Roly Platt joins me on episode 108. Roly is a Canadian player who has recorded countless sessions over his 45 year career. He started out playing in a country band which set the scene for him playing a diverse range of genres throughout that time. Roly has recorded 1700 individual session cuts, with the numerous bands he has played in, and also various film, tv and commercial jingles. Roly ecorded his own album in 2017, Inside Out, where he showcased his versatility by including a range of diffe...
Apr 19, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 108
Yotam Ben-Or joins me on episode 107. Yotam is a chromatic player who attended the Tel-Aviv Music Conservatory, making a name for himself on the Israeli music scene before winning a scholarship to study at The New School for Jazz in New York, age 21. Although predominately a jazz player, Yotam is keen to emphasise the diverse range of genres this encapsulates, including world music and South American influences on his music. Yotam has previously released two albums under his own name, with a thi...
Mar 28, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Eddie Martin joins me on episode 106. Eddie has been described as the ambassador of British Blues, having released seventeen albums over his near fifty year career, with many of the songs self-penned by Eddie. He started out as a one-man band, but also performs as part of his own bands too. In either format Eddie makes extensive use of rack harmonica, and is one of the leading players of using a rack, while also playing some hand-held harmonica as well. Eddie gives us some great tips on playing ...
Mar 15, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Paul Barry joins me again on episode 105, for another look at the life and career of the great William Clarke. Paul has now released his biography: Blowin’ Like Hell: The William Clarke Story, writing it from insights he gained from Bill’s wife Jeanette, and Bill's children, and the musicians who played with him, as well as many others. Bill dedicated his life from the age of sixteen to become the bluesman he dreamed he could be, and he worked extremely hard at it. He honed his craft from woodsh...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 105
Mike Turk joins me on episode 104. Mike is a Boston-based player who started out playing blues harmonica, inspired by the great Paul Butterfield, before becoming interested in playing jazz on the chromatic. He recorded some session work in New York and recorded through the 1970s with various artists, with many of those tracks available on anthology albums Mike has put out. He released his first solo album, Harmonica Salad, in 1991. Mike went on to record several more albums, with a letter from T...
Feb 14, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Konstantin Reinfeld joins me on episode 103. Konstantin is a German who comes from the overblow school of harmonica, studying music at a conservatory and taking lessons from Howard Levy as part of his early development. He released a jazz album at age 18, with two more albums to follow before releasing a classical album played on the diatonic harmonica, for which he won a German Grammy award for classical music. On top of this Konstantin is a music producer, including producing his own recording...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 103
Christian Marsh joins me on episode 102. Christian is an Australian who plays both the diatonic and chromatic harmonica. Starting out playing diatonic, Christian drew inspiration from players such as Norton Buffalo and Charlie McCoy, absorbing as much harmonica as he could lay his hands on . He picked the chromatic up a few years later after hearing Toots Thielemans play, and even went on to maintain Larry Adler’s harmonicas while he was touring Australia. Christian is a mainstay on the Australi...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 102
Tom Ellis interviews Neil Warren on episode 101. Neil started out playing blues harmonica in his hometown of Blackburn (with it’s 4000 holes). He progressed into learning jazz, taking jazz chromatic lessons for several years, and then folk music. Neil currently plays in two bands around his local area, an acoustic act playing blues and folk, and an electric band playing different genres, such as ska and funk and blues, including use of the DM48 midi chromatic. He has won three categories of comp...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 101
Episode 100 is a retrospective on the greatest ever blues harmonica player, Marion Walter Jacobs, aka Little Walter. Little Walter was born in 1930, probably, and started playing harmonica age 8. He was busking on the streets of New Orleans by age 12, spent some time in Helena, before heading north to Chicago to make his indelible mark on blues and the harmonica. Little Walter teamed up with Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers and cut some classic blues recordings before he went out under his own name...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 59 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Dennis Gruenling joins me on episode 99. Dennis is originally from the New York area, where he began his love affair with record collecting, listening to a wide range of music, from country to rhythm and blues and beyond before it all came together when he heard his first harmonica on the great Harp Attack album. Dennis cut his teeth with the support of local harp players before releasing his first album, Jump Time, featuring the jump swing style of his early output. On this, and subsequent albu...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 99
