Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica -based group .
43-527: The earliest iteration of the band was known as the Harmonica Madcaps, which was later renamed The Quintones by Jimmy Mulcay, who was promoting/producting the band up until 1942. The group regularly proformed at the Bijou Vaudeville lounge with Pete Petersen and Jerry Murad on chromatic, AL Fiore on chord, and Bob Hamdick on bass. In 1941, Jerry and AL left the famous Borrah Minevitch rascals, and started
86-534: A car collision that lead to the car catching fire. Dick Gardner (bass harmonica) took over for Don Les in 1970 and remained with the Cats for over 20 years. Gardner was the last member of the group that was with the group over a decade. Bob Bauer (chord harmonica) took over for George Miklas in 1985 and after Al Fiore left the group. Bob started out as a chord player for his own group, the Harmonikings (sometimes written as
129-538: A creator of tricks, as opposed to simply a performer. He worked behind the scenes with magicians such as Penn and Teller , Lance Burton , Criss Angel and Mat Franco . In 1999, he was awarded one of the highest honors in the magician community, a Masters Fellowship with the Academy of Magical Arts . January 30, 2020, Showtime released a documentary about Thompson written and directed by Emery Emery called Gambler's Ballad: The Legend of Johnny Thompson . Thompson, who
172-414: A given position (button "in" or button "out"). Traditionally the chromatic was "straight tuned" and the slider selected either the upper reed-plate (button out) or the lower reed-plate (button in). In the later half of the 20th century a new system came into use in which the slider played the upper and lower reed-plates at the same time, staggered by which hole (thus with the button out the player might play
215-491: A group, quickly to bring on Don Les as a third member, becoming the Harmonicats in 1946. The group consisted of Jerry Murad ( chromatic lead harmonica ), Bob Hadamik (bass harmonica), Pete Pedersen (chromatic harmonica), and Al Fiore ( chord harmonica ). In 1947, the group consisted of Murad, Fiore, Don Les on bass harmonica, and Cappy Lafell on Polyphonia. Around 1948 they became a trio, with Murad, Fiore and Les. In 1947, during
258-412: A key of C. Although it still requires being able to play over complex changes, modulating and so forth, it enables the player to focus more on the music. Another approach is using altered tunings such as Diminished, which requires learning to play three (or four) patterns and then be able to play in all keys. Chromatic harmonicas tend to be significantly more expensive than their diatonic counterparts—with
301-415: A solo hit with "The Story of Three Loves" (No. 14) in 1953. Chromatic harmonica The chromatic harmonica is a type of harmonica that uses a button-activated sliding bar to redirect air from the hole in the mouthpiece to the selected reed-plate desired. When the button is not pressed, an altered diatonic major scale of the key of the harmonica is available, while depressing the button accesses
344-425: A typical chromatic harmonica selling at a price that is up to ten times higher than a simple diatonic harmonica. Chromatic harmonicas produced by reputable companies (such as Hohner , Seydel, and Suzuki ) range between 70 and 700 hundred US dollars. Chromatic harmonicas are often described as either "straight tuned" or "cross tuned". This refers to the way the slider is shaped to isolate the reed set being played at
387-854: Is classical tuning , which is done by switching between the blow and draw of the fourth hole of each octave: This easily allows Imaj and IIm chords, as well as many others, to be played–a benefit for various musical styles. Another tuning is minor tuning for natural and harmonic minor Im and IIdim normal position. Starckwest Claks interpreter, composer, transcriptor of the JS Bach toccata Dm https://imslp.simssa.ca/files/imglnks/usimg/b/bc/IMSLP482830-PMLP153090-sir_starckwest_harmonica_chromatic_js_bach_toccata_dminor_transcription.mp3 and harmonica concerto Le sommeil des voeux https://ks.imslp.net/files/imglnks/usimg/5/53/IMSLP463227-PMLP752187-concerto_le_sommeil_des_voeux_orch_clakos_2017.mp3 Johnny Thompson John Max Thompson (July 27, 1934 – March 9, 2019)
430-457: Is a C ♯ tremolo harmonica sitting on top of a C tremolo harmonica, with blow and draw reeds each sitting in a single cell. The player switches between a top row tuned to C ♯ and a bottom tuned to C by changing the angle of the harmonica. Like diatonic harmonicas, chromatics are available in numerous tunings. However, there are three more popular versions: one is Irish tuning , whereby notes are flattened (instead of sharpened) when
473-507: Is an example of this type of chromatic. Finally, there are also several types of non-slide chromatic instruments available, particularly in Asia, such as the horn harmonica , as well as Tombo's S-50, Tombo's Chromatic Violin Range, and others. Tombo Chromatic Violin Range (three and a half octaves), as well as S-50 (three octaves) use the tremolo scale tuning system (but with only one-reed): in essence it
