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Mark Hummel's 15^th Annual Blues Harmonica Blowout

The 15th annual winter harmonica event known as Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout settled into Yoshi's January 13th to 15th for the sixth straight year. Having already played a number of one-night venues on this tour in northern and central California and Nevada, Mark, his band The Blues Survivors and this year's guest artists settled into the Oakland nightclub and restaurant for a weekend of six shows including a Sunday afternoon show designed to attract families and the next generation of blues fans.

Throughout the history of his Blowouts Mark has brought together the very best blues harmonica players. This year's lineup for the six shows at Yoshi's over the weekend offered an intriguing mixture of players that shared a love and passion for the blues and their instrument, but established their musical reputation and achieved success in very different ways. From the traditional blues world of Chicago to the raucous party sound of popular Rock 'n' Roll, this year's guest artists of Jerry Portnoy, Lee Oscar and Magic Dick provided a trio of divergent sounds and playing styles. All players however, linked back in their blues base. And according to Mark, this combination also has "fans coming out of the woodwork. There's no doubt about that."

The show opened with David Barrett, a local player, author, and full-time harmonica instructor at his School of The Blues and the Harmonica Masterclass workshops. As the show opener he played some original instrumentals as a very tasty "appetizer" for the players who would follow. In his opening song, "Feelin' For The Blues," he played amplified through Mark Hummel's Bassman-style amps, acoustically through a vocal mic and then acoustically totally off any mic. Each time he changed his musical presentation he changed harmonica positions. The song started with David in 3rd position playing a G harp; then 2nd position on a D harp at the vocal mic and finally in 1st position totally off mic with an A harp. With a deep, steady shuffle groove provided by The Blues Survivors, David was able to build off the rhythm for some interesting and expressive soloing. Each part of the song was presented with a big, fat tone and precise playing. His second song, "Blowin' My Horn," was an up-beat swing tune played in 3rd position on an A-flat harmonica. His combination of tone and technique often brought forth the sound and rhythms of big band horns. These horn lines were then contrasted with some 5-hole octaves to keep the song swinging and keep the energy up as he led the band into a strong finish. Click on the links above to download the free MP3's of these songs.

Mark Hummel followed Dave and opened with an instrumental, "Blues Is Here To Stay" by Eddie Boyd that filled the club with his big tone. Played through his tandem Bassman-type amps (specifically "Fender Concert" and "Meteor" amps chained together), the Chicago style shuffle brought forth the feelings of bygone players who laid down what we now call "Chicago style" blues. The Blues Survivors rhythm section of Marty Dobson on drums and Steve Wolfe on bass put down a medium-paced groove that they accented as Mark worked his way through the dynamics of the song. Mark followed that song with Big Walter Horton's "Hard Hearted Woman," a slow blues in 1st position. And for his final song, Mark once again demonstrated his versatility and played Little Sonny's "Love Shock" on a Chromatic harp. Comfortable and competent on diatonic and chromatic harps, Mark played the Chromatic tune with same full tone heard in his diatonic tunes.

Jerry Portnoy, a veteran of Muddy Water's band was next in the harmonica lineup. A musician steeped in Chicago blues, Portnoy was born in Chicago in 1943 and was brought up around the famed Maxwell Street market. Just five years after picking up the harmonica, he was off touring with Muddy Waters. He started his set this evening with "Blues In A Dream," a slow instrumental from his Home Run Hitter album that demonstrated his Chicago blues roots and his strong, heavy tone. He combined gritty phrases, bluesy bends and lighter sections that were very expressive and emotional. He had the audience eating out of his hands without a lot of stage pyrotechnics. For his second song Jerry played another song from his Home Run Hitter album-a light-hearted tune, "Charge It." Singing about credit card debt, a subject most people in the audience could relate to. The words of the song evoked several responses from the audience as if to say, 'Yes, me too.' For the final song in his set, Jerry played the classic Little Walter song "Off The Wall." The combination of a great classic song and a great harmonica player produced an excellent finish to his efforts on stage that was rewarded with strong audience applause and some cheers.

