Cy Leo joins me on episode 48. Leo is from Hong Kong, where he started learning to play classical chromatic harmonica from age 6, under the direction of his father, who is an accomplished player himself, having won the ensemble category at the 1997 World Harmonica Championship with his quintet, helping to raise interest in the harmonica throughout Asia. Leo quickly gained recognition in his own right, winning the World Championship youth category at age 15 before taking the adult crown at age 19...
Oct 26, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Jason Rosenblatt joins me on episode 47. A native of Canada but now resident in Israel, Jason is best known for his band Shtreiml, playing a mixture of Klezmer (Jewish) and Eastern European music with great use of the harmonica. His first instrument was piano before he went on to pick up the harmonica after hearing Sonny Terry and Paul Butterfield. He then took advantage of the vibrant Montreal blues scene to witness harmonica live. After hearing Howard Levy’s seminal ‘New Directions in Harmonic...
Sep 28, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 47
Greg Heumann joins me on episode 46. The focus of this episode is all about gear, as I talk to the founder of BlowsMeAway Productions. Greg has released an album of his own and uses his knowledge of playing harmonica to understand what is needed to make great harmonica products.The first product in this line was the volume control which later on Jason Ricci asked Greg to develop into the actual mic, which led to the Ultimate Series of mics. He also hand crafts beautiful custom wood microphones a...
Sep 18, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 46
Tony Eyers joins me on episode 45. Tony is an Australian who first picked up the harmonica while studying at Yale in the US. Returning from America he started a successful blues band in Adelaide. He also plays baroque recorder, and has been part of an ensemble for 25 years, which has helped shape his sound on harmonica. In the mid-90s he became interested in playing fiddle music and developed the Major Cross tuning for the diatonic, now available through Seydel. Tony has several successful harmo...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 45
Adam Burney joins me on episode 44. Adam is a south London boy, from Croydon. A stint playing with the punk bands of this area has helped shape his sound with an edge of Blues punk, including in his own band, The Brothers of Mothershovel. A big fan of pre-war style of harmonica, Adam has incorporated these techniques into a style which fits into a modern band. Characterised by a rhythmic driving sound which is infectiously danceable. Adam has recorded some notable tv sessions including some harm...
Aug 14, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 44
David Naiditch joins me on episode 43. After starting out as a diatonic player, including having lessons with a touring Sonny Terry, David developed himself into possibly the sole exponent of playing Bluegrass music on the chromatic harmonica, and has recorded various albums with some of the stellar names from the Bluegrass world. David likes the clean, consistent tone that the chromatic brings. He also plays Gypsy Jazz, a genre which he sees as having some similarities with Bluegrass. During th...
Jul 24, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 43
Hermine Deurloo joins me on episode 42. Hermine is a Dutch female chromatic harmonica player who grew up to the sound of master jazz player Toots Thielemans. After studying saxophone at the Amsterdam Conservatory, she picked up the chromatic and transitioned over to the harmonica being her instrument of choice. Her first album was of Brazilian music, and she has gone on to record several jazz albums in her own name. Her more recent album, Riverbeast, delves into 70s funk. She has appeared as a g...
Jul 03, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Phil Wiggins joins me on episode 41. Phil was one half of one of the best known blues duos around, Cephas and Wiggins, playing with John Cephas for over thirty years. They progressed from their early recordings in Germany to go on to tour the world, and even played at the White House to the Clintons. They played in the Piedmont blues style, Phil being one of its rare masters on harmonica, picked up from the guitar players who developed this approach. A native of Washington D.C., Phil wrote a boo...
Jun 17, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 41
Bob Corritore joins me on episode 40. Bob grew up around Chicago and absorbed the best blues scene in the world, attending the blues clubs in his youth, seeing his harmonica heroes in action and befriending many of them. He moved to Phoenix in this 20s and quickly became a record producer. Bob put his Business degree to good use, opening a blues club called The Rhythm Room. He took the unique opportunity to record many of the visiting blues artists, appearing on numerous albums alongside them. B...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 40
Mat Walklate joins me on episode 39. Mat is based in Manchester and has worked as a professional musician throughout his life, playing mainly blues and traditional music using a variety of harmonicas. He started out with a love for Sonny Boy Williamson II, and was soon touring Europe in a blues band. His interest in traditional music came from learning the tin whistle, and he also picked up other instruments for this genre, including the flute and pipes. Mat supplements his playing income throug...
