Harold Cecil Pitch (9 May 1925 – 15 July 2015) was an English harmonica player who featured on many recordings and soundtracks between the 1950s and 2000s. According to the National Harmonica League, he "was one of the handful of players who have turned harmonica playing into an art form.... [a] player of enormous fluency and invention..".[1]
Biography
Pitch was born near Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire,[2] but grew up in north London, the son of a Polish father whose family name was originally Picz, and a British mother. Inspired by hearing Larry Adler, he bought his first harmonica when in his teens, and after being evacuated to Peterborough in the Second World War also learned the trumpet after harmonicas became scarce.[1] On returning to London, he found work in dance bands and jazz groups, and met other musicians including Geoff Love and Ron Goodwin. He formed his own dance band in north London in the mid-1950s, and played both harmonica and trumpet.[3][4]
He occasionally performed classical works with leading orchestras, and appeared onstage in operas at the Royal Opera House and Sadler's Wells.[4] In later years, though hampered by hearing loss, he led the Thames Valley Jazzmen, played with the Bucks, Berks and Oxon Big Band, and formed Rhythm & Reeds with accordion player Jack Emblow.[3] He released several LPs, including Harmonica Jewel Box, The Lonely Harmonicas of Harry Pitch, Bossa Meets Ballads, Harmonically Yours and Harry Pitch with Strings.[1]
Pitch was married, with two children. He died in 2015, at the age of 90.[3][4]