Norton on youtube and listened to and read everything I could find. Somehow I remembered the peanuts cartoons,but this movie wasn't listed. I did find out that Ed Bogas,the composer of the music for this movie,worked with Norton on four"Garfield" projects and two movies,plus Bogas was working with musicians from the Steve Miller Band when Norton joined Miller in '76',so when Bogas did this movie in '77' he must have known Norton. Did Bogas reply to your E-mail yet?
Funny bit of serendipity. I drove through Santa Rosa today and stopped at the Charles Schulz Museum today. Cool place, but didn't hear any harmonica music.
Todd,did you go on to master the music in this movie? I'm guessing you did by the sounds of your clips and videos. When is that cd coming out...soon I hope. You know Norton,Buddy Greene,and Charlie McCoy are my favorites and you have that same quality of tone,I call it a "sweetness". I'm thinkin' it has a lot to do with heart and soul.
@Lmbrjak - Not really, because I never had anything to practice with, like a soundtrack or DVD of the movie. But now when I listen to this years later, I don't hear any licks that I couldn't imitate. As for Norton's tone, that is unique to him - don't think I could ever sound like that, but the licks are not that difficult. This is still some of the best harmonica to listen to in my opinion. Norton was really great.
I just recorded 4 more songs and am working to try and have the entire project done by SPAH, though that may be pushing it.
