Todd Parrott
1520 posts
Mar 26, 2020
9:19 PM
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Jerry Fierro shared this on Facebook. Just passing it along here. (Embedding was not allowed by the owner of the video.)
Sonny Terry Interviewed 1972 for Playing the Thing
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Gnarly
2764 posts
Mar 30, 2020
12:35 AM
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Very cool--takes you right back to the time.
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ted burke
840 posts
Mar 30, 2020
1:20 PM
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Thanks for posting Todd. This was very edifying . I rather liked the fact that the interviewers asked questions about Terry's musicianship. Terry seemed delighted to break it down for them.
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www.ted-burke.com
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snowman
549 posts
Mar 31, 2020
7:30 PM
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Really cool . He was the real deal. thanks for post.
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tonwat
1 post
Apr 05, 2020
9:25 PM
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I was lucky enough to meet Sonny Terry after a gig he played with Brownie McGee in 1980. I sat next to him, and he patiently answered my questions in a giving manner, just like in this video.
I was just a 22 year-old harp player wanna-be (still am, just much older), but I at least knew that Sonny played Marine Band harmonicas. When I was admiring the numerous pockets sewn on the front of his shirt to hold his harps, I could see the top edge of the harps. I was surprised to see that they all had the distinctive red-combed, rounded edge of the Golden Melody.
I asked Sonny about playing Golden Melody's, and he said he "liked the way they sound". I don't know if he ever used a Golden Melody on a recording or how often he played them, but I do know that he played them that night. And I've seen the pictures of vintage Sonny Terry ones on the Blue Moon harmonicas site.
Todd Parrot - Thanks for posting the video. I wanted to relay that story since I knew from your youtube videos that you play Golden Melody harps (awesomely I might add).
Tony Watson
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florida-trader
1509 posts
Apr 06, 2020
10:29 AM
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tonwat - Sonny played Golden Melodys extensively. There are quite a few of them in the collection which I am marketing on behalf of the Sonny Terry Estate LLC. You can see them at www.SonnyTerry.net.
I have some favorite harps that I have been playing for years. There is a normal amount of wear and tear on them but nothing close to the amount of wear and tear on many of the estate harmonicas. I am specifically referring to covers that are stained and tarnished from Sonny's saliva and the oils on his hands. Plus, many of the harps have covers that have been crushed by his hands - some slightly and some extensively. And another interesting feature of the Golden Melodys in the estate is that the backs of the combs have scrape marks on them. My assumption is that the scrapes are from rubbing up against the screen on microphones. So, judging by the number of Golden Melodys in the collection and the amount of wear and tear on them, he played them a lot. The Golden Melody was introduced in the 1970s. The predecessor to the Golden Melody was the Navy Band. Same comb and reed plates. Just different covers. There were a few Navy Bands - which have already been purchased.
Hohner recently introduced the Sonny Terry Heritage Edition Marine Band and has touted their choice of the Marine Band to so honor him because it was his favorite harp. I won't argue with that notion. However, there are a lot of other models in the collection which also show the same signs of use as the Marine Bands and Golden Melodys. Blues Harps, Special 20s, Pro Harps, Echo Super Vampers (the UK version of the Marine Band 1896), Orchesters, Vest Pocket Harps, and others. There is also a set of Huang Star Performers, which were given to Sonny by Cham-ber Huang when he left Hohner to start his own company. No doubt, Sonny and Cham-ber were friends from their days at Hohner together.
About 50% of the harps in the collection are Marine Bands. The Golden Melody is the clear #2 choice. It seems that while Sonny did have his favorites, he was very willing to try other models and if he liked them, he played them and very likely both performed and recorded with them.
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Tom Halchak
Blue Moon Harmonicas
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sonvolt13
211 posts
Apr 06, 2020
12:07 PM
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It’s kinda of interesting that Sonny liked golden melodies given how many chords he played. I guess it shows that ET harps can be fine for chordal work with the right touch. I’ve contemplated the move to the harpmaster for many years due to their quality and low price. The only thing Holding me back is the tuning. Another thing about Sonny is he is an underrated single note player. He has some great fast licks on some Lightning Hopkins recordings. You can barely hear them but they are good.
Last Edited by sonvolt13 on Apr 06, 2020 12:09 PM
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Stokes Bay Slim
104 posts
Apr 07, 2020
4:02 AM
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In Tom Ball's fine instructional book on Sonny Terry Licks he writes that Sonny played Lee Oskar harps very late in his life. Does anyone know if this is true? I have never seen picture or video evidence to back this up. I believe the first Lee Oskars were about in 1983 and Sonny passed in 1986 so it is possible I guess.
Thankyou Todd for posting this it is a real gem. Roger Trobridge has done so much fine work bringing lots of old film and recordings to us all through his sites.