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#1732894035217516-407: Is available in 12 keys, but because the entire chromatic scale is available by definition, most professionals stick with the key of C—which is perhaps easier to remember, since slide in will automatically be the sharps of the associated note. Chromatic harmonicas are traditionally tuned to solo tuning , which has a similar layout to the diatonic's Richter tuning except that it eliminates the G on
559-462: Is limited, unless the harmonica is retuned from standard tuning; the lack of a G on the draw makes it impossible to play the G chords available on a Richter-tuned device. Thus, while a chromatic harmonica is well-suited for playing lead or melody, diatonic harmonicas have a greater advantage when playing harmony or accompaniment. As the chromatic harmonica is designed to play melodies in any key, many 16-hole and special version chromatic are only made in
602-503: The U.S. Billboard chart . When recording engineer Bill Putnam recorded the song, he utilized the bathroom of Universal Recording as an echo chamber and became the first person to use artificial reverberation creatively on a pop recording. Other charted hits for the group included " Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue " (No. 15) in 1948, " Charmaine " (No. 21) in 1952, and " Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White " (No. 56) in 1961. Jerry Murad, accompanied by Richard Hayman 's Orchestra, had
645-561: The Harmoni-kings) and later Paul Baron's Harmonica Rascals. George Miklas was originally a chord player for the group before leaving the group and returning later to play bass with the group. Al Data played chord with the group in its final days, until Murad's death in 1996. Joe Mass Junior (1953–2018) played chord for the Harmonicats one year, while on tour in California. He was a short-time member, but recorded audio tracks with Murad, and
688-514: The Harmonicats 1967 to 1969. Stagg, being a expert harmonicist, played both Harmonetta and 2nd chromatic for the quartet during this time. Stagg played the Harmonetta solo on "Parisienne Fantaisie" during the group's tour in Canada. Johnny Thompson joined The Harmonicats in 1951 on bass harmonica, but left after a short time. Johnny left the group after a near fatal accident envolving himself, Murad, and
731-736: The Jerry Murad Harmonicats, Chris Bauer performed on stage with the Harmonicats with his father, Bob, and Dick Gardner on bass. He also appeared on the Jerry Murad's Harmonicats Magic album, as the second chromatic player. On the 50th anniversary of "Peg O' My Heart", Dick Gardner, Bob Bauer, and Chris Bauer recorded a small six-song album. Their 1947 recording of the song " Peg o' My Heart " ( Mercury Records , originally on Bill Putnam's Universal Records and then reissued on Vitacoustic Records, catalog number 1) brought them public attention and sold over one million copies by 1950, reaching No. 1 on
774-603: The Knittlinger octave harmonicas. Note, however, the Renaissance uses a complex comb design to achieve their slider design. The second type of alternative design is found mostly in East Asia and is based more along the traditional Weiner tremolo construction. Here each reed is isolated in its own cell within the comb and the slider selects a single reed at a time rather than a cell containing both blow and draw reeds. The Tombo Ultimo
817-574: The Musette, a harmonica made especially for him that replicates the sound qualities of a French accordion . It is featured on their 1960s recording of "Parisienne Fantasy". Murad also played the Hohner Polyphonia (a type of orchestral melodic harmonica ). He died of a heart attack in 1996. Don Les (Dominic Leshinski) (1914–1994) ( bass harmonica ) was born in Lorain , Ohio , with congenital cataracts. He
860-465: The act once they had appeared. He had been featured on many episodes of Criss Angel's Mindfreak , the "Hair" episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! , and the film The Aristocrats . His wife and assistant, Pamela Hayes Thompson, was featured in the film Women in Boxes about magicians' assistants. He was the producer on the television program Penn & Teller: Fool Us . As part of that job, he
903-580: The band asked Johnny Thompson to fill in for Les on bass harmonica for a couple of weeks. Thompson went on to play with them at their residency gig at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas in the early 1950s. In the mid-1950s, Les suffered from a detached retina , and Thompson once again took his place until Les was able to return full time later in the decade. In 1958, Al Fiore suffered his first heart attack and Bob Herndon filled in for him for several months. In
