Tommy Reilly (harmonica player)
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Tommy Reilly MBE |
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|---|---|
| Birth name | Thomas Rundle Reilly |
| Born |
August 21, 1919 Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | September 25, 2000 (aged 81) Frensham, Surrey, England |
| Genres | Jazz, classical, popular |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, teacher |
| Instruments | Harmonica |
| Years active | 1940s–1990s |
| Associated acts | James Moody |
| Website | tommyreilly |
| Notable instruments | |
| Chromatic Hohner silver harmonica | |
Thomas Rundle "Tommy" Reilly MBE (August 21, 1919 – September 25, 2000) was a Canadian-born harmonica player, predominantly based in England. He began studying violin at eight and began playing harmonica at aged eleven as a member of his father's band. In the 1940s, he began parallel careers as a concert soloist and recitalist playing the harmonica.
Born in Guelph, Ontario, he studied violin at eight and began playing harmonica at aged eleven as a member of his father's band. In 1935 the family moved to London. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was a student at the Leipzig Conservatory. Reilly was arrested and interned for the duration of the war in prisoner of war camps. However it was there that he developed his virtuosity on the harmonica, basing his ideas of phrasing and interpretation on the playing of Jascha Heifetz.
Returning to London in 1945, Reilly began championing the cause of the harmonica as a serious solo concert instrument. He began parallel careers as a concert soloist and recitalist, a popular BBC radio and TV performer, and a studio musician-composer. He performed with most of the major European orchestras and toured Europe several times with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. He also played the theme tune and musical breaks to the BBC Radio series The Navy Lark from 1959 to 1977.
Over 30 concert works have been composed for Reilly, including Michael Spivakovsky's Harmonica Concerto of 1951 (considered the first important full-scale concerto for harmonica), and fellow Canadian Robert Farnon's Prelude and Dance for Harmonica and Orchestra. Other pieces were composed for him by Reilly's accompanist James Moody, Matyas Seiber (Old Scottish Air for Harmonica, Strings and Harp), Gordon Jacob (Five Pieces for Harmonica and Strings), Fried Walter (Ballade and Tarantella for Harmonica and Orchestra), Karl Heinz-Köper (Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra), Graham Whettam (Fantasy for Harmonica and Orchestra), Vilem Tausky (Concertino for Harmonica and Orchestra), Francis Ward (Kaleidoscope for Harmonica and Orchestra), Willem Strietman ("O bonne douce France" for Harmonica and Orchestra), Max Saunders (Sonatina for Harmonica and Piano), Sir George Martin (Three American Sketches for Harmonica and Strings, and Adagietto for Harmonica and Strings), Alan Langford (Concertante for Harmonica and Strings), Paul Patterson (Propositions for Harmonica and Strings). Reilly himself transcribed works by Bach, Chopin and Mozart amongst others, for the harmonica. Reilly worked with many composers to get more original music written for the instrument, and his recordings also include original harmonica works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Arthur Benjamin, and Villa-Lobos.
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