The Best Harp Player I Met at SPAH

… is a young Polish musician named Bartosz Leczycki. He played brilliant diatonic harmonica in lots of different styles, always very fresh and original, with very highly developed technique and harmonic conception, on a par with anyone I’ve heard. (I didn’t hear his chromatic playing, but I know he plays chromatic, and I have no doubt that it’s killer.)

Leczycki’s recordings on Myspace show all his virtues. The Raga piece simply amazed me, and everything else there is solidly and often brilliantly composed, arranged, and performed. On all of these pieces, the melodic and harmonic conceptions are strong and varied, and the playing is precise and powerful. Every aspect of technique is brilliantly rendered, including what I assume to be overblows–the technique is so smooth that I can’t be sure how the tone was produced–and the vibratos are killer.

Here’s a video of Bart playing hard blues with a Polish band. He takes an extended a capella harp solo at about 3 minutes in. It’s pretty heavy.




Check this guy out. Really.

The Pro Page

Welcome to our Pro Page, where some of the best professional country, rock, jazz, blues, and classical harmonica players in the world tell you what records they listen to, what harmonicas they use, and the gear they use to perform and record.

We inaugurated this page with our friend and top rock harp pro Jimmy Gordon. We’ve since added country, rock and bluegrass monster Mike Stevens, New York studio master Rob Paparozzi, Nashville session pro Kirk “Jelly Roll” Johnson, jazz chromatic and diatonic master Clint Hoover, UK-based jazz and classical chromatic master Julian Jackson, acoustic blues master Tom Ball, amplified blues tone master Dennis Gruenling, the world’s leading classical harmonica virtuoso, Robert Bonfiglio, double World Champion and diatonic blues/jazz master Carlos del Junco, Irish harmonica master Brendan Power, rising blues star Annie Raines, and now master player, composer, and harmonica manufacturer Lee Oskar!

Stay tuned for more pages on top harmonica professionals worldwide!

Tom Ball's Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Tom Ball began playing guitar at the age of eleven and took up harmonica three years later. As a teenager he was a founding member of the Yerba Buena Blues Band. In 1979 he teamed up with guitarist Kenny Sultan, a partnership that to date has resulted in seven CDs (Flying Fish/Rounder) and performances in concerts, festivals and tours all over the world. The Ball & Sultan duo has appeared on television internationally, played for audiences of 300 million via Voice Of America, been featured on the "Levi’s 501 Blues" commercials, and appeared as frequent guests of National Public Radio. Their music from the film "Over The Edge" won them the prestigeous Telly Award in 1994, and they were the only musical act in America to play all four venues of the 1984 Olympic Games.

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Mike Stevens's Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Sarnia, Ontario-based (about an hour from Detroit) Mike Stevens is one of the best bluegrass harmonica players in the world, with a string of credits that includes multiple appearences at the Grand Ole Opry and performances with Roy Acuff, Jim and Jesse (with whom he currently performs), Bill Monroe, and other bluegrass legends. Mike is also an extraordinary rock harmonica player whose terrific tone and innovative use of electronics for sample-and-hold looping and multitracking can be heard on his release “Normally Anamoly” (see Mike’s discography below). Mike is now doing shows with a new band, The McLains, as well as solo harmonica shows that incorporate acoustic and (very) electric tunes. In his spare time, he plays all the horn parts in a Sarnia-based funk band called The Funk Band. We think that whatever Mike is playing at any given time tends to sound pretty damn good. (See our extended discussion of Mike’s work at this site.)

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Rob Paparozzi’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things

New Jersey-based Rob Paparozzi is one of the top studio harmonica pros in the New York City area, which is to say, one of the top recording harmonica players in the world. He currently sings and plays with Blood Sweat & Tears as well as The Hudson River Rats, a New York based blues and R&B band whose members include players like Will Lee and Bernard Purdie. He has played on recordings for Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Roberta Flack, Judy Collins, and David Clayton Thomas. His movie credits include Tom and Huck, Straight out of Brooklyn, and Native Son, and he’s been heard on TV on Cosby, Nickolodeon, and lots of jingles: Wendy’s, Dodge, Dominos, Pizza Hut . . . whew! Are you impressed yet? Okay, he’s also worked with producers and arrangers that include Phil Ramone, Danny Kortchmar, Arif Mardin, Bobby McFerrin, Lauryn Hill, Billy Byers, and Don Sebesky, and opened live concerts for Dr. John, Sly & the Family Stone, Bruce Springsteen, The Doobie Brothers, and B.B. King. Any questions?