Michael Pettersen And James Waldron join me on episode 98. In this episode we talk about the iconic Green Bullet microphone, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024. Michael is the Director of Corporate History at Shure microphones , and he tells us about the early design of the mic, what it was used for and about how it took years before Shure became aware that it was such an important mic for harmonica players. James runs SimpleMics.com, where he rebuilds vintage harmonica microphone...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 98
Vitor Lopes joins me on episode 97. He is a Brazilian chromatic player who specialises in Choro music. Vitor tells us about the history of the harmonica in Brazil, starting out when Hohner opened a factory there in 1923, which later became the Hering factory. The availability of harmonicas in Brazil made the instrument very popular and spawned some tremendous players. In 2008 Vitor was awarded the APCA prize for the best Brazilian musician of the year. He has recorded several Choro albums with h...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 97
Paddy Wells joins me on episode 96. Paddy is based in the north of England, where he started out as a singer playing a little harp before hearing amplified harmonica, which really turned him on to the instrument. Paddy is also a freelance music journalist, having written regular articles for several music magazines in the UK, including Blues in Britain. He also wrote an article, Blowin’ Off The Dust, for the SPAH magazine. Paddy has also spent some time travelling the US, including sitting in wi...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 96
Michael Rubin joins me on episode 95. Michael moved to Austin as a young man, initially as a blues player. He found that by diversifying the genres he played on harmonica he became much more in demand in the vibrant music scene in Austin. He added to t his versatility by playing different types of harmonica, including plenty of chromatic in addition to the diatonic being his main axe. Michael has also recorded on bass harmonica and the harmonetta. Michael has gigged and recorded with numerous ou...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 95
The interview with Jason Ricci continues on episode 94, part 2. Jason shares how he has matured into his music, including on his 2021 album, City Country City, playing jazz, funk and blues with New Orleans musician Joe Krown. Jason goes on to share what he considers to be his best work on harmonica, and the elements that make up a great performance. He’s recorded two albums with JJ Appleton, and Bad Kind is Jason’s current band, having released two albums so far, and a new album coming out with ...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 94
Jason Ricci joins me on episode 93 (and on episode 94) In part one: Jason tells us how he started out in a punk band, with his bandmates suggesting he take up the harmonica. Of course, he took to it quickly, to become quite possibly the leading diatonic harmonica player of his generation. After initially developing his blues playing via the classic players, Jason moved to Memphis and developed his signature fast licks under the guidance of Pat Ramsey. Then, after getting into jazz and a brief fl...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 93
Erland Westerstrom joins me on episode 92. Erland is from Sweden, where he studied Swedish folk music on the harmonica at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, with Filip Jers as one of his teachers there. Erland released a solo harmonica album in 2020, Andas! (Swedish for breathe), where he makes use of drones, polyphonic rhythms, tongue spilts and other techniques to create self-accompaniment to the melodies of the traditional tunes he plays. Erland’s latest band is with the trio Västanvind...
Aug 16, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 92
Tom Halchak joins me on episode 91. Tom tells us how he grew his successful company, Blue Moon Harmonicas, started in 2009. Tom started out selling custom combs, and then covers in different materials and colours. Tom went on to develop his customisation skills to offer fully fledged custom harmonicas using his Blue Moon product lines. Tom also started offering pre-war Marine Band harmonicas for sale. These hand-crafted harps have stood the test of time and with some improvements by Tom, provide...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 91
Tom Ellis joins me (again) on episode 90. This is part two of the Paul Butterfield retrospective where Tom takes us even deeper into Paul’s career and talks us through more of his incredible output. About how Butter, while paying his due respect to the greats before him, took the blues in a new direction, with his experimentation and innovation. Butter’s music and bands evolved as he developed, with the best musicians joining him to provide a bedrock to some of the greatest harmonica ever record...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 90
Mike Stevens joins me on episode 89. Mike is a Canadian who made his name playing Bluegrass harmonica, performing with some of the biggest names in Bluegrass and playing at The Grand Old Opry over 300 times. Mike toured with Bluegrass legends, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, and recently played two songs on harmonica at Jesse’s funeral. Mike won the Canadian Bluegrass artist of the year for five consecutive years, and released a Bluegrass book with Hal Leonard. But Bluegrass isn’t his only genre, al...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 89
Jim Hughes joins me (again) on episode 88. Jim is a chromatic player who was last interviewed on the podcast in October 2020, back on episode 26. He is now at the grand age of 93 years young, and he shares the wisdom he has developed over many years of playing the chromatic harmonica. Jim has has become blind since the last interview and after being a life long sight reader has now had to learn how to play by ear. He shares how he has adapted to these new challenges and is finding new joy in pla...
