When it comes to the harmonica, everyone thinks about Bob Dylan. Yet, miles away from virtuosity, Bob Dylan is just breathing in his harmonica! It is this spontaneity Greg Zlap wants to talk about in his new album "Air": he wants to talk about air, respiration, the breath that gives life to his harmonicas and his voice. The album was written on the road during the Tour 66 with Johnny Hallyday, between the excitement of the scene and the loneliness of hotel rooms, always in motion. True to his personal definition of Blues, the rocker-looking Greg Zlap chose the joyful "Free Soul" to open his new album that should appeal to all the souls in search of fresh air!
In the wrong hands, the blues are a quick trip to Cliché City, a place where there’s no lyrical or musical problem that can’t be solved in the exact same way as thousands of musicians before him or her have done. In the right hands, it helps them tap into something elemental, as is the case with Johnny Sansone’s new album, The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too. In recent years, it seemed like his creativity found its best outlet through idea-oriented, narrative roots rock, but this album is about intensity. Producer Anders Osborne creates space for Sansone’s voice and harmonica by foregoing a bass guitar, instead letting his own distorted guitar or Stanton Moore’s tub-like drums nod to that part of the sonic spectrum. The results are lean, hard and haunted, defined by Sansone’s barking, preaching vocals and his overdriven harmonica, which rips and shreds whenever it takes center stage. On the instrumental “Corn Whiskey,” his harp has the electric, aggressive attack of a guitar in the midst of a feedback frenzy.
This year the duo celebrates 5 years performing together in the Czech, Slovakia and Europe stages.
Maybe for this particularity, they have received an offer from Stormy Monday Records. An Interesting point of this album is that there are not any classic 12 bar blues, which is known from other bands. A Slovak guitar player Lubos Bena and Czech singer and harp player Matej Ptaszek went deeper under waters of the old Mississippi river. Their inspiration was found in cotton fields in the state of Mississippi, in the native gospel and country-gospel singers from Alabama or in authentic bluegrass artist from the Appalachian mountains.
Maybe for this particularity, they have received an offer from Stormy Monday Records. An Interesting point of this album is that there are not any classic 12 bar blues, which is known from other bands. A Slovak guitar player Lubos Bena and Czech singer and harp player Matej Ptaszek went deeper under waters of the old Mississippi river. Their inspiration was found in cotton fields in the state of Mississippi, in the native gospel and country-gospel singers from Alabama or in authentic bluegrass artist from the Appalachian mountains.
Inside albums are use nearly omit all harp skills and except of resophonic guitar sound is in album sound of acoustic guitar and uses special instrument make from the oil can. In some songs are use of drums.
Even though there hasn’t been much of a member shake-up since the band’s inception in 1988, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones are getting ready to release a brand new record featuring their classic lineup. The departure of pianist/harmonica player (and founding member) Howard Levy in 1992 left the band as a trio for years before bringing in saxophonist Jeff Coffin in 1998. After the passing of Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore in 2008, Coffin took a hiatus from the band to help out the DMB camp, igniting the spark that brought Levy back to the fold in 2009. Now, with the original lineup in place, the jazz fusion quartet’s upcoming album, Rocket Science, will be the first studio effort in 20 years that sees the incarnation of Fleck, Levy, and brothers Victor and Roy “Future Man” Wooten holding it down with their eclectic signature sound.
Grady Champion announced himself as one of the most promising talents in the blues with two excellent albums for Shanachie Records in 1999 and 2001. They showed he was a skillful harmonica player and songwriter with a particularly good voice with a Wilson Pickett-ish rasp that was perfect for the blues. 2 Days Short of a Week produced a legitimate classic in “Policeman’s Blues.” He didn’t exactly disappear after that. He was still gigging around south Florida, but he wasn’t visible on the national scene.
Last year Champion re-emerged with a victory at the International Blues Challenge and issued a live recording of a 2007 show at Jackson, Mississippi’s 930 Blues Cafe on his own label. It featured his earlier songs and some standards. Now he’s back with Dreamin’ featuring ten originals. Backed by Zac Harmon’s band, Champion’s still in fine form and his songwriting is sharp as ever. The disc immediately shows he’s picking up where he left off, reprising the rocking “My Rooster is King” from his first Shanachie record Payin’ For My Sins.
