Wanted to share a few things that I've been up to recently.
After our press conference at NAMM 2014 jamming with my fellow ArtistWorks teachers: the Amazing Howard Levy on Harmonica and Rock Guitar Wizard Paul Gilbert, Paul brought me into his Los Angeles, California recording studio to sing vocals on the title cut of his upcoming album. That was a real treat.
Then one of my star clients Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) came to LA while on her spring tour of the US. She gave a fantastic performance in Hollywood, and here we are in her dressing room after the show.
Howard Levy stays busy - between adding new online harmonica lessons here and keeping up with all his students, he still manages to play shows around the world with some very diverse musicians. Just recently he played three unique concerts worth mentioning:
4/4/14: Harmonica Convergence III - Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Featuring: Howard Levy, Corky Siegel, Pablo Fagundes, James Conway, Windy City Trio (Ron Agnew, Bud Boblink, and Bill Morris), Marcus Moraes, Kay Kim, Chris Siebold, Kalyan Pathak
"This was the third one of these that I have done at NU. Everyone’s playing was stellar, especially Pablo and Marcos. I had the pleasure of playing Jacob do Bandolim’s 'Santa Morena' with them, which was a joy. I was also the MC of the event. For my featured numbers, I performed the Bach Em Flute Sonata with pianist Kay Kim, as well as a set with Chris Siebold on guitar. We added Kalyan Pathak on tablas for my tune 'Raga Fantasy' and on dumbek for the Macedonian song 'Jovano, Jovanke.' For the finale, Corky Siegel led everyone in a Blues jam. The large audience loved it, and I hope that we can do more of these." - Howard
ArtistWorks is sorry to lose an enthusiastic member of the Howard Levy Harmonica School, Bernie Katz, who passed away on January 17th after struggling heroically with a long illness. Bernie's spirit and passion for playing will be missed. When asked to share his thoughts on Bernie, Howard had this to say:
"Bernie Katz was probably the most high spirited member of my harmonica school. He was the oldest when he joined, by far, but his spirit was indomitable. He was incredibly determined to pick up the harmonica and get good at it. He had played when he was much younger but he hadn't played in a while, and this was something that he really wanted to do and he was just so excited about doing it.