Episodes

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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 B...

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 festival...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 Clapto...

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...

Mick Kinsella started out as a drummer before moving across to the harmonica to pursue his love of traditional music. Skilled in the use of both the diatonic and chromatic, Mick played on numerous sessions before releasing his own 2002 album ‘Harmonica’ with an assortment of genres and some tremendous harmonica work. He went out to tour with Rick Epping and Brendan Power under the name Triple Harp Bypass. Mick likes to tinker with his harmonicas, has a tuition book to his name and teaches each y...

Gregoire Maret is a chromatic player, originally from Switzerland. After studying jazz at the New School in New York, Gregoire went on to play with some of the biggest names in jazz: from Jimmy Scott to Cassandra Wilson, Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock. Although he can also turn his hand to other genres, such as pop, funk and even opera! In 2012 Gregoire made the first of the albums under his own name, as well as continuing to be an in-demand sideman. Renowned bassist, Marcus Miller, said that Gr...

Rachelle Plas is a French player who learnt her craft at an early age in group lessons provided by Greg Zlap in Paris. She won various competitions at French music festivals which led on to her touring Europe and beyond with her band. After making a splash at the World Harmonica Festival in Germany, Rachelle became the face of Hohner’s Golden Melody harmonicas. She has gone on to record two albums since, with her fusion of blues, soul, pop, rock & electro bringing her fast flowing harmonica styl...

Michael D’Eath is the President of the American harmonica organisation SPAH. He tells us what SPAH is all about and the many benefits it brings to its members. The SPAH convention is one of the biggest events on the harmonica calendar, and this year it will be online. Allowing more international artists to be utilised, and providing the opportunity for people around the world to take part in the convention, which takes place from Aug 12-15 2020. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select d...

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....

Lee Oskar left his native Denmark to move to the US at age 18, and was soon enjoying phenomenal success with the rock funk band War, interweaving soulful harmonica lines into the horn section. Lee also has numerous solo albums, releasing some of the most downright catchy harmonica melodies ever recorded. On top of all this, he set-up his own harmonica company, leading the way with innovations such as replacement reed plates and different tunings Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select ...

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...

Brendan Power is my guest today. A true visionary of harmonica design, Brendan takes us under the hood of the instrument he has revolutionised with his alternative tunings and new designs, all helping him make some great harmonica music across a range of different genres. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select different sections of the podcast (website version only). Brendan's website: https://brendan-power.com/home.php Info on Brendan's tunings: https://www.brendan-power.com/harpgeek...

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...

Charlie McCoy is the leading figure in Country harmonica playing, where he joined the Nashville scene in 1961. With over 13000 sessions to his name, Charlie is probably the most recorded harmonica artist of all time. Although best known as a country harmonica player, along with his 40 solo albums, Charlie has played with some of the truly legendary names in popular music, from Roy Orbison, to Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Paul Simon. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select di...

Rod Piazza developed his exciting brand of West coast jump harmonica in Southern California, where he formed his own band before joining forces with George Harmonica Smith, to form Bacon Fat. Two harps, what a sound! Rod has an extensive discography, both as a solo artist, and also with his long term band, the Mighty Flyers, alongside his wife Honey. Rod talks us through his evergreen career and how he has burned it up on stage for so many years. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select d...