Here is an intriguing album featuring harmonica virtuoso Cham-Ber Huang in duets with Danish accordionist Mogens Ellegaard. Huang, who emigrated from Shanghai in 1950, is quite a sensitive player and manages to make harmonica arrangements of classical pieces sound completely natural -- no easy trick. Ellegaard was likewise an excellent musician, and in later years went on to record a great deal of experimental music, by the likes of Per Norgaard and Arne Nordheim. I've given you Huang and Ellegaard's fine performance of Bela Bartok's Roumanian Folk Dances, composed in 1915.
Born in 1971 in Warsaw, Greg Zlap arrived in Paris in the late 80s, a little harmonica in his pocket. In search of new sounds, he perfected his art as an autodidact, and quickly became a sought after studio musician. You find Greg’s harmonica in French Chanson, in the Slam movement, or on film soundtracks. Untiring ambassador of his instrument, Greg Zlap created in 1998 a harmonica school in Paris. Then, convinced that music can do much more than nourish the soul, he launched harmonica workshops for asthmatic children in hospitals.
Myers, who has very limited sight, was educated at the Piney Woods School for the Blind, and played a number of instruments before settling for harmonica at 12. Despite joining the Elmore James band for a time, and recording under his own name and, in the '70s as a member of the Mississippi Delta Blues Band, Myers's fame was largely confined to the Jackson, Mississippi area, until he joined Anson Funderburgh's band as a featured artist.Myers and the band-especially Myers and Mel Brown-are much more together on this album, and the rhythm section is looser and less humdrum. There are some unequivocally good tracks here, notably 'My Daily Wish' on which Brown plays both organ and guitar. On balance, though, this is disappointing CD; most of tracks are at least one solo too long, and while Myers's harp retains its big, bold tone, his stock of ideas is relatively small. As a singer, he seldom escapes a hoarsely inflexible holler.
Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey hoboed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim, and simply wrote, played and' sang some of the greatest blues ever etched into black phonograph records. His delivery was sly, evil and world-weary, while his harp playing was full of short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, impassioned blowing the next. His songs were chock-full of mordant wit, with largely autobiographical lyrics that hold up to the scrutiny of the printed page. Though he took his namesake from another well-known harmonica player, no one really sounded like him.
The Headcutters, from Itajaí, Brazil, is considered to be one of the most highlighted blues bands in Brazil. Using the 40s ands 50s sound and style, they follow the legendaries Blues records labels from Chicago of that time.
The band's name serves as tribute to the Blues idols from the 50s, such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Jimmi Rogers, who in that period were called “The Headhunters”. Thus, THE HEADCUTTERS comes as a reference to those great masters who were clear and strong influence to the band.
Marc Breitfelder has mastered the “Mississippi saxophone” to perfection. Using his own overblow technique, he is able to reach spheres on a harp that fascinate audiences and musicians all over the world. An ingenious match with Georg, he plays one-of-a-kind notes and sounds – however, always very true to the tradition of “classical” harp play! The foundation of the mostly improvised music of Georg Schroeter and Marc Breitfelder is the Blues, complemented by many related kinds of music: Rock 'n' Roll, Rhythm 'n' Blues, Boogie Woogie or Country – orchestrated with masterly piano play, an outstanding harmonica and a unique Blues voice.
Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite’s life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country blues guitar work flawlessly accompany his often autobiographical and always memorable original songs. Living Blues says, “Musselwhite’s rock-solid vocals creep up and overwhelm you before you know it. He plays magnificent harp with superb dexterity and phrasing. The results are amazing.”
