May 1, 2000
BIRMINGHAM, AL — By day, he’s Daniel Marson, Ph.D., mild-mannered associate professor and director of the Clinical Neuropsychology Laboratory in the Department of Neurology at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham). At night, you can call him Harpdog.
And you can hear him, too, as Harpdog Marson now has his very own compact disc of blues, gospel and jazz harmonica.
“I grew up in Milwaukee and at age 17 first heard Chicago-style blues harmonica,” says Harpdog. “I’ve been chasing that sound ever since.”
The locally produced CD features Harpdog playing harmonica on nine songs, from Chicago blues harp tunes like "Juke" and "Off the Wall" to traditional folk songs such as "Shenendoah" to gospel numbers like "When the Spirit."
Professionally, Marson focuses on geriatric neuropsychology, primarily treating and studying patients with dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease. But music has always been a major part of his life.
“Music and the harmonica have been important expressive channels for me since I was a teenager,” says Marson. “Since I am ordinarily a fairly intense, academic type, playing blues and jazz harp as Harpdog is kind of an alter ego for me.”
The CD was produced by Ray Reach, who plays piano, organ and guitar on the tracks, and directs jazz studies as an instructor in the Department of Music at UAB. Wayne Perkins contributes acoustic and slide guitar to one cut. It was recorded at Magic City Music and mastered at Charlie and Company, both in Birmingham.
“The CD represents many years of playing and practicing — a kind of cross-section of my musical life,” says Marson. “It is gratifying now to find that friends and acquaintances really enjoy listening to it. It is also nice knowing that my children and, hopefully, grandchildren will be able to listen to it long after I have passed on.”
While many people associate the harmonica with the blues, Marson says the instrument is adaptable to many musical genres, including folk, gospel and jazz.
“The diatonic harmonica brings a unique expressive quality to all these forms of music,” says Marson, who also teaches harmonica through UAB’s Special Studies program. “The pure sound of the free reed, the vocal quality and flexibility of that sound, and the intimate relationship between the harmonica and the human voice box all contribute to this unique expressiveness.”
And the CD features one other harpdog. Photographs of Marson’s golden retriever Rosie, wearing a harmonica around her neck, grace the CD and its front cover. Harpdog Marson can be contacted at bbmarson@aol.com.