Teo Leyasmeyer, RIP
Dick Waterman
Cambridge House of Blues, passed away on Tuesday, May 16.
He was one of the genuinely good people in this world and always ready to
help someone in need. He had played in the bands of Buddy Guy, Freddie King,
Johnny Copeland, James Cotton and others for many years and he brought that 'road
dog' experience with him when he booked the House of Blues.
He always told road bands that they did not have to load out after the show
but told them to get a good night's sleep and they the HOB stage crew would
take care of them in the morning. He always made sure that their coolers were
filled with sandwiches, fresh fruit and soft drinks to help them on their way to
the next gig. He remembered what it was kind to be in a touring band and he
always took the time to treat musicians with courtesy and respect.
Here is an article from "The Boston Phoenix" that was written when Teo won
the "Keeping the Blues Alive Award" for his efforts.
I am truly saddened by this loss. The entire blues community should pause for
a moment to remember this good man who has moved on to higher ground . . .
* * *
Adapted from an article by Ted Drozdowski in the Boston Phoenix:
Teo Leyasmeyer has been a highly regarded figure in the nation's blues
community and is credited with making the Cambridge House of Blues one of the premi
er touring stops for top blues artists. Other clubs in the chain, while
featuring blues, have tended to favor rock and other pop-music formats.
For 10 years, Leyasmeyer was responsible for bringing the House of Blues a
number of historic performers, including Otis Rush, Dr. John, the Blind Boys of
Alabama, Ike Turner, and Solomon Burke, who would typically not play a small
(225-capacity) club. He also introduced the raw Mississippi-blues sound of the
Fat Possum label to the Boston market, booking the first area performances of
both Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. After all, Leyasmeyer was a touring
pianist with such well-known bluesmen as Buddy Guy and Freddie King before he
entered the talent-buying business.
In 1997, the Blues Foundation, a nonprofit organization made up primarily of
professionals from all aspects of the genre, acknowledged Leyasmeyer's
accomplishments with one of its Keeping the Blues Alive awards: Promoter of the Year.
In 2000, the Blues Foundation drafted Leyasmeyer for its advisory board,
where he sits alongside such blues-world dignitaries as the record producer Jerry
Wexler and the performer Bonnie Raitt.
Web Material: Promoter Teo Leyasmeyer
As band leader for Freddie King and Johnny Copeland, Teo Leyasmeyer knew what
a musician looks for as a promoter. As a projects coordinator of tributes to
Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon, Teo also knew what a producer needs in a
promoter. So it is no surprise that Teo won the 1997 KBA as Promoter of the Year.
After twenty-two years in the music biz, he was permanently based out of The
House of Blues in Cambridge, Massachusetts as music coordinator. During vacation
time he found time to perform, working with such notables as Debbie Davies and
G. Love & Special Sauce. If it all gets to be too much, Teo Leyasmeyer also
has a background in music therapy.
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Bruce Bears
many friends who were important to the Blues. In Boston alone we've lost Teo
and Mai Craemer in less than 2 years, not to mention all the people we've
lost on a national basis. Holly Harris from WBOS told me last week that Teo
was not doing well and that his prognosis was terminal... Frankly I can't
believe he's gone... For those of us who knew him in Boston it was very
sudden and unexpected. I'm deeply, deeply saddened by his passing. When I
needed someone to talk to about the business I would always call him because
he understood what I was going through... Like me he'd been on both sides of
the coin, playing and booking acts too, and would always have something
helpful to say. I hope everyone on Blues-L will help us raise some money for
his family when the time comes. He was really one of the good guys.
Bruce Bears
Steven Harnar
"It sounds sort of trite, but I think that becoming seduced by the blues is involuntary. I think people who really love blues get chosen by the music — they don’t choose it. I think there’s a way of listening to jazz and appreciating it and over time finding more and more ways of appreciating it. Blues just seems to really grab me immediately. That’s not to say I haven’t grown in my appreciation of blues, but somehow there’s that elusive irony of it being somewhat simple in structure and form, on one hand, and yet so powerful and deep, almost ancient, even mystical almost, on the other hand".
I can really relate to what Teo said here. I feel the same way myself, i think i even said something like that recently when someone asked what it was about blues that we were attracted to.
Another aspect of Teo's life i can identify with is the music therapy. My wife, an activity coodinater in hospitals and nursing homes for years, has used music therapy for her patients and residents. Once a week she has her best friend's Dad and Mom come in and perform for the residents of the nursing home where she is program director. There Truely is healing power in music...i believe that with all my heart.
In the interview Teo goes on to say this about the healing power of music.
