THE GHOSTS OF HARLEM Sessions With Jazz Legends

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Ghosts of Harlem is a photographed packed easy to read Jazz inspired coffee table book. Each session is a personally told biographical interview of 42 seasoned Traditional, Mainstream, Swing improvising instrumental music makers based in New York City’s Harlem.

In the first 75 pages the author tells of “Searching for the Ghosts,” while “Discovering Lost Locations” contains his photographic view of Harlem’s past clubs and jazz haunts. A “Guide to the Interviews” explains that he compiled the sessions by birthday beginning with band leader Andy Kirk-1898 to string bassist Major Holley-1924. On page 7 O’Neal enumerates the 12 questions asked of each interviewee allowing a reader to open to any of the 488 pages and be transported to Uptown Harlem.

Interviewed in Harlem from 1985 to 2007 these elderly musicians recall significant details of Harlem’s history from the 1920's to 2007. An avid professional photographer and darkroom printer, Mr. O’Neal has decorated each page with a candid portrait that complements each transcribed interview.

Inserted in the inside back cover are 11 selections culled from record producer, photographer, Hank O’Neal’s own recording sessions issued on Chiaroscuro or other record labels.

Sadly Eddie Durham-1906, the first to play an amplified guitar in a band, never finished O’Neal’s interview because he got a gig near San Francisco where this writer had dinner with him just before he returned to New York and passed away.

Larry Lucie-1907, Louie Armstrong’s guitarist, educated O’Neal, “when a drummer plays soft, . . . you can hear all the instruments--the bass, the guitar and the piano.”

String bassist for Teddy Wilson’s Orchestra Johnny Williams Jr.-1908 related, “Did you know the Victoria was one of the first places uptown to have a jukebox?”

O’Neal asked Red Richards-1912, Saints and Sinners pianist, “What was the last place you played in Harlem?”

Red replied. “The Hotel Theresa. We played there the night Eisenhower came up when he was running for President in 1952. . . . W.C. Handy was there . . . It’s an office building now.”

Al Casey-1915, FatsWaller’s rhythm guitarist, who played his last years with the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, told O’Neal “you never finish learning music, there’s always something to learn, something you don’t know.”

George Kelly-1915, a swinging saxophonist, spoke of what changed Harlem, he answered, “people don’t dance like they use to.”

Panama Francis-1918, a marvelous timekeeper and Cab Calloway’s drummer, remembered when Harlem “was a twenty-four-hour-a-day place.”

Because I personally knew the aforementioned instrumentalists, it was particularly enjoyable to read their stories and recall their voice inflections preserved by O’Neal’s thoughtful transcriptions. Any reader can go directly to their favorite musician and imagine that they are listening to them.

Daniel Kassell
Book Cover: http://www.netread.com/jcusers/1304/1720639/image/lgcover.2126768.jpg