I went to school with Howard Levy. Graduated in 69 in a class of about 60 students. I was considered a harmonica player, Levy was considered a piano player. I still play. He however is probably the best in the world. Here’s to him.
First time I heard John Popper playing “no woman, no cry” with Ziggy Marley, I couldn’t help but think of my friends who have passed away. It moved me to tears in front of my kids.
Paclin, when you did "Isn't she lovely" .... You were ON FIRE. GREAT JOB with that one. Also, You are spot on with your selections here. Especially regarding Carlos and Jason.
Gotta say, I must have watched the Alex Paclin Country Harmonica video a thousand times. It's that good! I keep telling everybody before I show them your video that you are this guy that got locked up in a room for 2 years with just his harmonica....... he comes out and can friggin jam, for sure!! I am going to play like that some day!!
Cool . Thanks for turning people on to these great players . I would add to the list a player i had the pleasure of working with a few times in South Florida , the late Gustavo Lezcano . A founding member of the Miami Sound Machine , Gus was not only a great player but a fine human being . If anyone is unaware of Gus , check him out . He wanted to be the Latin Lee Oskar . Peace
Most on the list are technically efficient and others very good but with high dollar effects. Stevie Wonder is a fine harmonica player and others like Charlie McCoy and Buddy Greene are great and use no effects. My favorite who played so fine with harmonicas not tweaked by technicians is Rice Miller also known as Sonny Boy Williamson ll. He lived his songs via harmonica playing and vocals. There are others that are very good too.
Just as general info--there is no such person as Chevy McCoin as per my search for them. Also another good harmonica guy is Lee Oskar. I like the Lee Oskar harmonicas because they play well and I can use parts from busted harps to put together a new one. They are easy to take apart and work on too.
@@joeholland4936 You may not have heard of Chevy McCoin yet. Up-and-coming talent from the East coast. He does a lot of far-out techniques, such as double-tonguing, articulated shouting over-draws, nasal overblows, and some circular breathing in which bends sound like they are repeatedly going full-circle (acoustically really unusual, like a harmonica version of the didgeridoo). You'll likely know about him in the next 6 months or so...
@@carlmorrey5410 No worries, check out Bubbly Grown. Relatively new on the scene from the East Coast. Does some really unusual warbling and yodelling type techniques. He's gonna be big.
For me, the best harmonica player of all time is without a doubt Deford Bailey. Amazing tone and technique, he was THE pioneer. He didn't have decades of years of records to learn from unlike modern players - he came up with his own style and laid the foundation for others to come. He composed several technically advanced pieces on his own, his Ice Water Blues is a good example. He also had crazy good tone, just listen to his rendition of John Henry.
John Mayall the best British blues man of all time.Plays the the harp like no one else.92 years old I believe,81 albums.He has played with the greats!!!!
John Popper is the best hands down! Blues Traveler played in a major motion picture! The movie, "Kingpin"! It was funny to see them all dressed up like an Amish rock band...LOL!
After looking at these lists I decided to put together a top 10 of the greatest influences on ME....not necessarily the all-time best...but nevertheless all damn good, and the ones I stole from the most (and it was hard to limit it to 10...could have easily done 20...or more); these are the ones who taught me how to play and who influenced my style the greatest. Presented on no particular order of ranking: * Paul Butterfield * Naz Nazarenko (of Elliot and the Untouchables) * Little Walter * Kim Wilson * Lee McBee * Howard Levy * Charlie Musselwhite * James Cotton * Jerry Portnoy * Norton Buffalo ...and that's the truth!!!!
Thank You for posting this! I’m new to a lot of theses artists but have loved harmonica since I was born. I’m almost an empty-nester & will finally have the time to learn how to properly play..so, I want to listen to as much of the best players as possible right how…plus, I just can’t get enough of that beautiful sound! I look forward to checking out your list!👍🌞 *I DO have a ❓for you (& anyone who reads this)>> Do you have any advice, tips, or recommendations, for someone just learning how to play like me? Any info would be greatly appreciated my friend!🌞
Good bunch of names. Norton! Oh my what a wonderful musician. Absolute genius player and completely unique. I saw him play a casino in Calgary years ago...he had an amazing band of top flight guys with him. He played chromatic in one hand and keyboard with the other all night. The tragedy was that there were only 18 people there. The year before I saw Chris Hillman (Byrds) and Bernie Leadon (Eagles) play to 12 at a local cowboy bar. WTF?
