Harmonica Instrumentals!

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Thought it’d be cool to start a thread of great harmonica instrumentals. Here’s a great one to get it started!

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Here is one of my favorites (although anything from Mr Platt is amazing):

Rippin’ it Up

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Kind of reminds me of Jerry Lee Lewis

Fun energetic song - great harmonica

Thanks for sharing @Carlos1

Best
Mike

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Here’s one of my favorite harmonica instrumentals with Terry McMillan on it:

It’s absolutely swingin’ and has a killer harmonica line from Terry. He might not be an exclusive tongue blocker nor has the flashiest playing style, but Terry put so much soul into the harmonica that it sounds like it’s crying.

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A few:
Natacha Seara Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
Hugo Diaz La Tristecita
James Cotton The Creeper
The Adler Trio Gipsy Medley
Rick Estrin Off the Wall

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Gibson Creek Shuffle - YouTube
Charles Ford Band

Something from a band you wouldn’t expect!
Night Owl Blues
The Lovin’ Spoonful

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Its simple but…Lowrider by War. Seriously went a LONG time before realizing that was a harmonica.

Whammer Jammer and Big Walters Boogie are great too, especially considering the technique side of things.

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@KeroroRinChou Could you please let me know the video title so I can search to see if there’s a version that’s visible here in the UK?

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Amen A.C. from the album with Larry Carlton called Renegade Gentleman. Great album!!!

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Thanks for the hint @Luke .
Here’s what I found (which in turn might be unavailable for you, since it’s an ‘official channel’ video and they tend to be the ones most affected by regional rights issues).

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Awesome song! I love the incorporation of 50s Boogie & At the Hop dancing.

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The funny thing is: I posted a video that really is not a harmonica instrumental !! :clown_face:

OK, so here is one of my favorite Roly Platt instrumentals !!

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Sorry but I’ve got to go with the obvious first, with Magic Dick, Whammer Jammer (studio version): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSs12nBLquc

But then most anything by Roly Platt: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3pR8iiM-NuU

or Kim Wilson: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DsisWYWWB7o

….be they instrumentals or just long solos.

Thanks,
Don

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Here’s a recording I recorded 3/3/93. Recorded to a jam track from Jazz Player Magazine. Named Blues in F or something like that. I believe this is a Bflat harp. but haven’t checked recently. It’s a bit rough because it wasn’t polished, but I had fun recording it, and still enjoy listening to it even today.

Hope this link works. Hope you enjoy this home instrumental recording.

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Here’s a couple more harmonica focused instrumental pieces I like. Ever since getting back into blues harp, I’ve noticed that I love a lot of the pieces that either are more jazzy than typical blues music or have a strong central hook (sometimes it can even be both). I especially love the instrumentals that have a swing vibe to them, probably due to my love for jazz music.

The first one I’ll show is “The Honeydripper” by Big Walter Horton. This is more of a one-chord jam, like most of his swing instrumentals were, but he could make that harmonica sound like a full horn section if he wanted to. I also like how powerful and sharp his tone was. In my opinion, he was one of the few classic blues harmonica players who had that potential to make that harp wail in agony as proven in songs like “Groove Walk”. Even back in the day, he’d challenge the modern idea of blues harp being a “pure” artform which you had to only had to play only traditional blues as he also could play latin and folk music.
Bb harp in 2nd Position

In terms of more modern blues harp instrumentals, I’ve had this song on repeat for a fews days. This is “Harmonica Mambo” by Norton Buffalo and I think this is a fantastic piece for demonstrating the binary system when creating instrumental music. It has an incredibly strong A section that revolves around a central hook with a specific set of licks being played and a B section that’s more improvisational. I’ve noticed from listening to Norton’s instrumental pieces that he often used the binary structure for his instrumentals, as “Shuffalo” has this structure as well.
D harp in 2nd position

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