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There are so many good players out there and some are right under our noses.
After hearing the name Andy Polon mentioned to me a few times (and from some
very credible musicians), I knew that I had to check him out. But, as luck
would have it, our paths crossed on a professional level. I knew in the back
of my mind that he would be perfect for this column, I just didn't know when.
So finally after months of casual phone calls, I introduce to you
singer/songwriter/guitarist - Andy Polon.
Andy Polon grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan surrounded by many guitar players. He began by studying guitar with "a friend of the family" who happened to teach at the "Y." At the beginning, Andy wasn't very good at it, but he had a couple of classmates in junior high school that were very good (one was studying with Dave Von Ronk) and, being caught up in this group, he continued to practice. He and his friends would head down to Greenwich Village to listen to music, and by the time Andy was fourteen or fifteen, he was also studying with Dave Von Ronk. Later on, during summer camp, one of the counselors invited Rev. Gary Davis to the camp and for a couple of weeks that summer, Andy got to hear Rev. Gary Davis playing on the front porch. "It was amazing to watch," states Andy, "and for a couple of weeks a year I would get to sit at the knees of Rev. Gary Davis…." This left a lasting impression on Andy that made him want to play like Davis, not knowing that he was one of the best around. Andy hung around with some of the best players of the day. Like many guitar players at that time, he made Sundays at Washington Square Park a must. Some of the players that frequented that scene were Danny Kalb of the Blues Project, Happy and Artie Traum, Stefan Grossman, et al. Andy started hanging around the park at about the age of thirteen. He recalls seeing Lightnin' Hopkins playing there one summer along with some other regulars: Rick Schoenberg, David Laibman, David Grisman, and Jodie Spector. Andy then went to college in Chicago because he wanted to listen to blues and began hanging around the blues clubs there. While in Chicago, Andy sat in with Junior Wells who was very open to white guitarist sat the time. He also got to see folks like Magic Sam live. Later, Andy returned to New York and received a music degree from Hunter College and began teaching at the Fretted Instrument School of Folk Music which was the teaching section of the Folklore Center. At night, Andy would sit in at a club called the Gaslight. On Tuesday nights the Gaslight would have an open jam. Some folks that frequented the club were Pheobe Snow, Kris Kristofferson, and a local guitarist who went by the name of Franklin. During that time there was also a vibrant guitar scene in Central Park. In 1974 Andy became the accompanist for Raun MacKinnon, a singer/songwriter from Philadelphia. She also played with her husband Jeremiah Burnham. Afterwards, Andy ended up playing with Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul, & Mary fame). Nowadays, Andy keeps himself busy by playing shows in hospitals, nursing homes, health care facilities, and institutions which he'd been involved with since the seventies. At the time it was through an organization called Hospital Audiences, which was a by-product of the CETA program from the Carter Administration. Today he books the gigs himself. In the eighties, Andy became involved with the Guitar Workshop out in Long Island. Also in the eighties, Andy put out his first album (Mad Metropolis), He just recently released his latest CD, New York on Six Strings a Day . He performs to promote both of those releases, as well as playing in club date situations. Being the diversified player that he is, Andy also teaches a fair amount of students and has been doing so continuously throughout his career. Along with having studied with Rev. Gary Davis and Dave Von Ronk, Andy also studied jazz with Barry Galbraith. Classical guitar lessons were also part of his formal training. In addition, he writes MIDI music for multimedia, and is a freelancer in the truest sense of the word. Andy's philosophy is that if you go into three areas that you like, then one is going to be active, the other slow, and the third somewhere in between. And among the three, there will always be a shift in activity that will enable you to keep your head above water. Now, let's check out Andy's "East 26th Street Strut Around." This tasty twelve-bar blues has a ragtimey feel with a few choice moves that should be in every blues player's vocabulary. We start out in the key of E and we're in standard tuning. Notice the steady movement of the bassline and how it outlines the overall harmonic structure of the tune. From there, Andy creates a melody that is simple yet singable. The melody is then embellished by a textbook use of blue notes; that is, the flatted third and seventh of the underlying chord. Andy's subtle syncopation of the melody (most notable the first four measures and last four measures) gives the tune a light bounce and unpredictability that makes the tune not only fun to listen but fun to play as well. In addition, please take note of the classic turnaround figure used in measures 8 thru 10. Andy's use of the turnaround riff at this point in the tune tricks the ear into thinking that the tune has ended and adds a nice touch of harmonic color. Andy Polon is constantly playing around town and he does numerous free concerts in the Manhattan area, so if you want to hear good music and have a good time then check out Andy. Ed Lozano |
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