I lived in LA in the 80's and would add George "Harmonica" Smith and Jonny Dyer, Rod Piazza, William Clarke all of whom I had the pleasure of knowing also Mark Hummel and Mitch Kashmar
Peter Madcat Ruth, Grammy winner, and is my vote for one of the world's best harmonica player! He learned from some of the old Chicago blues men and is top notch on the technical side as well. I saw Madcat, Howard Levy and Corky Siegal all on stage at the same time at Madcat's 70th Birthday Bash at the Ark in Ann Arbor. And Billy Strings was a special guest! What a show!
Yeah...Mudcat rarely makes these lists....he is quite remarkable. It takes a special musician to play in Dave Brubeck's band...and do it on a diatonic harp
Everybody has their favorite list of influences and these would surely be different depending on what style they played. I can't argue with any of your picks, who all have influenced me...though, hard to duplicate Carlos del Junco, and Howard Levy, no matter how hard I try ; however, do agree with those that said Butterfield should be on everyone's list
Little and Big Walter, Sonny Boy 1 and 2, George Smith. The BEST players to ever pick up a a Harp!!! Love Toot's also. Just my own favorite players. Thanks for the video, much appreciated.
@@nelsonhibbert5267 It might be the same, certainly. I know him from his incisor-whistling work whereby he blues scales seven hundred dog barks in every back yard in Boston and belches a backbeat out of a bass harp like he's laying a dozen deLays. Makes Levy look like a bag carrier. Is that the one you were thinking of?
@@OnceTheyNamedMeiWasnt That's him I'm sure! He's one mean musical mother pucker.... I first heard about him from a homeless lesbian dyslexic midget glockenspiel player when I was busking in a subway. The sandwich shop, that is. Legends about him had already "spread" before he ordered his own tin sandwich as he was previously the only person that had the genius to be able to play a foot long meatball Italian herbs and cheese one armed trombone through the back of his neck.
Very good enjoyed your video thanks , some really interesting players here however as in all art I would suggest it is simply taste and there isn't such a thing as best.
Butterfield opened up the entire harmonica players list. Without his input from late 50’s to 80’s, there would be no harp blues movement. I listened to his playing a lot live since 1965 to his untimely death! No one beats his harp artistry in innovation…nobody!
@@nelsonhibbert5267 Along with Big Walter, both Sonny Boys, many others before Butterfield. But, still he really opened some doors, and helped create the "great white Harp player" migration into the Blues scene.
The first harmonica player I ever listened to was Johnny Puleo later I found out he had a group called the Harmonica Gang who often played on variety shows that were before my time. They were more into comedy, but no more so than Kay Kaiser and His College of Musical Knowledge.
I don’t play, & never really gave the harmonica more than a passing listen, then I started attending the now defunct Bean blossom Blues fest. Over the years I have gotten to see some of the modern greats & gain an appreciation. While I’ve seen some awesome harp players over the years, the two that had the biggest impression on me were Charlie McCoy. A little old cowboy who had played with everyone & had a story about them all. He was great & didn’t sound like anyone else I had seen. Jason Ricci!! I saw him right after the release of 🚀9. If you have never listened to that album, it is a must hear!! There are at least 3 or 4 masterpieces on that album.
They didn’t mention Sonnyboy, Williamson, Ray Norcia, Charlie, musclewhite slim harpo Sonny terry, the guys they showed was hillbilly music from Kentucky and the Appalachia
Like all lists, very subjective. So many great players out there......all these are super accomplished yet few of them would make my list because it comes to down to who moves me.
great selection indeed. some of my own favorites, beside those 7, are: pat ramsey (no longer with us), charlie musselwhite, james harman, sugar blue....
Ex UK blues musician of the year, Paul Lamb would be there in any blues-only category, but your choices were good and I now have some new artists to wonder why I can't play as well as! 😁
A lesser known player out of chicago that deserves to be on a list is James Conway. Irish and blues player. Probably the best tongue block player you will find.
John popper and cowboy bebop are why I started playing harmonica. I’m not as good as popper, but he’s an inspiration for me. I wanna be able to do the break down on Carolina blues.
There are so many greats and they're so different, I can't make an ordered list. I was wondering if my harmonica hero would show up, and he did: Stevie Wonder. If I could play half as good, I think I will have died and gone to Heaven.
