The Harmonica Pocket
Ladybug One
harmonicapocket.com

 
Johnette Downing
Dixieland Jazz for Children
johnettedowning.com
 
 

Harmonica Pocket’s fourth CD, “Ladybug One,” caught my eye initially because the cover announces that it was produced with solar power and that the group participates in the Free Music Project. That means you can download or trade their music for free—but please put money in their online “tip jar.” With all the controversy over pirating CDs, for a band to put its music out there for free is surprising indeed.
 
Harmonica Pocket is actually Keeth Monta Apgar and some of his friends who create music that is not easily categorized. Reggae, folk, Hindi, African and countless other influences clearly illustrate Apgar’s ethnomusicology background.
 
Sure, there have been plenty of versions of “O Susanna,” but “O Susanna” with a sitar and tabla? Apgar’s version has an exotic and innocent sound.
 
The harmonized voices of “Firefly” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” remind me of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the songs have the same earnest, warm quality.
 
For those interested in the meaning behind the music, the “lyrics and song stories” category of Harmonica Pocket’s website is a lot like the “special features” section of DVD movies. For every song that he has listed, Apgar writes all the lyrics and the story behind them.
 
In the back story for “One Tree Said” (“We’ll give you all you need, any more than that is greed. Just let us be where we belong”) Apgar quotes a Native American proverb and clarifies his message with the song, and he gives a description of the hand and chainsaws that were used in the background.
 
The bowing of an actual handsaw produced a ghostly sound, like a wind blowing through a haunted forest. Knowing that a saw, normally used to cut down trees, was also used to create this musical imagery made the song even more powerful.
 
 
A couple of weeks ago, my family went to a birthday party on a paddleboat and the live Dixieland band on board had my children swinging and dancing throughout the party. And so, when we got home, “Dixieland Jazz for Children” by Johnette Downing and Jimmy LaRocca went straight into the CD player.
 
Even if you didn’t grow up in the French Quarter, you can appreciate the rich cultural heritage that Downing and La Rocca bring to their music. Downing’s voice is as smooth as roux and contrasts well with LaRocca’s Louis Armstrong-esque voice.
 
Although the lyrics were written with children in mind (“Well, crawfish and possums and skeeters, too, pass a good time in the old bayou”) the music is more than sophisticated enough to keep an adult’s interest. Listening to this CD, you can almost taste the dirty rice and jambalaya.
 
 
Whitney Lou’s 3- year-old son, Jax, does not let his five-point harness stop him from Dixieland seat dancing in the car. They live in Richmond’s West End. 

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