In 2011, the band will release its sophomore CD, Cicada. Like that mysterious insect, who as a nymph lives in the earth surrounded by roots and then comes forth to sing, the music created by these eight accomplished and inventive musicians is earthy and at one with its origins, but suggestive of mysterious worlds beyond.A pointer to Hazmat’s methodology can be found in the band’s configuration. Schuman’s guitar, diatonic harmonica and intensely earthy vocals set the tone. A solid battery of sounds—tuba, chromatic harmonica, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, tenor and baritone saxes, piccolo and duduk, mandocello and steel guitar—explores the textural and melodic outer limits of Hazmat’s meticulously woven compositions, while guitars and drums lock down a groove and provide sonic spicing.
Bruno De Filippi is born in Milan on May 8, 1930 and dedicates all his life to music.Since his first years he shows a special passion for music. At the age of seven, his uncle Andrea shows him how to put his fingers on mandolin strings, teaching him his first chords.Bruno meets pianist Don Friedman in the ’90s, and they begin to collaborate. Several albums are recorded, and they tour in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. As a duo, they achieve significant success with the public and with critics.
After 26 years, 11 albums and an unimaginable number of blistering shows, the Juke Joints, masters of rock rollin' blues, have succeeded in stretching their limits with undoubtedly their best and most diverse album so far.
When Juke Joints leadsinger/drummer Peter Kempe visited the 2008 Chicago Blues Festival, he was so impressed with Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater's performance there, that he simply had to have a word with him after his show. This resulted in an invitation to their Kwadendamme Blues Festival in 2009. Eddy fired on all cylinders and The Juke Joints excelled as his backing band. This cooperation led to mutual enthusiasm, more shows around Europe and the determination to record together as soon as possible.
Marcio Abdo is finding its way since the early 90s, as an harmonica player and blues singer.Marcio participated in the III International harmonica players festival in Brasil, designed by Flavio Guimaraes, in several editions of the Blues Harmonica Project, designed by Sergio Duarte harmonica player, and the “harmonica in Concert in Mountain Blues”, among others. He excelled participating in shows with Flávio Guimarães, Sérgio Duarte, Mauricio Sahady, Faiska, Norba Zamboni, Ricardo Corte Real, Prado Blues Band, Blue Jeans, Danny Vincent, and the great harmonica players and Americans Steve Guyger Mark Hummel and others .
Any musician in Nashville has heard of Charlie McCoy. A mainstay in Music City since the ’60s, Charlie has played on dozens of hit records, including work for such legends as Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and many more.
But the work that has distinguished this world-class harmonica player is contained on more than two dozen albums that Charlie has released over the past 3 decades.
John Popper loves being in Blues Traveler, which has an album slated for 2012.But that love didn’t come easy, especially in the early days when hits such as “Hook” and “Run-Around” were years away.In those days, Blues Traveler was helped by producer and songwriter Jono Manson, who served as a mentor when the young band first moved to New York City in the late 1980s from New Jersey.Manson was the frontman of The Worms, a popular band touring the New York club circuit, and frequently booked Blues Traveler to open their shows. “He was a big brother,” Popper said.
Albert Raisner (30 September 1922 – 1 January 2011) was a French harmonica player, founder of the award-wining Trio Raisner and a TV and radio host and producer. He was the host of the hit show Age Tendre et Tetes de Bois, which aired from 1961 to 1967 and featured world-renowned artists including The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and French singers Johnny Hallyday and Claude Francois. He is regarded as an icon and a pioneer of French television and was knighted by the French president in 1977.
A 40 year veteran of the music business, Tommy Dardar is a consumate vocalist, as well as a true blues harp master. Dardar plays a powerful brand of swamp rock steeped in the traditions of Louisiana Zydeco and blues masters such as Bobby Bland and the legendary Jimmy Reed. Tommy Dardar recently finished his regional tour of the Southwest United States in support of his latest release “Fool for Love”. Produced by Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal), the CD was cut over four days in Los Angeles, and features former members of Bonnie Raitt’s backup band.
With the release of his third album entitled “Diversions” Thierry has created a repertoire of many contrasts, sometimes light and optimistic, sometimes lyrical and deeply moving. This Belgian harmonica player was born in 1958. As a self-taught musician, he was very early involved in listening to great harp players like, of course, the Belgian Master Toots Thielemans. But he was also loving the sound of Blues Harp that much. So, unlike most harpists who favor one or the other, Thierry became equally proficient on both chromatic and diatonic harmonicas.