May 22, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 39
Will Galison joins me on episode 38. Will first picked up the chromatic harmonica when studying guitar at the Berklee College of Music. He quickly realised he had an affinity with the instrument, and after spending a day with Toots Thielemans he knew the chromatic instrument was what he wanted to do. Will went on to record numerous albums under his own name, including a successful collaboration with Madeleine Peyroux. He has been an in-demand session player for numerous years, with credits perfo...
May 08, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 38
Rick Epping joins me on episode 37. Rick worked for Hohner USA for 18 years and played a pivotal role in improving the quality of their harmonicas back to their former glory. While at Hohner, he also developed the XB40, the all-bending harmonica. Rick is also an expert customiser of harmonicas and can be credited with the creation of embossing reeds to improve playability. Rick has a real passion for playing Irish music, to such an extent that he even moved to Ireland so he could immerse himself...
Apr 24, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 37
Mark Hummel joins me on episode 36. Mark is a West Coast blues harp player who has put out some great harmonica songs in his catalogue of over 30 albums. A real connoisseur of the Blues, he has drawn inspiration from a wide range of the classic players. Mark felt a particular affinity with Little Walter early on, and received a Grammy nomination for his 2013 album, Remembering Little Walter. This was part of the harmonica blow out series, where he has put together numerous tours featuring some o...
Apr 13, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 36
Robert Bonfiglio shares with us the world of the concert chromatic harmonica player. After studying composition in New York, he spent five years under the tutelage of Chinese classical player, Cham Ber Huang, and another 12 years studying with the first flute player of the New York ballet. Robert has been playing classical harmonica concertos since 1986, and has played in some of the great venues around the world. He has performed all the major pieces composed for the harmonica, as well as relea...
Mar 27, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 35
Steve Baker moved from his native London in his early 20s to become part of the vibrant music scene in Hamburg. His brand of punk folk won him recognition and he was soon a regular on the German session circuit, as well as collaborations in various bands and duos, with his best work coming working alongside Chris Jones. Steve has long been a consultant to Hohner, and was instrumental in the development of the modern incarnations of the Marine Band: the Deluxe and the Crossover, as well as other ...
Mar 14, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 34
Son of Dave is originally from Winnipeg, Canada, where he enjoyed pop chart success for ten years with folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies. He then moved to London and pursued a solo career. After two albums he decided to quite literally go it alone and become the all singing, all dancing solo performer that is the Son of Dave act. While doing so he quite possibly invented a brand new genre of harmonica, incorporating beat-boxing and loop pedals to compliment his strong rhythmic harmonica style of...
Feb 20, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 33
Filip can be described as the complete harmonica player, being adept on the diatonic, chromatic and bass harmonicas, as well as being able to play numerous other instruments. He started out on diatonic, with a love of the blues before submerging himself into the overblow style of play pioneered by Howard Levy. Filip is the first harmonica player in the 300 year history of Sweden’s Royal Academy of Music to be accepted to study there. It is here he explored the range of possibilities of the chrom...
Feb 07, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 32
Errol Linton is a south London boy, with roots in Jamaica. His brand of ‘Brixton Blues’ music merges his Caribbean heritage with his love for the blues to create a distinctive reggae-infused form of blues. Starting out busking on the streets of London, Errol was noticed by BBC Producer John Walters, who made a documentary about him. This led on to some airplay on BBC Radio. Errol built on this early success and has released a number of albums since the early 1990s. His two most recent albums hav...
Jan 23, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 31
Fata Morgana are a Dutch harmonica quartet, who first formed in 1980 after meeting at the Eindhoven Harmonica Club. Two of the original members survive from that time, with the current line-up existing since 2001. The group have played at many festivals around the world, including in Asia where harmonica groups are still very popular. They have released six albums, with their latest one in 2017 including four guest harmonica players from across Europe. They share how they put together their own ...
Dec 19, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 30
Greg Zlap hails from Poland, where he played along with black market blues records on his one harmonica. He moved to Paris in his late teens where he discovered the great French harmonica player, JJ Milteau. Greg started up a harmonica school in the city and has released a number of stellar harmonica albums. Always driven to push the harmonica forward, he has added harmonica to genres ranging from jazz, to electro music, to pop, house music and rock, while remaining true to the foundations of th...
