I just found out the terrible news that another of my NYC harmonica buddies from the Dan Lynch days, "Sleepy" Lester Schultz, recently committed suicide.
Here's his MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/sleepylester
Lester is important because he reclaimed Nat Riddles's old street "thing," El Cafe Street, and worked it for more than 6 years as part of the Music Underground series in New York. He often played with Bob Malenky, a terrific acoustic guitarist with whom I gigged several times. Bob once made a record with Sonny Terry. He was that good. If you google "Bob Malenky," you'll find a page on his website that shows several upcoming gigs with Lester--to be canceled, it would now seem
Five harp players that I shared stage time with at Dan Lynch are now dead and gone: Bill Dicey, Nat Riddles, Bob Shatkin, Motor City James, and Lester Schultz.
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2009 1:41 PM
It's always sad to hear about someone going out that way. I remember seeing these videos about a year ago and I figure now would be a good time to post them here. This is him playing in Union Square NYC:
I met Lester last year thru Seth Okrend, a guitarist that cut a record with Lester... I also saw him at his regular gig in the West Village with Malenky ( wonderful ) then he came and jammed at my house with some friends... He said He was actually a painter artist and I had hoped to play with him again. Just shocked to hear that he has gone, he seemed sad in the time i spent with him and really too modest and unaware of how MIGHTILY GOOD a player he actually was . It was like LITTLE WALTER was in the room when he played "JUKE" .
Extremely harsh news, sorry to hear that. Brothers, we must carry the legends we love in our hearts, words and music.
Alluding to Adam's reference to "help each other deal skillfully with the rough changes that the blues-focused life" can bring in the introduction to this blog, please stay in communication if you hit a rough patch rather than isolate yourself!
Loss is tough, maybe a Sleepy Lester Harmonica Tribute is in order.
