Johnny Puleo and his Harmonica Gang- Vol 2

DSCN1117I bought this for a dollar to try to attract my friends who play harmonica to the site but it may do more damage than good.PMK68108Johnny Puleo was born a dwarf in 1907 on Washington DC.  After winning a talent contest, he was signed to tour with Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals.  Borrah taught Johnny the art of pantomime with a routine similar to the one Puleo’s group did with Milton Berle below.  He soon would become the focal point of the act.

Johnny quit the act and formed his own group but was found by Minevitch and reminded of his contractual duties.  When Minevitch died n 1955, Johnny was free to start his own group, The Harmonica Gang.  As his first act, he doubled everybody’s salary. As this illustrates, he was well known for his kind spirit that was way bigger than his 4 ft-6in frame.  Johnny would perform live across the world as well as on countless TV shows, 8 movies, 5 shorts, and 8 albums.  Johnny died in 1983 again in Washington DC.

Everything you would possibly want to know about Johnny Puleo if you were so inclined

The novelty of this album wears off fast.  Also, as most records of visual artists, it fails to address the comedic aspect of the gang’s performances.  But if you can get over that, they are nice performances done all on harmonica; chromatic, bass, chord, and polyphonia (Johnny’s specialty).  Some of the numbers like ‘Espana Cani” and “Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” are quite nice little numbers and their rendition of “Stars and Stripes” is quite patriotic.  So this album is not so much bad as it is annoying.DSCN1118

I was back and forth between “Night on Witches Mountain” and “Sabre Dance”, but decided to go with the first choice.  “Sabre Dance” is a much more visual number and Johnny does not play on the album version.

Meh.  It isn’t bad but the concept will get on your nerves after a few listens.