Dec 04, 2020•59 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Donald Black is predominantly a tremolo player, using the instrument to great effect across the range of traditional Scottish music. He learnt many of the tunes he loves from accordion music, emulating the sound on the tremolo harmonica. Donald’s musical career started quite late in life, and since then he has performed around the world, appearing at the SPAH convention and even in Moscow. With five albums to his name, Donald has also recorded two tracks with the great Charlie McCoy. His music s...
Nov 22, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 28
Charlie Musselwhite grew up in Memphis, rubbing shoulders with Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Work took him north to Chicago were he discovered the South Side blues scene, where he befriended several legends of the blues harmonica. Sitting in with Muddy Waters got Charlie noticed and he was soon recording his seminal album, Stand Back! This led him to the West Coast, from where he has recorded over thirty albums, received numerous Grammy nominations, won a Grammy in 2013, been inducted in the Bl...
Nov 11, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 27
British Chromatic royalty Jim Hughes joins me on episode 26. Jim has been playing professionally for over 60 years. From his early success in harmonica competitions, he went on to forge a successful career as a session musician, with countless appearances on the BBC, including playing on the hit TV show, Last Of The Summer Wine. Jim set up quite possibly the biggest harmonica festival of all time, The World Harmonica Championship in Jersey, 1987, as well as involvement in other festivals. He has...
Oct 26, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 26
Sugar Blue has certainly pushed the boundaries of the harmonica, with his rapid fire licks, lots of high end runs and gorgeous tone. It was perhaps his early jazz influences that shaped his distinctive sound, although there is no doubt that he has paid homage to the harmonica greats, spending time with some of the classic players. As well as numerous solo albums, Sugar has recorded with many illustrious names, including the Rolling Stones, Willie Dixon and Frank Zappa, to name but a few. He has ...
Oct 18, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Grant Dermody first picked up the harp in Alaska, where he emulated the greats before developing his own acoustic sound playing American roots music. He played as a session man on various albums before releasing the first of his four solo albums to date, which included harmonica duets with Phll Wiggins and Joe Filisko. In-between Grant toured for six years with Eric Bibb, and for his latest album, My Dony, he has returned to his roots with a raucous electrified harmonica sound. Not only a great ...
Oct 13, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 24
Chromatic player, Antonio Serrano, is the current SPAH harmonica player of the year. And with good reason. Antonio’s father was a great influence on the fledgling harmonica player. And Antonio met Larry Adler at a young age, and performed with him for the first time, at only 13 years of old. Since that time Antonio has made a big splash on the Spanish music scene, not least when he played with flamenco legend Paco de Lucia. He has recorded with many artists and released some albums under his own...
Sep 26, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 23
Mark Feltham grew up with a love of country music and just knew he had to play harp when he heard Stone Fox Chase on the UK music programme, Old Grey Whistle test. As he entered the London music scene he found he had to adapt his style to create a fusion of melodic and blues playing, which has served him very well throughout his career. Best known from his work with Punk Blues band, Nine Below Zero, Mark also played with Rory Gallagher for a long spell. Alongside this he has had a great career a...
Sep 13, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 22
Mickey Raphael started out playing on the Dallas folk scene before meeting with Willie Nelson at a jam session. Forty six years later, Mickey has toured the world with Willie. Alongside that, Mickey has enjoyed great recording success as a session musician, playing with Emmylou Harris, the Highwayman Country Supergroup, U2, Wynton Marsalis, Ringo Starr, and more recently with Chris Stapleton. The list goes on and on. He played at Ray Charles funeral, and was most likely the inspiration for the B...
Sep 02, 2020•58 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Jerry Portnoy joins me on episode 20 of the podcast. Jerry grew up with the sounds of Maxwell street in his ears. It took him a few years to pick up the harp, but when he did he enjoyed a tremendous career. Starting out with Johnny Young’s band, he had only been playing for six years before his talents landed him the greatest harmonica chair there ever was, playing with the Muddy Waters Blues Band. Jerry went on to play in the Legendary Blues Band and then with guitar legend Eric Clapton. He’s p...
Aug 22, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 20
John is a harmonica repairer and customiser. Following years of experience as a toolmaker John moved into repairing musical instruments, initially for woodwind instruments, before tapping into a rich vein of work repairing harmonicas. As well as many private clients, he now does repair work for the big three manufacturers. This has led to John now making quite possibly the only hand-made harmonica in the world today, under the name The Great British Harmonica company. Select the Chapter Markers ...
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 19