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#1732894035217946-482: The bass harmonica for the Harmonicats one year, while on tour in California. Danny Wilson left his job at General Motors to work with Murad around 1971. A bass harmonica player and longtime member of the SPAH organization, Wilson toured with the Harmonicats. However, he left shortly after joining. He, according to his archived website, was also with the Harmonicats for a stint in 1978. Charles "Buddy" Boblink played chord with
989-466: The chromatic harmonica is the instrument of choice in jazz and classical music . The "solo tuning" layout repeats itself at each octave, which simplifies playing in different octaves and keys in contrast to the Richter tuning system. Also, due to the windsavers on the low and mid-range holes, it can bend notes on both blow and draw notes, giving additional tonality if needed. In traditional harmonica bands,
1032-420: The chromatic harmonica plays the lead part. Stock chromatics are well suited for players who play chromatics in third position traditional Chicago Blues, and benefit from having a selection of keys. While the chromatic harmonica is capable of playing in all keys, it does have limitations. For example, while chromatic harmonicas can "bend" notes down in pitch, as a single-reed bend it sounds quite different from
1075-452: The draw and doubles the Cs that are not on the ends of the instrument. In the standard 12-hole chromatic in C the lowest note is middle C, while 16-hole variants start one octave lower. For the 16-hole variant, the layout is usually as follows. Note that the "D" in the last key-in draw note is common, though by no means present in all chromatic harmonicas. Because it is a fully chromatic instrument,
1118-489: The early 1970s, Don Les left the group and was replaced by Dick Gardner, who stayed with the group for more than 20 years. Other members of the group included the following: Jerry Murad (1918–1996) ( chromatic harmonica ) was an Armenian born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1918, and moved to America at the age of 2. He played diatonic harmonicas at first, and took up chromatic soon after. Murad played Hohner 270s and 64s, as well as
1161-426: The group throughout the 1990s and until Murad's death in 1996. Buddy Boblink died in 2023, just months before the annual SPAH Convention - of which he was a member. Pete Pedersen was the main arranger for the group and remained the second chromatic player for many albums over the band's nearly 50 years of recording. Frank Warner filled in at times playing the bass harmonica. Despite never being an official member of
1204-446: The key of C. Because of this, there are many approaches to get over the limits of the chromatic harmonica: the first and the most common approach, encouraged mainly by classical music players (such as Franz Chmel), is that a good harmonica player should try his or her best to use the chromatic in the key of C; some even discourage switching to other keys. An alternative approach is to have several keys and play them as if playing key of F on
1247-444: The late 1950s, Bob Herndon substituted for Al Fiore on chord harmonica while Al recovered from a heart attack. He can be seen with the Harmonicats playing "Peg O' My Heart" and "12th Street Rag", in 1958. As a side note, when Don Les left the group, Bob became Don's chord and harmonetta player with The New Don Les Harmonicats as well as The New Tennessee Philharmonicas with Mildred Mulcay. Hugh "Stagg" or "Pud" McMann briefly toured with
1290-522: The record ban, the group recorded the hit song " Peg o' My Heart " for Vitacoustic Records, which spent 21 weeks on the Billboard magazine chart (peaking at No. 1) and sold more than two million copies the first year. It was the first record in history to use artificial reverb . Pedersen and Gail Wallace remained contributors to the group throughout its existence, working on arrangements and occasionally recording . During 1949, when Don Les' father died,
1333-755: The same scale a semitone higher in each hole. Thus, the instrument is capable of playing the 12 notes of the Western chromatic scale . The chromatic harmonica can thus be contrasted with a standard harmonica, which can play only the notes in a given musical key . Famously accomplished chromatic harmonica players include classical players Larry Adler , Tommy Reilly , Antonio Serrano , Sigmund Groven , and Willi Burger ; jazz players Toots Thielemans , Mathias Heise , Gregoire Maret , Yvonnick Prene , Hendrik Meurkens, and William Galison ; and popular musicians Norton Buffalo and Stevie Wonder . Chromatic harmonicas are usually 12, 14 or 16 holes long. The 12-hole chromatic
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1376-438: The slide (flipping the slide upside down) of a chromatic in the key of B major; alternatively, one can use the B major as is, but with slide-in as the home position. Another variant is bebop tuning , which is done by tuning the redundant C/C ♯ in holes 4′, 4, 8, and 12 blow into a B ♭ /B pair. This allows playing chords in the key of F, as well as playing a C chord. Another popular version of alternative tuning
