Little Walter
"Little Walter could make his harp sound like a tenor sax, he was instrumental in defining the sound that is now known as Chicago blues harp. Singer, composer, bandleader and peerless harmonica virtuoso, Little Walter was unquestionably the single finest blues artist to have been produced by the post war Chicago blues movement."

Jimmy Reed
"Jimmy Reed was born September 26, 1925 in Dunleith, Mississippi. It is this beginning that provided the exposure to the Blues. His tools for the blues were a Harmonica, Guitar and his pleading, boasting, chuckling or threatening voice. Reed's simple but evocative sound of walking bass lines mixed with high and slow harp did develop that unique, stacatto style, a blowing style with a lot less suck than someone such as Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson."

Sonny Boy Williamson I "Sonny Boy made the harp the lead instrument in the blues and his first (May1937) recordings were in country style. He is considered as one of most important and creative blues performers to emerge during the mid-to late 1930's.

Sonny Boy Williamson II
"Sonny Boy Williamson II was an enigma. One of the most influential blues artists of all time, he was so disdainful of interviewers that next to nothing has been known about his early life. Even his real name and date of birth remained elusive, beyond the fact that he variously called himself Aleck "Rice" Miller, Willie Williams, "Little Boy Blue" and "The Goat" and gave birth dates between 1893 and 1909."

Big Walter Horton -"When Big Walter played the blues fell all over you." The words are from record producer Sam Phillips, who recorded Big Walter Horton in the early 50's. But Phillips wasn't the only one who felt that way. Indeed everywhere Big Walyer played, his music was so emotional, so creative and so subtle that people simply couldn't forget him.

Sonny Terry
"Whooping and wailing like a man possessed, Sonny Terry drew listeners into a sultry musical world populated with hot headed women and worried men. Though he often employed an ethereal falsetto voice, he was also capable of unleashing hair-raising hollers. His harmonica style was similarly compelling. The North Carolina-born legend would vocalize through his harp, thus intensifying the plaintive moan of the instrument."

DeFord Bailey
DeFord became the most successful artist to share the tradition of black hillbilly music with a wider audience. Considered the leading harmonica player in the first half of the 20th Century, DeFord influenced other players such as Sonny Terry

George "Harmonica" Smith"Although Marion Jacobs, Aleck Miller, and Walter Horton are widely regarded as the chief architects of post-war blues harmonica, any list would be remiss without George "Harmonica" Smith. Like his contemporaries, Smith was a master of the instrument and left behind a legacy that still echoes in the playing of several harmonica players of the west-coast school; a school built in large part by the man himself."

James Cotton
"James Cotton is one of the best-known blues harmonica musicians in the world, and certainly one of the best of the modern Chicago blues stylists, recognized for the power and precision of his playing.

Junior Wells
"If the harmonica is to blues what the saxaphone is to jazz, then Junior Wells is a post-bebop legend and one of the better players of the blues. He was along with James Cotton the last of a generation that grew out of Chicago in the late 40's and early 50's, when the blues scene featured such notables as John Lee Williamson and Rice Miller, Little Walter and Walter Horton."

Norton Buffalo GREAT page with lots of graphics, soundfiles, info on Norton's work, etc. A huge list of credits one of the best Blues Harp players today

Paul Butterfield
"In the 1960's in the blues clubs on Chicago's south side, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was setting off the first depth charges of what would come to be a worldwide blues explosion. Its main role model was the reigning Hoochie Coochie Man himself, Muddy Waters."

John Mayall The Official John Mayall Website Experience: History, Tour Info, News, Merchandise, and much much more!!

Another Great John Mayall Site"Mayall's bands have provided firm and amazingly fertile grounding for many stellar musicians, allowing them to give their creative stamp and push harder at the ever-shifting perimeters of the blues. Eric Clapton, John McVie, Aynsley Dunbar, Peter Green and Mick Taylor are just some of the stars to have played in Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Taj Mahal Home Page

"In the end ultimately music plays you you dont play the music" Taj Mahal

Charlie Musselwhite
Musselwhite masters the old Chicago tradition and at the same time experiments like no one else does. Understanding what position he plays on certain tunes is an interesting challenge! This site is the new official one and features lots of info, soundbytes, and goodies to purchase.

Sugar Blue
"Grammy Award-winning harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue is not your typical bluesman. He wasn't raised on a Southern farm or even on the South Side of Chicago -- he was raised in Harlem, New York. He didn't grow up with blues all around him -- he grew up with the sounds of Billie Holiday and James Brown and all the acts that played the Apollo Theatre. Sugar Blue has used this background to his advantage, though, creating an ultra-modern blues style and sound that is instantly recognizable as his own."

Folk Harmonica Players

Bob Dylan
Not necessarily a technical favorite among harmonica players, but Dylan has been an inspiration for many people that have picked up the harmonica over the years.

Dylan is without doubt one of the best song writers of all time

Neil Young
Not necessarily a technical favorite among harmonica players, but Neil Young has been an inspiration for many people that have picked up the harmonica over the years.

Magic Dick
"Wherever Magic Dick blows the harp, there's a houseparty going on." A pioneer in sound and style for rock harmonica, the 80's saw the J. Geils Band release a number of albums with one or two great, innovative harmonica solos buried away. Definitely worth tracking down.

John Popper
"Very controversial and not best loved by many blues harmonica players, John Popper has nonetheless invented a new musical style and redefined the role of the harmonica in 90's rock. This site is that of 'Blues Traveler', the band in which he sings and plays harp."

Lee Oskar
"There's no one in the pop music world quite like Lee Oskar. His unique role as a founding member and former lead harmonica player for the pioneer funk/jazz group, WAR, won him international renown for over two and a half decades (1969-1993). Oskar's signature harp solos helped to define the WAR sound from the band's beginning in 1969, adding dashes of color to their R&B/Jazz/Rock and Latin influences."

Charlie McCoy
The Godfather of modern bluegrass & country harmonica styles.

Howard Levy
Website for jazz diatonic harmonica monster Howard Levy, plenty of great information at this site, including samples, transcriptions of Howard's solos, etc. Levy is one of the most influential players of the last 20 years; this site is a good place to go for more information on him and his work. "Howard Levy is unanimously considered a pioneer of modern harmonica. He plays diatonic harp like a chromatic instrument and many say he formalized the overblow technique."

Richard Hunter
"This web site for harmonica players and fans is provided by Richard Hunter, world-class harmonica player, author of Jazz Harp (Oak Publications, NYC, 1980), and composer of original works for harmonica, including The Act of Being Free in One Act, the first full-length CD of works for unaccompanied harmonica ever recorded, and The Second Act of Free Being, the brand-new CD that takes solo harmonica to a new level."

Toots Thielemans World Renowned Chromatic Jazz Player

Larry Adler The legend that was & is Larry Adler