Lazy Lester new album, recorded entirely live in June 2010 in Antequera, edited by Cambayá Records and produced by Mike Vernon. Exclusively by Garito of Blues Radio.
Leslie Johnson, known as Lazy Lester (Torras, La., June 20, 1933), is a well knonw singer and harmonica swamp blues player, with a career spanning over half a century. In the beginning he worked as a session musician in some works of Slim Harpo, Lightnin ‘Slim, and Katie Webster. Author of some classics, like “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter”, “I Hear You Knockin ‘,” Sugar-Coated Love “and” Bloodstains on the Wall. ” his themes have been interpreted, among others, by The Kinks, Freddy Fender, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Edmunds, Raful Neal, Anson Funderburgh and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Lester recently moved to Paradise, California to be with his girlfriend, Pike.
Boston, Massachusets in the late 1960s had a thriving rock scene, which was not surprising for a major Northeastern city with numerous colleges in the city itself and the nearby suburbs. However, while there are various overviews of the Boston scene available on the web, I know of no complete and accurate chronology of rock shows in the Boston area available in print or on the Web. As a result, performances for many groups have fallen under the radar. This is the case of this live recording of the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This audio quality of the recording is not the better which goes around but the show itself justify my interest in this live performance.
Harmonica Pierre (“America’s Got Talent 2010″), harmonica virtuoso, was born in Belgium and studied the violin as a child. He fell in love with the sound of the harmonica at age 15, after he heard world-renown harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler. Pierre subsequently taught himself to play the harmonica using his violin method books. Pierre was the soloist for the Trio Candido, who won the Harmonica World Championship in Luxembourg in 1957. They toured Europe and the United States from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Blues Harp Diggers is a well known music compilation of various harmonica performances from different styles. The series were edited and distributed in Japan. That's why there is a lack of information and reviews about the "Blues Harp Diggers" compilations in the web, taking apart the fact that only Japanese music websites have made some reviews.Among other compilations from the series "Blues Harp Diggers" the most known are: Blues Harp Digers: Harpin' the world" and "Funky Instrumentals.
James Cotton’s hard-driving, powerful harmonica performances have earned him a reputation as a foot-stomping, infectious good-time entertainer. In the course of his career, James Cotton has racked up an impressive series of ten critically-acclaimed albums. In 1984, Alligator Records released the successful HIGH COMPRESSION. His next album, LIVE FROM CHICAGO ... MR. SUPERHARP HIMSELF!, came out in 1986 and was his second lp on Alligator Records.
With more than 15 years dedicated to the blues, Big Chico stands out as one of the best blues harmonica players of Brazil. The charismatic style synthesizes her main influences and always guarantees a concert tour with the language of traditional blues, the funk-soul groove of the jump blues and swing. Big Chico, one of the best blues harmonica players of Basil has toured the U.S. playing in clubs such as BB King's Blues Club, and shared the stage with artists like Rod Piazza, Keb 'Mo', Howard Levy, Deacon Jones and Rick Estrin. Big Chico is also a Hering endorser, which is the most famous Brazilian manufactured brand of Harmonicas.
The unconventional songs and arrangements of KEITH DUNN AND THE LOVE GLOVES consist of the band's powerful minimalist rhythm, virtuoso harmonica playing and traditional finger-picking and bottleneck slide as well as single note style on guitar. Added to this are vocal harmonies, background singing and songs that use two lead-vocalists. This creates the band's original style and sound, Delta Roll.The sound is based on the delta, country and juke-joint blues of the 1920s to 1940s but also incorporates the harder electrified style of the 1950s and at times mixes the two sounds and styles. Added to this, are the harmony vocal arrangements of the 1960s.
