Category: Diatonic

Introduction to Blues on the Chromatic Harmonica by David Barrett

Archie

Here are some great examples of blues music played on the Chromatic Harmonica. They were put together by top educator and performer, David Barrett, who introduces each track, identifying the artist and indicating how it was played.

This playlist is taken from the third part of David’s series of articles about playing Blues Chromatic published in the NHL magazine, Harmonica World. David Barrett – www.bluesharmonica.com.

If you like what you hear, please press the “like” button and “share” it with your friends.

Over to you, David…

Introduction to Blues on the Chromatic Harmonica by David Barrett by The Archivist on Mixcloud

Track listing
1 – George “Harmonica” Smith – Blues in the Dark – 0:00
2 – George “Harmonica” Smith – Blues For Reverend King – 04:41
3 – George “Harmonica” Smith – Boogie’n with George – 09:45
4 – Little Walter – Fast Large One – 12:07
5 – Little Walter – Lights Out – 15:25
6 – Little Walter – Flying Saucer – 18:11
7 – William Clarke – Blowin’ Like Hell – 21:25
8 – Rod Piazza – Harpburn – 24:18
9 – Rick Estrin – Coastin’ Hank – 28:03
10 – Mark Hummel – Humble Bug – 34:38
11 – Paul deLay – Good Thing – 39:47
12 – Dennis Gruenling – Bluesmith – 44:45
13 – Mitch Kashmar – Crazy Mixed Up World – 55:00
14 – Gary Primich – The Briar Patch – 58:38
15 – Paul Oscher – Walkin’ – 63:10
16 – Steve Guyger – We’re Gonna Ride – 65:31
17 – Lynwood Slim – Oil Can Harry – 68:50
18 – Kim Wilson – Reel Eleven, Take One – 71:58
19 – Jean “Toots” Thielemans – Fundamental Frequency – 74:48
20 – Dave Barrett – Dark Night – 80:05

Discography
1) Blues in the Dark – (Blues Masters The Essential Collection, V4 Harmonica Classics, Rhino
2) Blues For Reverend King -(West Coast Down Home Harmonica, El Segundo
3) Boogie’n with George – (Now You Can Talk About Me, Blind Pig
4) Fast Large One – (The Essential Little Walter [Disc 1], Chess), C Chro in 3rd (D)
5) Lights Out -(Confessin’ the Blues, Chess)
6) Flying Saucer – (Blues With A Feelin’, Chess)
7) Blowin’ Like Hell – William Clarke (Blowin’ Like Hell, Alligator)
8) Harpburn – Rod Piazza (Harp Burn, Black Top)
9) Coastin’ Hank – Rick Estrin (That’s Big, Alligator)
10) Humble Bug – Mark Hummel (Harmonica Party, Mountain Top)
11) Good Thing – Paul deLay (The Last Of The Best, Criminal Records)
12) Bluesmith – Dennis Gruenling (History Of The Blues Harmonica Concert, Backbender)
13) Crazy Mixed Up World – Mitch Kashmar (Crazy Mixed Up World, Thumbs Up!!)
14) The Briar Patch – Gary Primich (Company Man, Black Top)
15) Walkin’ – Paul Oscher (Alone With The Blues, Electro-Fi)
16) We’re Gonna Ride – Steve Guyger (Past Life Blues, Severn)
17) Oil Can Harry – Lynwood Slim (Too Small To Dance, Big Rhythm Combo, Pacific Blues)
18) Reel Eleven, Take One – Kim Wilson (Tigerman, Antone’s)
19) Frequency by Jean “Toots” Thielemans (Legends Of Harmonica, Rhino
20) Dark Night -0 David Barret (It Takes Three)

Harmonica Christmas Stocking Fillers

Archie

This extra Collection is made up of contributions sent in by artists like Will Galison, Madcat Ruth, Mike Caldwell, A J Fedor… and recordings that did not quite make it into the earlier Collections. As the title suggests, it covers many styles and even a bit of tremolo. It should have a few surprises just like a Christmas stocking for a harmonica lover. Stay with it to the end – variety is the spice of life.