" I completely do believe in the healing power of music. For the entire eight years I lived in New York, I was involved with an organization called Hospital Audiences, Inc., which had people who were both wheelchair- and stretcher-bound sometimes, and the founder — I forget his name — convinced theaters to give them some room to bring his people in. The venues had the gratification of doing a great service, and plus they wouldn’t have an empty house. He also had musicians who would go out to play for sick or otherwise incapacitated people, which is what I did. We would go to nursing homes, developmental centers — you’d see stuff in there that would just wrench your heart out — old-age homes, state hospitals. . . . Most of them were daytime events, so you’d go there with no bar, no cocktails, and an audience that was just beaten down by life were sitting there, most of them hunched over in their beds or their wheelchairs. Sometimes I would over-think it and agonize over
what I should be playing, you know, to do the most good, to help. It always went over all right, but it was when I forgot where I was and what I was doing, without objectivizing my playing, that I just got lost in the music, and the people would really respond. And that would happen frequently with boogie-woogie tunes. I would just get lost into it, and all of a sudden I’d look up, and I’d just see these old-timers and their feet would start tapping. And occasionally, you’d see these older black women get up and they would have their dresses up in their hands like they were 22 years old. And I had never seen dance steps like I saw in those settings. I found that that kept me healthy inside. And then playing at night in clubs was another kind of satisfaction. But I never forgot the total impact of music as healing. Way back in my youth, I must have been 11 or 12, I remember being in a thrift store and picking up an old 1938 78-rpm record because the song’s title intrigued
me. One side was " Boogie-Woogie Prayer Part 1, " and the other side was the same, " Part 2. " It moved me enormously and eventually brought me into that whole world of boogie-woogie and barrelhouse piano-playing. It was recorded using three pianos, and the players are the famous boogie-woogie trio of Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis. To the extent that one can do so, I even learned how to play it " note for note, " though of course I am one person on one piano instead of three.
Every time after I play a gig, I get home and my wife says, " Do you realize how calm you are? " And I don’t. I say, " Not really. " She says, " When you work at the office and you come home, you seem worked up, distraught, even. After you play, you’re in another zone. " There’s just another space I reach when I’m playing. I don’t know if it’s just music — maybe it’s just true of anything you do passionately".
Issue Date: June 4-18, 2002
Thanks Dick Waterman for your post about Teo.
Steve Harnar
Hot Springs, AR.
edward
and I were in step with the going of the days... snortin', poppin' puffin'
and drinkin'... there was a stand up piano in the house he was stayin at and
we would play and hang til dawn and then some. I didn't see him for years
and I was on the cape doing a duo with this statuesque Italian gal. She
was learning how to be a bass player and we had a weird comedy/blues gig.
Teo shows up out of nowhere and says "I got to play with you!". there was a
baby, baby grand in the restaurant, so we got a crew and brought it in.
The bass player was nervous and asked what she should do.
I said you can tell him the key as a courtesy, but I don't think he needs
it.
We start the first song and she says "key of E" or whatever, and Teo mumbles
back something in coherent. the song is going now and she leans in closer
and asks "What" Teo mumbles again, and again she moves in real close "What"
Teo says
"I want to eat you!!" Train wreck on bass, I am wondering what the hell was
goin on. Teo told me on the break and I thought I would leak in my
pants... we had some grand times, and we got a little wiser as we grew
older, but when I would see him at the house of blues he would greet me with
"I want to eat you!"
Rest in peace Teo!
Ed V...
TALENTLESS SITE
Free Music Downloads
http://www.edvadasblues.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Harnar" <chrfobl...@yahoo.com>
To: <BLU...@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: Teo Leyasmeyer, RIP
>A favorite quote from Teo Leyasmeyer,
>
> "It sounds sort of trite, but I think that becoming seduced by the blues
> is involuntary. I think people who really love blues get chosen by the
> music - they don't choose it. I think there's a way of listening to jazz
> and appreciating it and over time finding more and more ways of
> appreciating it. Blues just seems to really grab me immediately. That's
> not to say I haven't grown in my appreciation of blues, but somehow
> there's that elusive irony of it being somewhat simple in structure and
> form, on one hand, and yet so powerful and deep, almost ancient, even
> mystical almost, on the other hand".
>
> I can really relate to what Teo said here. I feel the same way myself, i
> think i even said something like that recently when someone asked what it
> was about blues that we were attracted to.
>
>
>
>
>
> Another aspect of Teo's life i can identify with is the music therapy.
> My wife, an activity coodinater in hospitals and nursing homes for years,
> has used music therapy for her patients and residents. Once a week she
> has her best friend's Dad and Mom come in and perform for the residents of
> the nursing home where she is program director. There Truely is healing
> power in music...i believe that with all my heart.
>
> In the interview Teo goes on to say this about the healing power of
> music.
>
> " I completely do believe in the healing power of music. For the entire
> eight years I lived in New York, I was involved with an organization
> called Hospital Audiences, Inc., which had people who were both
> wheelchair- and stretcher-bound sometimes, and the founder - I forget his
> name - convinced theaters to give them some room to bring his people in.
> The venues had the gratification of doing a great service, and plus they
> wouldn't have an empty house. He also had musicians who would go out to
> play for sick or otherwise incapacitated people, which is what I did. We
> would go to nursing homes, developmental centers - you'd see stuff in
> there that would just wrench your heart out - old-age homes, state
> another space I reach when I'm playing. I don't know if it's just music -
> maybe it's just true of anything you do passionately".
>
> Issue Date: June 4-18, 2002
>
> Thanks Dick Waterman for your post about Teo.
>
> Steve Harnar
> Hot Springs, AR.
>
>
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