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"The Prince of Wails," MANILA TIMES

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"Lampano Alley's Harpist Survives Guitarless Gig," American Harmonica Newsletter, October 1997

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photo by Patrick Uy

Tomcat has supplied harp sounds to several recordings by other groups:

• Jose Mari Chan's pop album Souvenirs, a double platinum seller.

• Rizal Underground's radio and MTV Asia rock hit "Kasama't Kasabay".

• Ka Roger's blues-oriented album, recorded in both Manila and Nashville.

• Ronnie Millevo's album of Christian music, Pangarap.

"...the jolly 60-year-old American from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is known in this country as the ubiquitous man in black behind that mean set of harmonicas  and pretty much the heart and soul of Lampano Alley's wicked brand of jazz-based blues."

"Colvin's blues odyssey goes as far back as 40 years ago when at the ripe age of 20, Thomas B. Colvin dreamed of retiring early and moving on to a career in music."

     Let's start with The Bluesman.  For more than anything else, the jolly 60-year-old American from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is known in this country as the ubiquitous man in black behind that mean set of harmonicas  and pretty much the heart and soul of Lampano Alley's wicked brand of jazz-based blues.

     "For me, life really began at 58," he declares.  "That's when I quit my job at ADB (Asian Development Bank) and decided to pursue my interests in the blues full time."

     At a time when other folks in his age bracket were already thinking of stuff like retirement, pensions and bingo socials, Colvin is still behaving like a teenager whose life is very much ahead of him.  And he seems to have the energy of one, too.  Although he's no gym rat, the man could easily walk several miles without working up a sweat.  He also eats greasy red meat as if fat and cholesterol are non-health issues.  "Mannish Boy," the classic tune of blues legend Muddy Waters is probably the best way to describe him.

     But neither Colvin's musical interests nor his decision to leave an otherwise well-compensated profession are whimsical spur-of-the-moment things.  Colvin's blues odyssey goes as far back as 40 years ago when at the ripe age of 20, Thomas B. Colvin dreamed of retiring early and moving on to a career in music.

     At 21, right after college graduation, the youthful Tom got a nice gig as a drummer for a then promising jazz quartet.  He already considered music a serious hobby at the time.  But it was still a hobby that eventually took a back seat to his later job as an English and History teacher.  His equally strong interest in cultural history weighed more heavily than his desire to be a full-time musician.  With bachelor's degree in English already under his belt, Tom further quenched his thirst for higher learning by pursuing master's in both Education and History at Duke.

     "That's in between 12 years of teaching, which I really enjoyed," he recalls.

     Fast forward to 1986.  Still a bachelor but with several adopted families in the States, Colvin is now in Manila as Information Officer for Asian Development Bank.  A pretty good writer himself, he handles press briefings, writes press releases and takes care of slide show presentations explaining bank operations.

     "I also handled the audio-visual program of the bank where I got to work with TV crews.  I was the one who got ADB into video.  With the help of my staff of four, I was able to make a basic documentary video for the bank during my stint."

     Colvin considers his audio-visual work for ADB as his "best job" ever.  But his passion for music, especially the blues, remained in his system throughout the years.  In his spare time, he befriended local rock and jazz musicians and jammed with them whenever possible.

     When a fellow expat by the name of Joseph Leighton established Weekends Live! at the Atrium, Colvin was a fixture, regularly jamming with the featured bands.  It was there where he caught the attention of Stephen Lu, frontman of Rizal Underground and a seasoned record producer with a sharp eye for talent.  Lu introduced Colvin to Binky Lampano and the latter's NIC (Newly-Industrialized Combo) was formed shortly.  A forerunner of Lampano Alley, it was also his fruitful NIC stint that earned him the nickname "Tomcat" for his soulful harmonica playing which to this day is still a work-in-progress as far as he's concerned.