Here are links to the other four Collections of Christmas music:
Harmonica Groups
Chromatic Soloists
Jazzy Arrangements
Christmas Blues

1 – Madcat Ruth – Christmas Music – 00:00
2 – Will Galison – The Christmas Song – 01:01
2 – Tollak Ollestad – Christmas Time is Here – 04:30
3 – Uwe Warschkow – Stille Nacht – 08:14
4 – Mike Caldwell – We Three Kings – 10:57
5 – Carlos del Junco – Jingle Bells – 14:12
7 – Sigmund Groven – Gloria – 15:58
8 – Mike Caldwell – We Wish You a Merry Christmas – 19:07
9 – Bruce Kurnow – Silent Night – 21:36
9 – A J Fedor – Have Yourself a Merry, Merry Christmas – 25:30
10 – Mike Caldwell – Joy to The World – 29:15
11 – Rob Paparozzi – Up on the Rooftop – 31:56
12 – Will Galison – Ave Maria – 34:31
13 – Gemini – Jingle Bells – 38:31

Blues Harps at Christmas

Archie

Blues harmonica players and their bands performing songs about Christmas. Carey Bell, Paul Oscher, Paul Butterfield, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, G Love, Sonny Boy Williamson, Canned Heat, Richard Sleigh, Eddie C Campbell, Mark Doyle and the Maniacs.

Track listing for Blues Harp at Christmas.

1 – Carey Bell – Christmas Train -0 0:00
2 – Paul Oscher – Christmas Blues – 03:35
3 – Paul Butterfield – Merry Christmas Baby – 07:58
4 – Sonny Boy Williamson II – Christmas Blues – 10:51
5 – Little Charlie – Christmas Time Again – 13:26
6 – G Love – Christmas Blues#2 – 16:39
7 – Sonny Boy Williamson – Christmas Morning Blues – 21:55
8 – Canned Heat – Christmas Blues – 25:18
9 – Richard Sleigh – Jingle Bells – 27:53
10 – Eddie C Campbell – Santa’s Messin’ With The Kid – 30:41
11 – Mark Doyle and the Maniacs – Merry Christmas Baby – 34:01

Jazzy Harmonica Arrangements at Christmas

Archie

Arrangements of Seasonal Christmas Music featuring harmonica players, Toots Thielemans, Jason Keene, Stevie Wonder, Tommy Morgan, Norton Buffalo, Rob Paparozzi, Tollack Ollestad and Chris Bauer.

Track Listing for Modern Harmonica Arrangements at Christmas

1 – Toots Thielemans – White Christmas – 00:00
2 – Jason Keene – Christmas Time is Here – 03:48
3 – Stevie Wonder – Christmas Song – 07:41
4 – Chris Bauer – Winter Wonderland – 10:48
5 – Tommy Morgan – Angels We Have Heard on High – 15:53
5 – Toots Thielemans, James Taylor – Christmas Song – 19:56
6 – Rob Paparozzi, John Carlini, Bill Robinson – Silent Night – 22:27
7 – Chris Bauer – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – 25:50
8 – Norton Buffalo, Kenny Loggins – Christmas Time is Here – 30:25
9 – Rob Paparozzi – Christmas Song – 32:52
10 – Tollak Ollestad, Cyrus Chestnut Trio – Skating – 38:07
11 – Toots Thielemans – Silent Night – 42:41

National Poetry Day 2015 – Blues Medicine – Hylda Sims

Archie

Hylda was one of the Skiffle/Blues pioneers in London in the 1950s. She was part of the City Ramblers and is still playing this style of music in clubs in 2015. This poem or free song, Blues Medicine, is Hylda’s homage to the Blues.

It is about the need for some blues medicine which can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Maybe it is the first Skiffle Rap!

Here is the live performance of Blues Medicine from the radio show with Hylda speaking, Doc Stenson on harmonica and Simon Prager on guitar.

It was recorded live on Jonathan Ballie Strong’s Live Lockdown#3 show on London’s K2K radio in November 2013, in a program I did about the life of the UK pioneer harp player, Cyril Davies.

Hylda, Doc and Simon Prager
Hylda, Doc and Simon Prager

New Orleans, London, Memphis, Manchester… British Blues before the 1960s

Archie

This was the title of a talk given by Lawrence Davies on Saturday 26 September 2015 at the National Jazz Archive in Loughton, Essex, UK.

