Harmonica Players Will Blow in for Fair

Stephen Close believes in recycling. When he was 17, he found a harmonica in a Santa Barbara trash can--and has been playing harmonicas ever since.

His friend and colleague Rick Mohr believes in the Recycler Classified. It was an ad he placed in the weekly newspaper for a fellow harmonica player that brought the two musicians together 4 1/2 years ago.

The duo’s preoccupation with their “mouth organs” soon led them to form a musical group. Today, along with bassist David Kaufman and drummer Tracy Hill, they are Oral Fixation--The Blues Harp Band. They will play this weekend at the annual San Fernando Valley Fair.

For many, the harmonica conjures up images of folk music and common people. However, Mohr said, the instrument is quite uncommon commercially in a featured role. Back in the 1940s and ‘50s, it was not unusual for groups like the Harmonicats to have several harmonica players. Jerry Murad, Al Fiore and Don Les all played the harmonica and had a hit in 1947 with “Peg o’ My Heart.” But these days, the idea of a harmonica band is novel.

If Mohr has his way, that will change. He believes “everybody loves the sound of the harmonica” and is confident that someday soon his group will meet with commercial success.

Ask the musicians to describe the type of music the group plays, and they are hard pressed for words. They’ll say they are an instrumental band that “tries to play so much different music.” Among the selections in their repertoire are standard blues-rock and classic rock tunes as well as their own original music.

Mohr says that often he’ll hear a song on the radio and rearrange it for the harmonica, as he did with singer Billy Joel’s “Leave a Tender Moment Alone.” Mohr generally plays rhythm. Close specializes in playing lead harmonica, so that sounds from his chromatic and diatonic harmonicas substitute for the vocal portion of the song. (Diatonic refers to the standard musical scale of 8 notes; chromatic to a scale made up of 13 successive half tones in an octa ve.

But ask either musician about the instrument he plays, and he’ll shine like the chrome on his musical gear. Mohr proudly displays his nearly 2-foot long, 48-chord Hohner harmonica--which he terms the largest instrument of its kind in the world. Among Close’s collection of 25 harmonicas is an eight-note, inch-long “lady”--the world’s smallest harmonica, he says.

Each variety of harmonica is used to play in different keys. With the press of a button, the tone of Close’s chromatic harmonica can be raised or lowered one-half step. His tremolo harmonica provides an echo effect and creates a full, rich sound. When he performs, Close sometimes uses two or three harmonicas at a time to help him achieve the desired result.

What both musicians are after is something Close describes as the “mellow, soft, heartwarming sound” of the harmonica. “You have to really have a feeling for it,” says Close, a Canoga Park resident. “It has to come right from the heart.

“With today’s modern technology, you can take the sound of a single harmonica and make it sound like 1,000 if you want to. But we’re interested in achieving that melodic sound without the technology.”

The idea of having a band with more than one harmonica player prompted Mohr to run his ad in January, 1984. Although Close responded, he had his doubts. “I said, ‘I don’t know why you need more than one.’ ” Once Close began working with Mohr, however, he realized Mohr was onto something different--and worthwhile.

Coincidentally, both men have been playing the harmonica for 16 years, and both started out by teaching themselves. Neither can explain exactly why he became intrigued with the instrument. Says Mohr, a Reseda resident: “The harmonica picked me.”

After Mohr had been playing for 10 years, one of his aunts explained it was little wonder that he loved the instrument--his great-grandmother on one side and his great-grandfather on the other were avid harmonica players, too.

Because of its simplicity, Close says, the harmonica has a universal appeal. “Man is so complicated, with all his machines and technology, that people get easily wrapped up with the complication of things. So it is a delight to play something so simple.”

Although “anybody can play it, anybody can get a sound out of it,” he says, the harmonica is by no means a toy. Those who play it professionally take it very seriously. Some, like British composer Malcolm Arnold and Australian composer and pianist Arthur Benjamin, have written full-scale concertos for harmonica and orchestra.

“It takes a lot of studying and practicing to master the instrument,” Close explains.

And when a song gets really fast, the harmonica takes it toll. Occasionally, Close finds that he hyperventilates. “I may get a little dizzy or stumble,” he says. “But it passes quickly.”

Although Oral Fixation plays regularly at fairs, parades and musical festivals, as well as at various nightclubs--last year they appeared at the Palomino in North Hollywood--Mohr and Close hold down full-time jobs to support their families. Mohr works at a car radiator shop, and Close is a self-employed tile specialist.

But making music on the harmonica remains their No. 1 passion. A few years ago, Mohr and Close played with the Los Angeles Harmonica Orchestra, a band Mohr started with five harmonica players. However, he says, it is difficult to “find sincere harmonica players to do what we’re doing and hang in there.”

Still, the pair is eager to find another harmonica player to join them, and they have placed another ad in the Recycler Classified.

The San Fernando Valley Fair continues through Sunday at Devonshire Downs on the CSUN North Campus, Northridge. Oral Fixation--The Blues Harp Band will perform on Saturday at the Cantina at 2:30, 4 and 5 p.m., and on Sunday at the South Stage at 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m. Admission to the fair is $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 6-12. Additional information may be obtained by calling (818) 368-6202.