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1948, Lee Oskar landed in the States in the mid 60’s and is most popularly known as one of the founding members of the seminal jam band WAR. Together with Harold Brown, BB Dickerson, Howard Scott, Lonie Jordan, Charles Miller, and “Papa Dee” Allen, WAR started out supporting the former Animal front man, Eric Burdon. Together with Burdon, their very first recorded effort contained the popular tune Spill The Wine, unleashing the genre-busting sound of WAR for the first time. Not far down the road the group set out on their own to compose and perform huge hits like, All Day Music, City Country City, Me and Baby Brother, Low Rider, Why Can’t We Be Friends, The Cisco Kid, Slipping into Darkness, The World is a Ghetto, and many others.
Rodrigo Eberienos is considered to be among the premier harmonica players in Brazil. During his 14 years of experience with diatonic and 8 years with chromatic harmonicas, he has participed in special recordings for globo tv on several occasions, in addition to soundtracks, jingles, commercials, and supporting the records of renowned artists.
Born in May 1979, the musician from Rio de Janeiro started participating the diatonic harmonica in 1994 with the aid of Flavio Guimarães and Nilo Guzman. In 1999, he had the opportunity to learn about chromatic and functional harmonicas with José Staneck.
To get acquainted to Jean Labre, let’s go back in time. Everything is beginning in the end of the forties, in an harmonica club called " Charm ", founded by Albert RAISNER. Jean is often there with his first trio " Les Vagabonds de l’Hudson " as soloist, with Robert Prouff (chord) and, successively, Jean Bouhours and Marc Pero (bass).
In 1949, he is contacted by Borrah MINEVITCH to be part of the new european famous ensemble : the " Rascals ". But he is under 20 and is obliged to decline the proposition to which his father is firmly opposed.
This album is the result of the enormous amount of musical and life experiences of the band after his performances at clubs and festivals throughout Europe, Mexico and the U.S. with people like Charlie Musselwhite, Aron Burton, etc.
A major influence on this recording has been the multicultural nature of the band since the base is formed by the Galician Marcos Coll harmonic and Adrian Costa, voice and guitar, the Spaniard Javier Vacas at guitar, the German Cristian Rannemberg at piano and Mozambican Carlos Delalane, drums and bass. The collaborations have been many and varied, the sax of Gary Wiggins, the accordion of Dwayne Verheyden ... Antonio Pax at drums and the voice of Miguel Angel Hernando "Lychis" from the group La Cabra Mecánica.
RAOUL AND THE BIG TIME was formed in July 1998 by Ottawa raised actor/musician Raoul Bhaneja. THE BIG TIME features Darren Gallen on guitar, Cheong Liu on upright bass and Tom Bona on drums.Their energetic mix of “Toronto / Chicago / Hollywood” Blues has won them numerous awards on a national level at the Maple Blues and Real Blues Awards, including Best New Artist, Best Debut CD and multiple instrumental awards.
Raoul and the Big Time bring their blues with them when they hit the road.The Toronto band found a way to get the Vancouver Folk Festival crowd into the mood for the blues despite the bright sunny summer weather. But really, it all makes sense when you remember the blues were born in the sunny South.
After a thirty-five year career as a blues performer, including more than two decades with the W. C. Handy Award-nominated duo Satan and Adam, harmonica player Adam Gussow has made his solo debut. Kick and Stomp showcases Gussow in an unexpected but logical setting: a harp-powered one-man blues band.Taking a cue from his Harlem mentor, Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee, Gussow does it all, in real time—singing, blowing amplified harp, and stomping out some thump-and-metal grooves.
Now, here is an album that came so close to being something really special. This Montreal-based MC mixes his outstanding harmonica playing into familiar hip-hop beats and rhythms. Obviously, it's a combination that has tons of promise. Opening track “Melody” has no rap over it and comes off as an inventive track, reminding me of GZA’s (the Genius) instrumentals. One track in and I was ready to be totally sold!
When the harmonica is heard in jazz, it is most often the 12-tone chromatic harmonica, not the diatonic “blues harp,” which is associated more with Bob Dylan and Chicago blues. Howard Levy, however, has almost single-handedly developed the full jazz potential of the diatonic harmonica. His harp can be heard with the original version of Béla Fleck’s Flecktones and with Paquito D’Rivera and Kurt Elling, as well as on a host of pop recordings by artists as varied as Steely Dan and Dolly Parton.
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