Lee Oskar took the stage after Jerry. Lee, kept busy in the studio producing and managing his harmonica company, isn't traveling and playing as many gigs as he once did. "This Blowout," said Lee "is a special event for me. Because you have some real great seasoned players… and we hang out together during the tour." Even though the show doesn't give everyone a lot of time on stage Lee said, "It feels good. I'm in my element. I'm playing in front of good houses." Lee opened his set with an R&B tune driven by a funk-style beat. Standing in the extreme right side of the stage Lee brought forth his original style and sound. Eschewing the bullet microphone and Bassman amps for his own setup of vocal mic and effects pedals, Lee produced clean, melodic phrases that projected his special style and sound. Bob Welch who had been playing piano for the previous performers switched to guitar and provided a strong rhythm element to the funk styled groove. Lee followed that with a slow song that was filled with long flowing lines that moved across the harmonica and contrasted with intermittent long single notes that brought out the emotion of the music. With his whole being engaged in the music as his body swayed back and forth to the song's rhythm, Lee played his final song, "Low Rider." Recognizing the song, the audience acknowledged it with a roar of applause and standing cheers. That groove and Lee's infectious energy got the band playing with some extra fun and the audience clapping and cheering as they moved in their seats. As a performer who doesn't interact a lot with the audience, Lee still found a way through his music to connect to them and let them join in all the fun he was having on stage.

The final performer in the night's lineup was Magic Dick. Magic Dick established himself as a musician and performer with the high energy, "party" music of the J. Geils Band.

What many listeners may not know is that the J. Geils band was originally called The J. Geils Blues Band, an acoustic trio with Geils, Magic Dick, and bassist Danny Klein. Having been on a hiatus from performing for the past year, Magic Dick said he was concentrating on improving his playing and "…completely taking my harp technique apart and rebuilding it from the ground up." But as he said, "There is no substitute for performing live." And as far as the Blowout format, he agreed it was both challenging and fun. As Magic Dick himself noted. "So for me, there was a certain apprehension knowing that I'm with a gang of great harp players." But there was, of course, no real need for any worry or concern.

Starting with his first song, "Temperature" by Little Walter, Magic Dick showed his blues roots and harmonica chops. Using the bullet mic and Bassman amps he played with rich, full sounding tone and interspersed his vocals with some tasty solos that demonstrated his innate feeling for blues timing. Singing since his days with The J. Geils Band, he said he started earnestly in 1992 and is upfront now and singing on a regular basis. A very engaging guy who is relaxed and comfortable on stage, Magic Dick moved around the stage and easily connected with the audience as he talked and joked between songs. Staying in a "classic" mode he played Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Pontiac Blues" as his second song. With great anticipation the audience waited for Magic Dick to start his third and final song. From the first note the audience knew they would not be disappointed. Immediately recognized as Magic Dick's signature instrumental "Whammer Jammer" and considered by many to be a harp classic, the crowd clapped and cheered on his high energy performance. Combining little bits and pieces from a variety of musical sources such as Tom Dorsey, "Rocket 88," and Little Walter's "Rocker," "Whammer Jammer" after all these years still is a crowd-pleaser and a show-stopper.

After Magic Dick's performance Mark Hummel came out again and called up all the harp players for a real "blowout." Rather than the all-too-common "Got My Mojo Working" as a finale, the assembled harp players opened up on Duke Ellington's "C Jam Blues." And an interesting finale it was. Starting from the recognizable head, Da-da, da-da da-da, da, da played in unison, each player went off in to his musical direction. From the classic Chicago amplified sounds from all the players on the bullet mic and Bassman amps to Lee Oskar's cleaner notes from his mic, all the players dug into the groove and had fun. There was no time to be shy or hold back in this company of players. The energy was high, the crowd was on its feet and the next player was waiting for his turn to leave one more musical impression on the crowd. After everyone had their choruses Mark brought the song back to the head and a sharp ending.

The music was still in the air as the audience applauded all the performers and another end to another memorable Yoshi's "Blowout."

Until next year…