Last Edited by Stokes Bay Slim on Apr 07, 2020 4:34 AM
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florida-trader
1510 posts
Apr 07, 2020
8:11 AM
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I have not seen any Lee Oskars in Sonny's collection. But, I would add that I do not have every harp that is in the collection. Lee Oskars came into existence in the early 1980s toward the end of Sonny's playing career. It would not surprise me if Lee gave a few harps to Sonny, just the same as Cham-ber Huang did, in an attempt to lure Sonny away from Hohner.
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Tom Halchak
Blue Moon Harmonicas
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Gabriel.Harmonic
1 post
Apr 15, 2020
2:35 PM
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Hi,
I am new on here but, been playing harmonica since 1974 and played full-time by age 20 in SoCal. Was first pro harp player to play at the Belly-Up Tavern....before William Clarke, James Harmon, Hollywood fats, etc. came in the 80's. We packed the place monthly with country two-step dancers and got it going. (for those of you SoCal folks) Anyway, I grew up in Florida and saw Sonny & Brownie in 1976 at a "Stuckey's" Restaurant near Orlando. Sat at their table and chatted with them for the night, Sonny T was wearing his harps and they were all Golden Melody. By the way, this was Gary Onofrio's very first gig with them as Valet (he was not called "Sonny Jr" yet) so we spent time on the breaks jamming on harps in the parking lot. We had both only been playing a couple years.
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ted burke
851 posts
Apr 15, 2020
7:36 PM
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Welcome Gabe. I live in San Diego and saw many great harmonica players at the Belly Up. Who were some of the bands you played with? I might have seen you at one point
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www.ted-burke.com
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Gnarly
2776 posts
Apr 15, 2020
8:01 PM
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I believe Gabriel is back in SD, based on posts on CL.
Or maybe it was BandMix . . .
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Gabriel.Harmonic
3 posts
Apr 15, 2020
10:17 PM
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Hi Ted,
I was one the five who started "Tall Cotton", we played 1977-79 @ Belly-Up 2-3 nights pretty much monthly, Jose Murphy's, Dick's at the Beach, Balboa Park, Encinitas Street Fair, etc. I remember playing 41 nights in a row at one pint! We did tour some too. Otherwise, I did side gigs with UCSD Gospel Choir (40 voices and me on harp was fun), LaPaloma Theatre, and studio sessions.
When I was here it was basically myself and then Kenny Schopmeyer had his King Biscuit Blues Band. I moved north in '79. I was going to play at HarpFest last weekend but, cancelled!
Oh, and yes "Gnarly" I do have a post up on CL.
Thanks.
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Gabriel.Harmonic
4 posts
Apr 15, 2020
10:21 PM
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p.s. Gnarly, yes, I have been in Austin past 7 years but, recently moved here to San Diego. Was starting to do some gigs with Tom Stuart (Backwater Blues) and some other invites but, as you know those are on hold.
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Gnarly
2777 posts
Apr 15, 2020
10:39 PM
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Yep, it's been a month without gigs but San Diego seems to be faring well with regard to the coronavirus, so I guess that's a small price to pay.
Sorry everybody for the thread drift, thanks Todd for the link to Sonny's interview. I enjoyed it, and hadn't seen it before. Sorry I won't be seeing you this year, maybe next!
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Bilzharp
196 posts
Apr 19, 2020
11:26 AM
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Thanks for sharing that link, Todd, that was great! Anybody notice that Sonny was playing a 10-hole EchoLuxe in the film? Basically a Marine Band with lithographed covers that was available from the early 50's to mid 60's. Re: the Navy Band vs. Golden Melody, The Navy Band was, as Tom said, the predecessor to the Golden Melody but it was only available in C and G and was JI instead of ET. It was available in the US from around '57 to '67. In non-US markets, a similar shaped harp was called the Educator I instead of the US Navy Band.
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LFLISBOA
71 posts
Apr 20, 2020
4:45 AM
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I thought that Educator was available just in solo tuning. Steve Guyger showed his, and latter I bought one on Ebay
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Bilzharp
197 posts
Apr 20, 2020
6:12 AM
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"Educator was available just in solo tuning"
Yep, you're right. I just read the description in a Canadian Hohner catalog from the the 60's and it is a very different animal from the Navy Band. Sorry for the confusion. It is, as I said, similar shaped but so were the Chromettas. I've got a Navy Band in G that I picked up on Ebay and it plays those rich chords like a prewar Marine Band. In the couple of German and Canadian catalogs I have from that era, it doesn't look like the those markets had anything equivalent.
Last Edited by Bilzharp on Apr 20, 2020 6:17 AM
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Todd Parrott
1521 posts
Apr 21, 2020
1:04 PM
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Before the Navy Band, there was this.....
Last Edited by Todd Parrott on Apr 21, 2020 1:12 PM
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tingtang
13 posts
Apr 25, 2020
6:01 AM
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Thankyou so much for posting this.
There are so few surviving interviews with the great players of yesterday and this interview with my favourite player Sonny is absolute gold dust.
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