Jazz

James Cotton

James Cotton is one of the all-time greats of the blues harmonica, and one of the last of the original Chicago musicians who played and recorded some of the most exciting blues music ever. Cotton's ...
Chicago Reader

Harmonica master Billy Branch deserves to be a household name

Since 2005 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in ...
Jazz

William Clarke

Between his huge frame and the immense sounds he coaxed out of his harmonica, West Coast blues harmonica virtuoso William Clarke was a giant of the blues. A full-time blues musician since quitting his ...
Los Angeles Times

In Bruce Willis’ ‘impromptu’ harmonica session, there’s nothing sad about the blues

Months after his aphasia diagnosis, Bruce Willis found good company in a harmonica and musician Derek Richard Thomas. On Monday, wife Emma Heming Willis shared an Instagram video of the “Die Hard” ...
The Washington Post

Phil Wiggins, harmonica master of Piedmont blues, dies at 69

Phil Wiggins, a blues harmonica virtuoso who embraced the jaunty Piedmont style and toured the world as part of a duo celebrating a distinctive musical form that was revived in clubs and impromptu ...