HARMONICA FRANK FLOYD

 " CURIOSA " la manera de tocar la armónica de Mr. Frank Floyd :             

                                        


                                       




Harmonica Frank (October 11, 1908, Toccopola, Mississippi - August 7, 1984, Blanchester, Ohio) was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonicist.

Early life, performing technique

Frank Floyd was the son of itinerant parents who separated without giving him a name. He was raised by his sharecropping grandparents, who died while he was a teenager. He taught himself to play harmonica when he was 10 years old, and he eventually learned guitar. He gave himself the name Frank Floyd and began performing in the 1920s for traveling carnivals and medicine shows.

He learned many types of folk music and became a mimic, effortlessly switching from humorous hillbilly ballads to deep country blues.

With his self-taught harmonica technique, he was a one-man band, able to play the instrument without his hands or the need for a neck brace. While also playing guitar, he perfected a technique of manipulating the harmonica with his mouth while he sang out of the other side. He could also play harmonica with his nose and thus play two harmonicas at once, a skill he shared with blues harp players Walter Horton and Gus Cannon's partner Noah Lewis.

Early recordings

After years of performing on the medicine-show circuit, Harmonica Frank began working in radio in 1932. His first records were made in 1951, engineered by Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee. The songs, "Swamp Root", "Goin’ Away Walkin'", "Step It Up and Go", "Howlin’ Tomcat", and "She Done Moved", were licensed to Chess Records. Phillips put out another single on Sun Records, "Rockin Chair Daddy"/"The Great Medical Menagerist" in 1954. Harmonica Frank thus became the first white musician to record at that studio. Floyd and Larry Kennon released a shared single, "Rock-A-Little Baby"/"Monkey Love" in 1958, on their own record label, F&L.

Rediscovery, legacy and death

Harmonica Frank's songs appeared on many all-black blues compilations in the 1960s and 1970s, collectors being unable to distinguish his race.

In 1972 he was "rediscovered" by Stephen C. LaVere and in the following years recorded two albums for the Adelphi and Barrelhouse labels, including a compilation of the early material. Additional full albums were recorded before his death in 1984, many of which have become available on CD, though his vintage recordings (1951–59) remain mostly out of print and unavailable aside from occasional tracks on compilations.

In his 1975 book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music, author Greil Marcus presented a unique vision of America and music, and how they relate by using (as metaphors) six musicians, one of whom was Harmonica Frank.

Frank Floyd died in Blanchester, Ohio on August 7, 1984, due to complications from Type II diabetes (which had previously cost him his leg) and lung cancer. He was survived by his late-life spouse, Frances Kincaide-Pierce-Floyd (she died in June 2008, in Georgetown, Ohio, from natural causes).

From : WIKIPEDIA 

Google translate : 

Primers anys de vida, la realització tècnica

Frank Floyd era fill de pares separats ambulants que sense donar-li un nom. Va ser criat pels seus avis parceria, que va morir quan era adolescent. Ell mateix va ensenyar a tocar l'harmònica quan tenia 10 anys, i amb el temps va aprendre guitarra. Es va donar el nom de Frank Floyd i va començar a actuar a la dècada de 1920 per viatjar carnestoltes i espectacles medicina.

Ell va aprendre molts tipus de música popular i es va convertir en un imitador, sense esforç canviar de balades hillbilly humor de country blues profunds.

Amb la seva tècnica autodidacta harmònica, ell era un home orquestra, capaç de tocar l'instrument sense les mans o la necessitat d'un collaret. Mentre que també toca la guitarra, va perfeccionar una tècnica de manipulació de l'harmònica amb la boca mentre ell cantava fora de l'altra part. També podia tocar l'harmònica amb el nas i per tant jugar dos harmòniques alhora, una habilitat que compartia amb el blues harp jugadors Walter Horton i Lewis Gus Cannon company Noah.

 Els primers registres

Després d'anys de dur a terme en el circuit de la medicina-show, Harmonica Frank va començar a treballar a la ràdio el 1932. Els seus primers discos van ser fets el 1951, dirigit per Sam Phillips a Memphis, Tennessee. Les cançons, "Arrel del pantà", "Goin 'Away Walkin'", "Step It Up and Go", "Howlin 'Tomcat" i "She Done Moved", tenien llicència per Chess Records. Phillips treure un altre single a Sun Records, "Pare Rockin Chair" / "El Menagerist Gran Metge" el 1954. Harmonica Frank es va convertir així en el primer músic blanc per gravar en aquest estudi. Floyd i Kennon Larry va llançar un single compartit, "Rock-A-Little Baby" / "Love Monkey" el 1958, en el seu propi segell discogràfic, F & L.

Redescobriment, el llegat i la mort

Harmonica cançons de Frank va aparèixer en moltes compilacions de blues de tots els negres en els anys 1960 i 1970, els col · leccionistes no poder distingir la seva carrera.

El 1972 va ser "redescobert" per Stephen C. LaVere i en els anys següents va gravar dos àlbums per al Adelphi i etiquetes Barrelhouse, incloent un recull del material inicial. Altres àlbums complets van ser gravades abans de la seva mort el 1984, molts dels quals s'han convertit en disponible en CD, encara que els seus enregistraments d'època (1951-1959) segueixen sent en la seva majoria fora d'impressió i no està disponible a un costat de les pistes ocasionals en compilacions.

En el seu llibre de 1975 Mystery Train: Imatges d'Amèrica en la música Rock 'n' Roll, autor Greil Marcus va presentar una visió única d'Amèrica i la música, i com es relacionen amb (com metàfores) sis músics, un dels quals era Harmonica Frank.

Frank Floyd va morir en Blanchester, Ohio el 7 d'agost de 1984, a causa de les complicacions de la diabetis tipus II (que havia prèviament li va costar la cama) i el càncer de pulmó. Li sobreviuen el seu espòs final de la vida, Frances Kincaide-Pierce-Floyd (va morir el juny de 2008, a Georgetown, Ohio, per causes naturals).