Liorm W FOLK

TOOTS THIELEMANS: Contrasts. Jean (Toots) Thielemans, harmonica and guitar; orchestra, Don Sebeksy or Jack liorm Andrews, arr. and cond. Makin' FOLK nine w Whoopee; Big Boy; Bluecette; HI -FI more. Command O RS 33 -906, $4.79; MICHEAL MacLIAMMOIR: I Must Be RS 906SD, $5.79. Talking To My Friends. Argo © RG COMPONENTS Almost without question, the most ac- 493, $5.79 (mono only). complished harmonica player in the Here is an honest -to -God tour de force. world today is not Larry Adler but a Bel- Michell MacLiammóir, something of a TAPE gian virtuoso named Jean (Toots) Renaissance man in that he writes, stage Thielemans. Thielemans has turned the designs, and acts with impeccable skill, RECORDERS instrument into a genuine musical instru- has already served Oscar Wilde and his TAPES, ACCESSORIES ment, something Adler never quite ac- works to perfection on discs. Here he complished. He plays by a technique of presents a one -man entertainment that SLEEP LEARN KITS puckering as if he were about to whistle, is far more than an hour's elocution. A blowing (or sucking) through each in- consummately witty and informative nar- MERITAPE dividual hole of the instrument, and ration links together poems from Yeats, working the button by which the instru- excerpts from Joyce and Shaw, the last ment is shifted a half -step upward with speech of Robert Emmet, and material MONEY astonishing cleanliness and facility. By culled from Ireland's long and tragic SAVE varying the pressure of wind, which of history into a glowing tapestry that seems course activates the little metal reed to capture the quintessence of that su- LOWEST PRICES that creates each note of the harmonica, premely colorful country. No review can INTEGRITY SERVICE he even gets a clear and delicate possibly do justice either to MacLiam- FRANCHISED DISTRIBUTORS vibrato. By blowing too hard into the móir's artistry or the power of his ma- instrument or, alternatively, letting the terial. It is theatre of the very highest WRITE FOR OUR VERY LOW air support drop, he manages to bend order. O.B.B. PACKAGE QUOTATIONS notes as easily as if he were singing Nationally Advertised Brands or playing a conventional horn or reed DAVE VAN RONK: Nu Dirty Names. Factory Sealed Cartons instrument. The only reason I know how Dave Van Ronk, vocals and guitar; Wratre he plays the damned instrument is that David Woods, guitar and rhythm ac- FREE CATALOG Visit Our Showrooms he once showed me- during the period companiment. One Meatball; Song of when he was playing guitar with George the Wandering Aengus; Statesboro Shearing-as we walked up Chicago's Blues; ten more. Verve Folkways © DRESSNER State Street at four o'clock in the morn- FT 3009. $3.79; FTS 3009, $4.79. 1523K JERICHO TPKE. NEW HYDE PARK, N. Y. ing. I bought a harmonica Recently there has emerged a strange promptly 11040 like his (he uses an ordinary $13.00 new breed of folk singers. Urban intel- Hohner chromatic instrument). Only then lectuals for the most part, they choose did I realize how great is Thielemans' to sing Deep South country blues. Just CIRCLE 31 ON READER -SERVICE CARD accomplishment in making the harmonica why they should want to do such a into something much more than a folk thing is a question best answered by the toy. The composition with which he artist and his conscience. The temptation demonstrated the instrument, incidentally, is to applaud as one might for a dancing was one of the Bach unaccompanied bear: not because he dances well, but Why? violin sonatas; and, I might add, he because he does it at all. played it superbly. The most representative and perhaps DO THOUSANDS OF HI -FI Thielemans has composed hit songs the best of this group of waltzing hears (Bluecette, for one) and he has made is Dave Van Ronk. On this, his tenth ENTHUSIASTS BUY FROM good albums. This album seems to be album for Folkways, Van Ronk shows a taking on the proportions of a hit, partly style all his own, and ironically enough, AUDIO UNLIMITED due to the virtuosity and beauty of his not with his blues singing. His treatment jazz soloing on Makin' Whoopee. The of Alabama Song, from the Kurt Weill - whole album isn't up to the standard of Bertolt Brecht opera Rise and Fall of the this one. alas, though there are some City of Muha,gonny, is acid -etched, and It's Obvious! other quite good tracks, such as Summer at times inspired. tracks, Van Ronk sings Samba. But this track illustrates what an Of the blues LOWEST PRICES admiring fellow musician meant when with most authority on One of These he said of Thielemans recently: "I've Days. a sophisticated piece by Mose Al- FAST SERVICE never seen a cat play as if the instru- lison. Lead guitar on this band is played ment were part of his body like that." by David Woods, easily the most tasteful FACTORY SEALED UNITS Every musician's instrument is, to a musician to come out of the folk herd. FULLY INSURED SHIPMENTS greater or lesser degree, an extension of In all, Van Ronk acquits himself well. He proves you don't have to be black his body. But Thielemans at his best PACKAGE DEALS -SAVE MORE really does sound as if the odd little in- to sing blues; still, the last dancing hear strument, almost invisible in his hands, I saw was in a circus. M.A. FRANCHISED DISTRIBUTORS was as much a part of him and as re- sponsive to his musical whim as one of Write for FREE Listing today his fingers. An amazing player. He plays guitar and whistles on some of the tracks. He plays guitar well, SEND US YOUR LIST though with nothing like the astonish- FOR OUR AIR MAIL ing originality and ease with which he QUOTE TODAY does the harmonica. He whistles rather poorly. I wish somebody would make Visit Our Showroom and Warehouse an album with this man playing har- Closed Mondays monica all the way, and up to his own best standards. If you haven't heard C) AUDIO unlimited, inc. Thielemans, you've missed something un- 715 -F Second Ave. (Nr. 38) N.Y., N.Y. 10016 usual and exciting. G.L. FEBRUARY 1967 I?9 www.americanradiohistory.com.

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