A visit to the New Orleans Jazz and Pop Harp Weekend

           Patrice Fisher

              When was the last time you thought about, the Harp?  Not the irish lager, rather the instrument.  A kind of mysterious instrument, with origins going back possibly to 3000 B.C. The harp always represented something fantastical to me, evoking memories of The Princess and the Pea or Jack and the Beanstalk.  Imagine my surprise to turn on WWOZ last week, Sally Young’s traditional jazz show and being interviewed are two folks, who were performing/teaching at the New Orleans Jazz and Pop Harp Weekend.  
         What is the Jazz and Pop Harp Weekend? That was the same questioned I asked and went to listen to seek out an answer.  What I discovered was an amazing world of  harp players and interesting interpretations of songs at an afternoon, concert at the East Jefferson Public Library (rad library!)  The J&P Harp Weekend happened over three days, June 16-18  and was filled with workshop modules that explored various styles and genres,  exclusively for the harp.  Country, jazz, latin, blues, a session focusing on Thelonious Monk and Django Rheinhart, accompanied by live performances each day.
    My girlfriend was game, so we attended a Saturday afternoon performance by Patrice Fisher and Martha Gallagher.  Patrice, a latin jazz harpist, with 15 recordings and extensive touring resume as a Louisiana music ambassador, performed a set showcasing rhythms(“El Manisero”, and “Guantanamera”,)  honoring Louis Armstrong with a rendition of “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” with Martha guesting on vocals, and two of Patrice’s compositions, with the always closer, “Happy Socks.” Watching Patrice’s hands gliding over the strings,  as if she was conducting as  well as playing.  My mind had never put the harp together with jazz or latin, but hearing it for the first time, it sounded so natural,  the world was had been keeping a secret, and I was finally paying attention.  Patrice was joined by acoustic guitar(Roberto Moreira), bass(Josh Reppe,  and percussion(Carlos Valladares, also Patrice’s husband).  The combination of guitar and harp, brought out different nuances in the melodies and offered up so many reasons to get up and dance. The first time listening to a harp in a jazz quartet setting.