Blues researcher Lawrence Davies talked about the story of early British blues as seen through the collections of the National Jazz Archive and his own research. Blues, ‘hot’ jazz and boogie-woogie became a vital part of the 1930s and 40s musical landscape in the UK through the release of US ‘Race Records’ on popular UK and European record labels. After the war, broadcast on the BBC, VOA and AFN, and the emergence of ‘traditional’ jazz and skiffle set the stage for the first visits of African American blues musicians – Leadbelly (Paris), Josh White, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, James Cotton, Muddy Waters, Sister Rossetta Tharpe and blues piano players like Specked Red and Otis Spann, usually with Chris Barber’s band.

The Cyril Davies website provides a lot of background on what happened.

Lawrence Davies is a research student in jazz and popular music at King’s College, London.

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Fox and Goose, Ealing Jazz Club.

Archie

Fox and GooseI visited the Fox and Goose pub on Hanger Lane, Ealing , London, on Wednesday 19 Aug with Colin Kingwell to talk to the current  manager,  Julian Peters. Julian wanted to know more about the pub’s musical history. He was aware that The Who played there when they were known as The Detours.

We talked about about the Ealing Jazz Club, which was held there on Friday nights in the 1950s. Steve Lane, cornet, ran the club with his New Orleans Jazz Band, The Southern Stompers. Colin played trombone  and the banjo player was his friend Cyril Davies. During the evening, Cyril switched to 12 string guitar and played acoustic blues in a small group with  Bob Watson.  This was the start of the British Blues boom 10 years later. You can hear more about this in the broadcast I posted earlier, and read more on the Cyril Davies web site

The pub has changed a lot since the Jazz Club days. It was a skittle alley before it became the club room and now it houses the new kitchen and a conference room. We gave them some photos and newspaper cuttings about the Jazz Club’s acoustic blues sessions, which are now on the pub’s history wall.

Cyril moved on to The Round House pub in Soho in 1955 where he and Alexis Korner absorbed blues and amplification from visiting American artists and recordings. They emerged in 1962 as Blues Incorporated in the Ealing Club and the British Blues Boom was underway!

 

Pat Missin’s Website – the ultimate harmonica resource

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Pat Missin has created the best harmonica site on the internet. Everyone ought to visit it at least once so they are aware of the vast amount of knowledge he has assembled on all aspects of harmonica.

One web page contains a selection of vintage harmonica performances recorded between 1904 and 1940. It includes recordings and historical information about Pete Hampton, Professor Dickens,  Arthur Turelly, H. J. Woodall, Henry Whitter, Borrah Minevitch, Moore and Freed, Sandlin Brothers, William Haussler, Haussler and Coutlee , W.V. Robinson, W.W. MacBeth, Gwen Foster, Willie “Red” Newman, John Sebastian and Rhythm Willie.

Here are the main sections of Pat’s website – www.patmissin.com – The main index page.

Site Contents

Fairly Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to questions about the harmonica that I am asked… um… fairly frequently.

Books by Pat Missin
Books about the harmonica and related instruments.

Uncommon Harmonica Techniques
Tips and tricks you are unlikely to find anywhere else.

A Brief History of Mouth Blown Free Reed Instruments
Ancestors and cousins of the harmonica.

Harp Gallery
Some of the more unusual harmonicas from my collection.

Harmonica 78s
Rare harmonica recordings not available anywhere else.

Harmonica Patents
Notable or curious designs found in the patent archives of several countries.

Tuning
More than any sane person would ever need to know about tuning harmonicas.

Articles
Articles that I wrote back in my pre-internet days.

Reviews
Reviews of new harmonicas and related products.

Audio
In case you were wondering whether I could actually play the harmonica.

Odds and Ends
Stuff that doesn’t really fit in anywhere else on this site.

Special thanks to…
… all those people who have helped me with the material presented on this website.

Cyril Davies – from Trad Jazz to the Rolling Stones

Archie

The story of Cyril Davies, the first British blues harmonica player. From Traditional Jazz to Country Blues and Jug Bands in the 1950s. Joining up with Alexis Korner at the Round House pub in Soho. The meetings with blues greats like Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters and James Cotton. Amplification and the Explosion of Blues Incorporated into the Ealing Club and The Marquee in 1962. A year of fame with his own band, The All Stars, and his early death in January 1964.