Jun 23, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 88
Paul Harrington joins me on episode 87. Paul has a long and illustrious recording career, having had great success on the vibrant session scene in Dallas where he recorded on many commercials. He also played on the hit song Timber by rapper Pit Bull, possibly the most listened to song with harmonica in the last decade, with over one billion streams on Spotify. Paul met and performed with many great musicians on the Dallas music scene, becoming the go to harmonica player for famed record producer...
Jun 07, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Marcos Coll joins me on episode 86. Marcos is a Spaniard who has been living in Berlin for the last twenty years. Marcos rose to fame at a young age on the Spanish blues scene playing with the Tonky Blues Band before forming the the Los Reyes del KO band, touring the world and sharing the stage with many famous names. Moving to Berlin in 2004, Marcos became a regular on the vibrant blues scene in Germany and recorded with many great artists. In addition to playing blues, Marcos likes to mix mode...
May 18, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Ed Hopwood joins me on episode 85. Ed is from the UK where he started out playing drums and he shares some tips on how to bring some rhythm into our harmonica playing. Ed loves early styles of harmonica and performs a range genres, including jug band, early blues, cajun, bluegrass and old-timey music. Ed has a one man band show where he plays harmonica, guitar, sings and a whole host of percussion instruments. He’s brought many of these skills to his main band, The Rigmarollers, a trio who play ...
May 03, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 85
Hendrik Meurkens joins me on episode 84. Hendrik is a German chromatic player who has been living in New York since the early 1990s. Toots Thielemans was Hendrik’s inspiration to take up the chromatic and he performed a live radio show in Germany with Toots. Hendrik is also a vibraphone player, which he studied at the Berklee College of Music. Shortly after this he spent a year in Brazil to immerse himself in the music there. This helped him form his brand of Brazilian music, Samba Jazz. Hendrik...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 84
Annie Raines joins me on episode 83. Annie is an early pioneer as a female blues harmonica player. Hailing from the Boston area of the US, she drew on the rich source of harmonica inspiration from nearby Cambridge, regularly attending a jam there in her youth, and meeting many great players and joining the Cambridge Harmonica Orchestra. Annie then teamed-up with her long time musical partner, Paul Rishell, after also meeting him around the Boston area. They have now been performing and recording...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 83
Steve Guyger joins me on episode 82. Steve is from the Philadelphia area of the US and he absorbed the blues harmonica players when he first got into playing, with John Lee Williamson a big early inspiration. Steve was also great friends with the late Paul Oscher, making three albums with him. Steve also teamed up with the legendary Jimmy Rogers, over the course of fourteen years. Steve has released five albums under his own name, with a great mix of diatonic and chromatic blues. Steve’s long-st...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 82
Ben Bouman joins me on episode 81. Ben is a Dutch blues player who always strives for originality in his playing, partly inspired by his admiration for the playing of Paul deLay. Ben’s current band is The Marble Tones, who took their name from the amplifier company, with Ben helping develop their range of harmonica amps. Ben also helped Seydel prototype their steel reeds before they released them some fifteen years ago, and he tells us all about polishing and profiling steel reeds, his own busin...
Mar 09, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 81
Todd Parrot joins me on episode 80. Todd is a gospel harmonica player who was inspired to play harmonica after first hearing it in church. He went on to join the church band and has gone on to develop a heavenly tone on the instrument. Todd listened to a lot of country harmonica and was influenced from several players from that genre, including Terry McMillan. Todd released a self-produced solo album, Songs From The Harp, where he learned to play several instruments to accompany his harmonica pl...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 80
Rocky Lok joins me on episode 79. Rocky lives in Hong Kong, where there is a vibrant harmonica scene. Harmonica is taught in many schools there, which is how Rocky got started playing himself almost 50 years ago. He went on to become part of the King's Harmonica Quintet which has played many prestigious concerts, including in front of an audience of twenty thousand, as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch procession and winning the group competition at the World Harmonica Championship in Tros...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 79