     Ah, the harmonica, a deceptively simple but actually complex handheld windpipe instrument that Muddy Waters calls "the mother of the band."  The 800-strong Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica from all over the world are one in saying that not all harmonicas are created equal.  Being a bona fide member of this special group, Colvin should know.

     "I have a good number of harmonicas in my possession, each made in a different key and each with its own distinctive sound," he beams.  "I always make it a point to bring at least 20 for every gig."

     Colvin's collection includes the most popular and very handy 10-hole diatonic harmonica, which comes in various keys and which can easily be learned without any formal instruction as it is designed without any "wrong" notes.

     He also has a few chromatics, a bigger and far more complex instrument that is designed with 12 holes and covers all 37 notes over three octaves.  If that doesn't make much sense to you, then let's just say that this particular type of harmonica is comparable with the flute in terms of musical range.

     To explain his fascination with the harmonica, Colvin has resorted to quoting several seasoned players.  "One says there's no other instrument that so mimics the human voice yet cries, wails, croons and roars in its own special way," he rhapsodizes.  "Another player describes his own special bond by saying that he never leaves the house without it in his pocket and that it's comforting to know that it's there for him to pull out and breathe life and music into it whenever he feels like it.  I couldn't have said them better myself."

     What makes Colvin's harmonicas sound increasingly better with every gig is not just the tenacity of his desire to learn more about the instrument.  It's also the often overlooked enhancement provided by a special old-fashioned microphone that was originally designed as a public address system in World War II.

     "The one that I use actually makes my harmonicas sound even better and when I plug into my own old-fashioned amplifier, I have the added flexibility of distorting the sound whenever it suits me and my band's music.  You can't quite achieve the same effects when using modern microphones."

     Thanks to his religious devotion to his craft, Colvin has also found another source of dough outside Lampano Alley as a sought-after session musician.  He recently graced the latest recordings of Rizal Underground and Jose Marie Chan, among others.  And he still regularly jams onstage with other jazz and blues musicians like the Blue Rats and Ka Roger Pullin, the better half of comedienne-host Tessie Tomas.

     He remains strongly committed to Lampano Alley, though.  "We want to have the distinction of being Asia's blues band.  We have extraordinarily good musicians and all of us are dedicated to playing the best blues possible.  I know we got something special going here."

     Ironically, his still strong interest in cultural history is now the one that's taking a back seat to his passion for the blues.  He still manages to find time for it in between gigs.  An accomplished photographer, Tom has been working on a project that he began right before the Centennial celebration.

     "I'm doing a two-volume documentary on Philippine history as expressed through its monuments and public statues," he says.  "I've already covered all of Luzon, about one-third of Cebu and almost all of Bohol and certain parts of Mindanao.  I've also already built a database in my PC for this purpose."  As proof, he showed me an impressive scrapbook of monument snapshots taken from his travels around the country.

     Meanwhile, the man is preoccupied with the blues where his involvement is not limited to playing it.  He admits to reading up on the business aspects of the music industry. He's also acquiring extensive knowledge on website designing as he's also working on his own home page at www.bluesasia.com.

     On top of that, the man is also slated to submit an article on the state of blues music in Asia for Blues Access Magazine, a U.S. publication.  He also occasionally contributes to several local papers and magazines, including Business World.  With so many things pumping up his creative juices, it's very small wonder Tom Colvin remains unhitched to this day.

     "I guess I simply chose freedom over marriage," he says matter-of-factly, without a single tinge of regret in his voice.  "I'm still kinda open to the idea now that you mentioned it.  I even came close to it once, in fact."

     "What else can I say?  I've had a handful of dreams and they all came true. Not too many people can say that about themselves."

     For that matter, not too many people in their 60s remain free-spirited like this guy.  It's hard to imagine him raising a family in some suburban outskirt and waiting for his monthly pension while a grandchild cries out for his feeding bottle.  Tom Colvin's got more personality than that.

     And as Samuel L. Jackson tells John Travolta in that same Pulp Fiction film:  Personality goes a long way.