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Lee Oskar’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Lee Oskar is one of the most widely-heard harmonica players of all time. He is best-known for his work with the band War, where his “horn section” with saxophonist Charles Miller created one of the most unique sounds in the history of rock. His composition “Low Rider” has been covered by a boatload of artists in a wide range of musical genres, and remains one of the most enjoyable funk instrumentals ever written. And, of course, he’s the Lee Oskar behind Lee Oskar harmonicas. (I am a Lee Oskar endorsee, and have used Lee’s instruments since 1986.) For more information on Lee, see his official bio at Lee’s artist web page.

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Jelly Roll Johnson’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Nashville-based Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson’s distinctive, soulful style has made him one of country music’s top session musicians. Since moving to Nashville in 1984, Jelly has recorded with the cream of Nashville’s singers, including Trisha Yearwood, Kathy Mattea, Etta James, Anointed, Randy Travis, The Judds, Reba McEntire, Hal Ketchum, Michael Johnson and many others, for a total of over 50 gold and platinum albums. Jelly Roll performed "A Lover Is Forever" live with Trisha Yearwood on the 1996 Country Music Association Awards Show. He also performed on the CMA Awards show in 1987 with The Judds, and played at The Judds final concert for the largest pay-per-view television audience ever. In other words, he’s got the goods.

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Jimmy Gordon's Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Jimmy Gordon is perhaps the only harmonica player who has played
with both Bonnie Raitt and Jerry Lee Lewis. He sometimes tours with
rock legend J.J. Cale, in whose company he has played such venues as
Carnegie Hall. Jimmy’s first CD, Come On Over, is a fine collection of rumbling, laid-back rock and blues, with deeply felt, original harmonica work by Jimmy on every cut. As of this writing, Jimmy is hard at work on his second CD.

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Julian Jackson’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things

London-based Julian Jackson is a star on the rise. He was raised in a musically oriented family in Liverpool, England. While studying simultaneously at Sandown Music College in Liverpool and with world renowned classical harmonica player James Hughes, Julian captured the Hohner British Harmonica Championships three years in a row. He continued his studies with Hughes after moving to London, where he became the only harmonica player to ever gain admission to both the Guildhall School of Music Post-Graduate course and the Royal Academy of Music Bachelor of Music course. Julian’s unique style and ability in both jazz and classical harmonica playing has won him the recognition of many musicians and composers, including British jazz pianist Julian Josephs and jazz harmonica legend Jean “Toots” Thielemans, another of Julian’s teachers and — along with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane — a strong influence on Julian’s jazz conception. Julian has been very active in the London session scene, where he has worked on projects for film, television, and radio, including the Anthony Hopkins produced film “August,” Disney’s “Funny Bones,” starring Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt, Carlton Television’s productions of “Anna Lee” and “Frontiers,” and the BBC’s “Tears Before Bedtime,” “The Missing Postman”, “Wokewell,” and “Drover’s Gold.” Julian is currently working with a new quartet, which he will record with soon, and is also working on a a terrific recording and performance project with percussionist Chris Wells and Guitarist John Parricelli, under the title “Projeto Do Brazil” (three guesses as to what kind of music the group plays).

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Clint Hoover’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things

Minneapolis, Minnesota native Clint Hoover has been playing the harmonica professionally for 18 years. As a studio session player he has worked for many regional artists as well as for commercials, theater, radio and TV. He has performed with groups working in styles that include jazz, blues, rock, and various kinds of acoustic music. His 1997 debut jazz CD Dream of the Serpent Dog received rave reviews in both America and Europe, not to mention right here at this site. Clint teaches harmonica at the West Bank School of Music in Minneapolis — listen to the sample and get your ticket to Minneapolis now — and is on the applied music staff at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College. In NYC he attended the Parsons Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, and studied — like many of today’s top players, including Mike Turk, Rob Paparozzi, Will Galison, and others — with classical harmonica virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio.

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