PUBLICATION PARTY FOR THE Second EDITION OF "HARMONICAS, HARPS. AND HEAVY BREATHERS" IN New York cITY, 2000

(You can buy a print or Kindle version of “Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers” here.)

When Cooper Square Press published the updated second edition of "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers" in 2000, I again contacted my friend John Brancati to see if we could have a publication party at the Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan. John made all the arrangements, my friend Rob Paparozzi hired a keyboardist and helped with sound, and Louis X. Erlanger showed up to back up the blues players on guitar.

The event may have been the greatest collection of harmonica talent ever assembled in one room. That would have been true even if Charlie Leighton had been the only player there, but that was only the beginning. Will Galison, one of the finest jazz chromatic harmonica players in the world, was there, as was Rob Paparozzi, the top session player on harp in New York. Wade Schuman contributed a virtuoso rendition of a train song, somehow summoning both the harmonica's past and future. Steve Guyger, Annie Raines, Adam Gussow and Dennis Gruenling, each of whom is a world-class blues harp player, all performed. Bob Shatkin, who taught harmonica at the New School and was an expert on the history of the folk and blues harmonica; Pierre Beauregard, a phenomenal player and talented harmonica inventor; Charles Spranklin, an excellent chromatic player; and Dave Macklin, the legendary harmonica teacher and bandleader, also graced the event with their considerable presence.

Perhaps the greatest assemblage of harmonica players in a single room ever, from left to right: Pierre Beauregard, Steve Guyger, Bob Shatkin, unknown, unknown, Robert Bonfiglio, Charles Spranklin, Rob Paparozzi, Susan Rosenberg, me, William Galison, Adam Gussow, Annie Raines, Charlie Leighton, Dave Macklin. Foreground: Wade Schuman and innocent bystander.

Charlie Leighton and William Galison—a match made in harmonica heaven

Rob Paparozzi

Adam Gussow and Louis X. Erlanger

Annie Raines, Steve Guyger, and Louis X. Erlanger

Me and Dennis Gruenling

Robert Bonfiglio

Wade Schuman and me