This comes from a podcast radio show I did in 2013 on Jonathan Baillie Strong’s “Live Lockdown” on K2K Community Radio in Kilburn. I covered the life of Cyril Davies on from his beginnings in Denham, West London, until his death in 1964, aged 33. With live music from Simon Prager, Doc Stenson, Hylda Sims, John O’Leary and Laurie Garman.

Live Lockdown – Cyril Davies – from Trad Jazz to the Rolling Stones  

1 – Intro – 00:00
2 – Cyril Davies – Country Line Special – 01:36
3 – Mick Jagger – Warm up – 03:00
4 – Talk  – 03:37
5 – Barbeque Jazz Band – Trad jazz – 05:30
6 – Talk – 06:30
7 – Steve Lane – Tennessee Twilight – 07:25
8 – Talk – 09:10
9 – City Ramblers – On a Monday – 12:40
10 – Talk  – 16:05
11 – Big Bill Broonzy – Glory of Love – 21:02
12 – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – San Franciso Bay Blues – 21:38
13 – Speckled Red – Dirty Mistreater – 22:22
14 – Sonny Terry – Harmonica Blues – 23:06
15 – Muddy Waters – Catfish – 23:38
16 – Talk – 24:20
17 – City Ramblers – All by Myself – 30:30
18 – Talk- 33:00
19 – City Ramblers – How Long Blues – 35:10
20 – Talk – 37:20
21 – Blues Inc – Hoochie Coochie Man – 40:54
22 – Alexis Korner Blues Inc – Spooky but Nice – 42:45
23 – Blues Inc – Down Town – 44:30
24 – Alexis Korner Blues Inc -How Long Blues – 46:45
25 – Talk – 49:20
26 – Cyril Davies – Preachin’ the Blues – 55:00

Norman Ives’ Introduction to the Harmonica.

Archie

Norman Ives died in 2015. This collection is from the wide range of blues, rock, ballads, country, and international harmonica music which he sold on cassettes in the 1990s. These tapes introduced me, and many others, to the potential of the harmonica.

This is a tribute to Norman, who introduces the first track. He had run an important mail order harmonica business in Caistor, Norfolk, UK, since the 1980s.

Norman Ives’ Introduction to the Harmonica by The Archivist on Mixcloud

1 – Intro – Norman Ives – 0:00
2 – Harmonicats – Peg O’My Heart – 00:23
3 – Rory McLeod – Bansheesh Dance – 02:28
4 – Charlie Musselwhite – Hard Times – 07:32
5 – Fingers Taylor – Harpoon Man – 11:18
6 – Rowland Van Straaten – Orientango – 14:52
7 – Charlie McCoy – Pots and Pans – 18:06
8 – Norton Buffalo- So Much To Say – 20:13
9 – Cajun – Indian On A Stump – 23:48
10 – J.J.Milteau – The Hook – 27:22
11 – Deford Bailey – Fox Chase – 29:54
12 – Little Walter – Quarter to 12 – 31:15
13 – Paul Orta – Wailing at Weavers – 34:34
14 – Sonny Boy Williamson – Help Me – 37:52
15 – William Clarke – Blowing like Hell – 40:59
16 – Stagg McMann – Pinetop Boogie – 43:41
17 – Mox Gowland – Hollor For More – 46:41
18 – Sonny Terry – Change The Lock On  The Door 50:17
19 – Jim Darby – Snake Dance – 53:43
20 – Walter Horton & Carey Bell – Have Mercy – 57:17
21 – Lee Oskar – The Immigrant – 61:01
22 – Paul Lamb – Snake Skin Jump – 65:06
23 – Junior Wells – Messing  With The Kid  – 67:32
24 – Blues Birdhead – Mean How Blues – 71:08
25 – Don Les – Check to Cheek – 74:26
26 – John Hammond – Cat Man Blues – 77:28
27 – John Popper/Blues Travelers – But Anyway – 81:30
28 – Randy Charles – I’m so Lonesome I could cry – 85:37
29 – George Harmonica Smith – Situation Blues – 88:03
30 – Ted Roddy – Honky Tonk Rhythm – 91:37
31 – Michael Herblin – M’pyramid – 97:15
32 – Pete Madcat Ruth – Froggy Went a’Courting – 99:53
33 – J Geils Band – Wammer Jammer – 103:15