- The Skin Divers
- April Again
- Melinda
- Wendy
- Reminiscing Interlude
- Ride The Dark Hills Home
- All I Desire
Skin Diver Suite
The Harmonica Player
(1915 - 1966)
Leo Diamond
was the chief harmonica soloist, or virtuoso, recording in the
"high-fidelity" LP era. Formerly a flute and piccolo player, he won a
contest playing harmonica with Edwin Franko Goldman's band in New York City's Central Park. This led to 18 years with Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Rascals, after which he formed his own trio, the Harmonaires.
This led him to Hollywood, where he appeared in Coney Island, As
Thousands Cheer, Seven Days Leave, and Sweet Rosie O'Grady. His
harmonica soundtracks include Calamity Jane, Eddie Cantor Story, Living
It Up, and Miss Sadie Thompson.
In 1956, Diamond and conductor Murray Kellner recorded the quintessential harmonica opus, Skin Diver Suite. While Side Two is standard fare, "The Skin Divers" is Diamond's
side-long orchestral conception complete with watery sound effects.
This was the first of attempt in a career of albums designed to elevate
the harmonica from hobo's plaything to refined solo instrument. A short
while later Diamond recorded "Off Shore," a popular single which eventually became a standard.
Diamond
recorded a handful of remarkable but unexciting albums of
harmonica-led, orchestral pop. Perhaps to balance the earthiness of the
harmonica, his two favorite idioms were exotica (music inspired by
Oceana) and continental (French and Italian) standards. Unfortunately
this type of music, or perhaps just the boring arrangements of it on
most Leo Diamond
albums, only exaggerated the inappropriateness of the harmonica.
Gratuitous sound effects, amounting to the strangest effect in Subliminal Sounds, also did little to "harmonize" the instrument with either the material or backing instruments.
The harmonica is like the accordion and organ. People either love it or
hate it. Unlike even the other "controversial" instruments, however, the
harmonica has had very few exponents of real talent and inspiration. The Harmonicats and Leo Diamond each had a few fine moments, but the harmonica itself was not responsible for any musical magic. Leo Diamond's
triumph was being able to record expensively produced, relatively
imaginative albums despite his chosen instrument.
(By Tony Wilds from allmusic.com)
