Music has made its way into several installments of Chicago Memories already, but I wanted to take a minute to note some specific folks and settings that I'm going to miss.
Obviously, the traditional Irish music scene here has been significant to me, but while I was here, I also took some advantage of this locale by spending some time learning a music niche that is particularly "Chicago": blues harp.
I wasn't really into blues when I started taking harmonica classes at Old Town. But I was enjoying taking the classes and all of the more advanced ones were blues-centric so it was a natural progression. While I'm no master bluesman, I had a lot of fun learning to bend and vamp and work to create that dirty, "Chicago blues sound" in classes taught by Joe Filisko. I also dabbled a bit in old-timey, acoustic blues as taught by Rick "Cookin'" Sherry. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention Skip Landt, who helped get it all started with my first beginner harp class at Old Town.
The blues harp classes, especially Joe's level 3 and 4 classes, are a tight-knit group who are dedicated to learning the full ins and outs of playing blues harmonica. Though I've been somewhat removed from it myself for a few months, I'm going to miss the folks in that crowd... To Bill, Dave, Will, Nitro, Ray, Dennis, Shoji, RickEy, Alex, and all the rest of the crowd spending their Monday nights in Room B1... keep your licks clean and your bends dirty and best wishes always!
My classes at the Old Town School were also the gateway into my developing interest in traditional Irish music. It started with bodhran classes from Mike Austin. Add in a few workshops and lessons along the way with noted Chicago area trad musicians Jackie Moran, Sean O'Hare and John Williams, and eventually I took up tin whistle and ensemble classes from Pat Finnegan. When the Irish ensemble class at Old Town dried up due to lack of interest and bad scheduling, I pursued other options and join a similar class taught by Sean Cleland and Jesse Langen through the Irish Music School of Chicago, which Sean founded in 2003.
Sean and Jesse are fantastic teachers on top of their outstanding musical skills (click here for a clip of them playing together from Jesse's site), and the group was a lively one. The folks in the class are also the core of the regular crowd at the sessions that I've been attending for nearly two years now, so there were a lot of familiar faces and a lot of great friends I'm going to miss.
Between the various classes and sessions, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many individuals who were great people as well as fantastic musicians, and who have been incredibly helpful to me along this journey of learning. A huge 'thanks' and a wish for all the best to Sean, Jesse, Pat, Mike, Katie, Mary, Gary, Tim, Scott, Connie, Cam, Trish, Claudia, Sean, Eileen, Jessica, Pat, Karen, Matt, Ralph, Joe, Dean and all the other session regulars I've had the pleasure of playing with at Cullen's and The Grafton. You guys are the best, and I hope to see you all in July, with a pocket full of new tunes and improved skills.
A final thanks and farewell to all the folks mentioned above for sharing your wisdom, insight, experience and patience with this relative newbie crawling slowly along so many different musical paths. A couple more years, and I may begin to reach a level approaching 'competence'. That is, if I don't drop all these instruments and decide to learn sitar, pipe organ and bassoon, instead.
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