Little Walter followed, first gaining acclaim backing Muddy Waters before becoming a star in his own right in the 1950s. I went out and bought a harmonica the next day.”Īround the same time that folkie Sonny Terry was doing unnatural things with his harmonica, Sonny Boy Williamson was laying the foundation for the instrument’s prominence in the Blues. “Someone dragged me to a blues concert by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Half a world away, in Christchurch, New Zealand, Brendan Power, then a 20-year-old university student, was equally smitten. It’s really important to learn breath control, and playing Sonny Terry’s chord rhythms was a great way to get started on that.” “I didn’t really piece it together until later,” he says, “but it gave me this incredible foundation. Unwittingly, that simple act of mimicking taught him many of the most important harmonica breathing techniques. Like a lot of players, Sleigh soon started playing along with Terry on “Lost John”. “In many ways,” says Sleigh, “he paved the way for a lot of modern harmonica players, with his emphasis on playing really fast and these incredibly exciting, rapid-fire licks. While listening to a recording called “Lost John”, Sleigh admired Terry’s textures and timing. Richard Sleigh discovered Sonny Terry when he was a freshman in college. He was also big on train imitations, recreating the sound of a steam-train whistle and using chord rhythms to evoke steel wheels clattering down a track. A blind musician from the southeastern United States, Sonny Terry was already a force on the folk scene of the late 1930s when he paired up with guitarist Brownie McGhee in 1941.Īmong other things, Terry was known for his whooping and wailing, in which he’d mix his falsetto voice with notes on the harmonica. The connectedness of all things physical and spiritual is astounding.Ask almost any contemporary harmonica player who his heroes are, and Sonny Terry is usually the first name you’ll hear. I'm grateful for a never-ending attraction to these matters. Do you keep up with what's happening in the field?ĭS: My interest in physics is cosmology and quantum mechanics. One of the hallmarks of a great player is to be able to continually invent without relying on chord changes to carry interest. This made accompanying him more difficult.

John Lee played mostly on one chord and, when he did change, it was not according to a standard formula like a lot of blues. This was around 1970 in Boston at a club called the Jazz Workshop. JC: Your best experience playing with an old-time blues musician?ĭS: Jamming with John Lee Hooker was especially thrilling. I still love it, and I'm working on improving it! My guess would be thousands of times not counting my own practicing. I've performed it at every show I've played. JC: Do you ever get tired of playing Whammer Jammer? How many times do you think you've played it?ĭS: It's a constant source of stress, but it helps to keep my playing honed. Use your imagination to advance your technique and improve your sound. Do whatever it takes to stay strongly attracted to playing the harp. JC: Your advice to young aspiring musicians?ĭS: Listen, and practice all the time. As a harp player, I don't have time to spend this way.

JC: Do you watch America's Got Talent and such shows, and what do you think of them?ĭS: Talent is everywhere. Geils Band, my musical role is more narrowly defined. Each day we get together brings so much spontaneous playing and new ideas. Geils Band.ĭS: The musical experience with Shun Ng is very fresh, exciting and challenging.

JC: Contrast an acoustic performance with Shun Ng to one of The J. Our drummer, Stephen Jo Bladd, had a gorilla mask on and the rest of us had on old-man masks.

Geils touring days?ĭS: One Halloween in the early '70's somewhere in Canada, we thought we'd have some fun when we came out on stage to start our show. JC: How about a crazy story from the old J.

Harmonica on whammer jammer