Little Walter gave the Chicago Blues harp style legs. Paul Butterfield gave it wings. And the soul in his phrasing can’t be matched by any on your list- yes, even Little Walter. Listen with open ears and you can’t fail to hear it. Others would imitate Butter. But like Charlie Parker, who gave wings to jazz, Butter has never been equaled.
I love Pauls stuff, love all the albums. But he's no where near comparable to Little Walter. Pauls technique was basic, almost rudimentary. He had a stock pile of his own great licks that he often repeated. But he played with absolute soulful balls. Little Walter on the other hand, had a far superior tone and technique, and had endless ideas that led to a creativity and sophisticated innovation that hasn't been seen since.
You should have been included in that list You are One the best i have heard...but obviously to be good ,you have to be humble...thanks for sharing your taste with us👍
Would have been upset if John Popper hadn't been on the list. His No woman No Cry is my favourite harmonica piece ever. Gives me goose bumps every time.
When you’re at the party and you play a musical instrument that just happened to be there and you just happened to be able to play it, someone always would try to play after you. And if it’s a guitar, piano or drums -it’s all good. But harmonicas are pretty personal and when a pizza chewing friend, gets all excited and says “-dude that’s cool let me try”...
@@rogerlong6969 Reminds me of this story about a family that went on a caravan holiday. They had trouble with the guys in the caravan next to them, as they were disruptive and kept them up all night. The family made a complaint, and the guys all got kicked out. The family went on with their holiday as usual, but one day they came back to find the door had been forced open. Nothing had been stolen, but they noticed the camera had been moved from one place to another. After they went home from the holiday, they took the film in to the shop to get it developed. In amongst the pictures of the family enjoying picnics and trips to the seaside, was a picture of four men bent over with their trousers down, showing their asses. And stuck in each one of their assholes was a tooth brush that belonged to each respective family member.
I just saw Johnny Popper play tonight. He’s often not mentioned on the list of greatest harmonica players. Watching him live was like watching Picasso paint.
I love John Popper. It always saddens and bewilders me why he doesn't get more love from the harmonica community. I give him due props here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_Cq4C786AFg.html
Popper ain’t even in the top 25 harp players, they didn’t mention Ray Norcia, Charlie, Musselwhite, slim Harpo, Sonny, boy Williamson, Sunny, Terry, all they played was hillbilly music from the Kentucky mountains, no class
For an equal playing field I think of the diatonic players in a different category from the chromatic players. Not that one is better or worse but there's a difference.
I can play along with any harmonica player in the world, including all the people on here however, when I started to get to know them as people they’re the last people in the world, they wanna know they’re all about their egos
I think best is too subjective. I think technical mastery of the instrument is more objective. Then is the player a master of diatonic only or chromatic or tremolo etc. I think a list of innovative players is more useful. I really like Jimmy Reed’s high end diatonic playing. I think a lot of players play too many notes, Jason Ricci comes to mind but he is not alone and that is my opinion for whatever that is worth. However, he is fantastic in that he is generous to provide many videos on how to play the harmonica. He may be the best player with humility. Anyway, listen to Emilio Perazzi, Gianmaria Ghezzi and Maki Yamaguchi if you get a chance.
Can't believe you included John Popper! You also seem to confuse technical ability with being in the blues groove, think of Lester Butler, Big Walter, or Sonny Boy. I could go on but the point is a flurry of notes does not equal Good!
Agree with you on this one. Poppers tone is how amatures sound after a few months, and his attempt at creative playing just sounds like an unorganised mess. His true strengths are his song writing and singing. What a great band BT are.
John Popper can fly. That Ricci dude is insane so is his hair. Don't hate me but there's something about mic jagger (I know he's considered a hack) that I dig. And Butterfield died way too soon. There's so many that are amazing. And they stand on the shoulders of the originals. And I still can't bend the 4 hole very well.😢
@@Harmonicacom Dude's a genius. Stevie Wonder can play the hell out of damn near anything. He's actually a pretty good drummer. Somewhere there's audio Stevie Wonder playing drums and jamming with Hendrix and it's pretty awesome. It's a bit of an odd combo but not bad. I guess, how could it be really?
Nice bro.. But you know Mr. Amang Genggong from Gresik Indonesia,,,? he can play melody, rhythm and bass at the same time. I think he's the master harmonica players in the world. You can find it on youtube of course, with the keyword Mr. Amang Genggong
Jim Zeller…you must be from Montreal, I remember playing a number of shows with him in the mid 70’s, crazy, weirdest dude ever, but yes, he could really play!