1419-449: The slide is in. This makes playing Irish music and, to a certain extent, blues, easier, since Irish music is commonly played in either the key of D or key of G. The use of C, with no sharps or flats, and B, with all flats, allows common Irish modes to be played while the downward-tuning slide allows ornamentation in keeping with the Irish tradition. Irish tuning can be achieved easily by reversing
1462-443: The slider, thus opening only the left side of the chamber or the right side depending on button position. The Renaissance chromatic uses this design, which is claimed to mix the larger hole of a cross-tuned design with an even shorter movement than in straight tuned sliders. The simple way of doing this is to construct the harmonica more like a traditional Richter diatonic whereas the standard chromatic design shares more in common with
1505-468: The typical dual-reed bend of a blues harp, and can only bend downward by a semi-tone. Furthermore, unless the windsavers are removed, chromatic harmonicas cannot " overblow " except on the upper four holes. However, dual-reed bends and overblows are possible on slideless chromatic harmonicas, as the Tombo S-50 . Perhaps more importantly, the number of chords , double-stops , and legato phrasings available
1548-481: The upper reed-plate in hole 1, the lower reed-plate in hole 2, and then the upper again in hole 3 and so forth; pressing the button reversed this). This allows for a larger hole in the slider, and thus presumably more air gets through, allowing a louder volume. The two methods co-exist with some companies and players preferring one style and others another. There are at least two other types of slider design as well. The first one has holes side by side with each other in
1591-462: Was Polish-American , was born in Chicago on July 27, 1934. Along with his wife Pamela Hayes, he performed a slapstick comic magical act in which he played the role of a dapper but buffoonish vaudeville gentleman, with a gum-popping assistant, and they endured various mishaps during their performance. One of his trademarks was producing pure white doves on stage, which were trained to play along with
1634-529: Was able to see again at the age of twelve after a "couple of operations," but even as an adult his vision was only about 30% of normal. At one point, he formed his own version of the Harmonicats. The Don Les Harmonicats, which featured Mildred Mulcay (of the harmonica duo the Mulcays) and Lenny Leavitt. They released a Christmas album entitled Christmas with the Don Les Harmonicats . Al Fiore (chord harmonica)
1677-416: Was an American comedian and Las Vegas illusionist who performed under the stage name The Great Tomsoni with his wife, Pamela Hayes. They had a comedic slapstick act with the well-dressed Thompson and his gum-popping assistant, Pam, performing illusions while enduring a series of mishaps. Within the magician community, Tomsoni was considered a virtuoso, widely known as a mentor and teacher of magic, and
1720-504: Was born in Chicago and started experimenting with chord harmonicas at the age of 13. Fiore played the rare old style layout or "reverse layout" Hohner Chord harmonica. He recorded the band's No. 1 hit, "Peg o' My Heart", on this harmonica. Bob Hadamik played the bass harmonica prior to 1946. Leon "Cappy" Laffel (1913–2002) was the Polyphonia player for the Harmonicats in 1947 and 1948. In
1763-490: Was featured on the Harmonicats' first DVD video performance and the re-release of "Collector's Item", with his brother, J.R. Mass. Joe Mass was also a member of the Big Harp, and the chord player for The Generation Gap harmonica trio throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, along side his brother. Joe would later go on to be a tutor, an engineer for both Atari and Intel, and a counsler. Brother to Joe Mass Jr., Jerry "J.R." Mass played
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1806-419: Was like a grandfather to my children, Johnny died today. He was working on "Penn and Teller 'Fool Us'", right after working with an act, he collapsed next to Mike Close. His heart stopped. There was CPR. The EMTs got his heart going again. He went in and was in the hospital from that Monday until today, so 10 days. He was conscious for a few moments...I spoke to him, but he couldn't answer back because he had
1849-703: Was responsible for making the final call as to whether the performers were able to fool Penn & Teller . On February 25, 2019, Thompson collapsed during a rehearsal of Fool Us and was taken to Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas. He died in the hospital 12 days later, on March 9, at the age of 84 from complications of respiratory failure . As tearfully reported by Penn Jillette on his podcast, "Penn's Sunday School" released March 10, 2019: "Johnny Thompson, many of you know, my hero, my mentor, my friend, my co-worker...who for over 20 years had been working with Penn and Teller, guiding us on everything; Johnny Thompson who
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