The mouth-organ, or harmonica, was a toy played by street urchins and buskers until Larry Adler came along and turned it into a concert instrument.

Born in Baltimore to Jewish parents of Russian origin, he won a harmonica contest aged ten and ran away to New York at 14.

There he played in vaudevilles, met George Gershwin and Al Capone and achieved both musical and social success.

During the Second World War, he toured widely, entertaining troops. Soon he was appearing as a classical soloist with symphony orchestras.

Among his favourite repertoire were transcriptions of Ravel's Bolero and Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, of which Gershwin said: "The goddam thing sounds as though I wrote it for you."

Several composers, including Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud and Joaquin Rodrigo, wrote pieces specially for Adler. He himself wrote the scores for the films Genevieve (1953), King And Country (1964) and A High Wind In Jamaica (1965).

Settling in Britain as a refugee from McCarthyism, Adler latterly became known as a wit, raconteur, critic and writer of endless letters to Private Eye. He died last year, aged 87.

-Roger Moodiman, Marine Parade, Brighton