Jazz Diatonic Episodes

Yvonnick Prene joins me on episode 117. Yvonnick was born in France and has been resident in New York for seventeen years after first moving to the city to study at the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music. He started out playing blues and jazz on the diatonic and took lessons with some of the great French players, before focusing his attention playing jazz on the chromatic. Yvonnick is a bandleader and has released seven albums under his own name as well as numerous sessions as a sid...

Clint Hoover joins me on episode 109. Clint is originally from Minneapolis and has spent a life immersed in music and the harmonica. He’s reached great heights on both the chromatic and the diatonic. Early on he also studied guitar and saxophone and attended a jazz course in New York City where he also took chromatic lessons from Robert Bonfiglio. His eclectic mix of interests has led him to recording albums in genres from pre-war blues to modern jazz, to rock, pop and World Music. His ...

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 recor...

Ricky Cool joins me on episode 70. Ricky hails from the Birmingham area of the UK, and drew great inspiration asa teenager from the American folk festivals which brought some harmonica greats to the city. Under his alter ego Ricky Cool, he went on to lead several successful rhythm and blues band, with Jamaican music also brought into the set. He also played harmonica in a band with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant! Ricky played harmonica and saxophone in most of these bands and this combinat...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

Howard Levy is known to be the pioneer of overblows on the diatonic harmonica, but his music shouldn’t be defined merely by the use of this technical tool. Starting out as a piano player, he first started using overblows to enable him to play the music that he wanted to play. And they have allowed Howard to take the instrument to soaring new heights across a diverse range of genres. And make no mistake, he has rhythm, feel, a great bluesy tone when he needs it, and most of all, blistering chops....

A grammy award winner, Peter Madcat Ruth has enjoyed a long career, from playing jazz with the Brubecks, to numerous solo projects and playing in various bands and duos and trios. Madcat has loved Sonny Terry from the start and has really mastered the style, and gives some pointers during the podcast. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select different sections of the podcast (website version only). Madcat's website: http://www.madcatmusic.net/index.html Equipment: Shaker microphones: htt...

Always looking to push himself in new directions, Carlos has released an eclectic mixture of genres across the range of his albums. But each song is underpinned with his great sounding fusion of blues / jazz harmonica, with a great tone. Carlos is also known for his overblowing technique, and he shares how to use this to compliment his sound. Carlos is also a passionate teacher of the harmonica, and is running some Webinars on how to transcribe music to aid learning. Select the Chapter Marker...

PT Gazell developed his melodic style of harmonica through playing a range of genres, from Bluegrass, to Pop, Country and Jazz. After his iconic first album, Pace Yourself, he became a session musician and toured with Country bands before taking a prolonged break from playing due to his frustrations at the limitations of the diatonic harmonica. This led him to develop his Gazell Method half-valved diatonic, in partnership with the German manufacturer Seydel. Select the Chapter Markers tab abo...