A Tribute to Larry Adler »
Posted By Spadecaller 1 year, 7 months ago in Arts & EntertainmentLarry Adler, 1914-2001, a blacklisted Jewish American harmonica player, whose career spanned seven decades, is the subject of this Spadecaller video that features JoaquÃ;Ân Rodrigo's classic piece, The Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio).
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Spadecaller1 year, 7 months ago
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As a child Adler studied piano and was briefly enrolled at Baltimore's Peabody School of Music, but he was self-taught on the harmonica, and did not learn to read music until 1941.
Beginning in 1934, he performed for film soundtracks, and he also appeared in concert. From 1939, Adler was a harmonica soloist with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and was particularly noted for his interpretations of Darius Milhaud and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In 1941 he formed an association with tap dancer Paul Draper, with whom he performed for many years. During the 1950s the two were blacklisted for alleged Communist affiliations, charges that Adler denied. Adler left the United States for London in 1952 and spent most of the remainder of his life there.
He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the soundtrack of Genevieve (1953), though he was
kept off the credits for 31 years because of the McCarthy blacklisting.
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Spadecaller1 year, 7 months ago
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As a child Adler studied piano and was briefly enrolled at Baltimore's Peabody School of Music, but he was self-taught on the harmonica, and did not learn to read music until 1941.
Beginning in 1934, he performed for film soundtracks, and he also appeared in concert. From 1939, Adler was a harmonica soloist with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and was particularly noted for his interpretations of Darius Milhaud and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In 1941 he formed an association with tap dancer Paul Draper, with whom he performed for many years. During the 1950s the two were blacklisted for alleged Communist affiliations, charges that Adler denied. Adler left the United States for London in 1952 and spent most of the remainder of his life there.
He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the soundtrack of Genevieve (1953), though he was
kept off the credits for 31 years because of the McCarthy blacklisting.
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Spadecaller1 year, 7 months ago
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As a child Adler studied piano and was briefly enrolled at Baltimore's Peabody School of Music, but he was self-taught on the harmonica, and did not learn to read music until 1941.
Beginning in 1934, he performed for film soundtracks, and he also appeared in concert. From 1939, Adler was a harmonica soloist with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and was particularly noted for his interpretations of Darius Milhaud and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In 1941 he formed an association with tap dancer Paul Draper, with whom he performed for many years. During the 1950s the two were blacklisted for alleged Communist affiliations, charges that Adler denied. Adler left the United States for London in 1952 and spent most of the remainder of his life there.
He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the soundtrack of Genevieve (1953), though he was
kept off the credits for 31 years because of the McCarthy blacklisting.
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blinkers1 year, 7 months ago
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What a remarkable story you've found, Spade, and done it immense justice with another fine presentation. It is lamentable that the subject, Larry Adler, was a victim of INjustice for so long. I may be wrong, but I doubt very much whether anyone else achieved such mastery of the humble harmonica.
"Genevieve" was a British movie, wasn't it? Incredible to think he was kept off the credits until 7 years before his death.
The story is a stark reminder of a very dark period in American political history.
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Spadecaller1 year, 7 months ago
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Thanks for sharing that blinkers; yes, there were several of my parents friends and acqaintances who were blacklisted during that time. It was the topic of many dinner conversations between my folks when I was growing up. Some changed careers, some left the country, and some fronted their work to others. Artists, entertainers, writers, actors, Jews, and homosexuals were among their main targets.
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Dicax_Maximus1 year, 7 months ago
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SC - Yet again, superb....
I concur 100%, Adler was indeed the greatest exponent of the harmonica, EVER.
Funnily enough, Rodrigo's Concerto was one of the tracks at my wedding (although played on the guitar courtesy of John Williams), so extra thanks for the memories !!!!
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jordan111 year, 7 months ago
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That was beautiful! I've never heard of this man, and would have certainly had his music in my home if I'd known. Not only did our society allow the hideous McCarthy era to destroy individual lives, it robbed itself of something as precious as this. How sad.
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Spadecaller1 year, 7 months ago
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Along with fellow American John Sebastian (father of the same named folk-rock performer), Adler was responsible for the harmonica, or mouth organ, becoming accepted in serious musical circles. Such distinguished composers as Darius Milhaud, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Cyril Scott, wrote works especially for him, and Maurice Ravel was so impressed with his arrangement of Ravel's "Bolero" for harmonica that he asked to keep it as a souvenir.
Check this gem out: Larry Adler & Itzhak Perlman perform Gershwin's Summertime...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmC4SJ42Z-s
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ETproductions1 year, 7 months ago
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Demonizers like Joe McCarthy thrive in a climate of cowering fear. Then it was fear of Reds. Now it's fear of Rachel Ray's head covering!
I'd like to think America would have learned the lesson from McCarthyism. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration used just such a climate to try to carve out permanent control of everything through permanent war and permanent political of fear and smear.
How quickly the memory of history is gone, and we find ourselves having to repeat the mistakes a knowledge of it could have taught us to avoid.
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