Posted by Aaron Lowe (170.253.172.1) on June 19, 2000 at 10:43:03:
In Reply to: Re: my harp and me posted by Nat on June 18, 2000 at 01:44:00:
: Um excuse me while i pass out, but after posting this message i went and found a page that lists OVER 650 HARMONICA CDS, is this for real??? Are there really that many good harmonica players out there???? Now this is exciting, but i don't have the time nor the patience to sit on the net and weedle through them all so can someone chuck some respected names at me. I love the harmonica.
Depends on what style of music you want to hear, obviously. There are so many good players that it is hard for me to recommend just a few. That being said, the following are generally considered the best in their respective fields:
Blues
*Little Walter
*Sonny Boy Williamson (weirdly, there are two famous players with this name. Both are good though, so you won't really go wrong with either)
*Big Walter Horton
These three (or 4 I guess) are generally considered the best/most influential harp players of all time. All three are no longer living, but still widely listened to. They all have solo albums, but also often played on projects with other people (Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters).
Country
*Charlie McCoy
*Mickey Raphael (plays with Willie Nelson. He's on almost every Willie album since the mid-70's)
Jazz
*Toots Theilmanns (spelled wrong, I pretty sure. He plays chromatic)
*Howard Levy
Rock
*Magic Dick (J. Geils Band CDs)
*Dave Gage
*John Popper
And there are other styles. Like I said, there are so many more players. Go to www.harmonicalinks.com and you will find links to these and many other players.
Hope this helps,
Aaron