Corky Siegel interview

01:38 - Corky was born in Chicago

01:53 - Also plays piano and played other instruments (including saxophone) before picking up the harmonica 20, with it’s portability the initial attraction

02:35 - Still performs on the piano as well as the harmonica, and sat in on saxophone with Mike Bloomfield and also Billy Boy Arnold in the 1950s

03:19 - Was inspired to take up harmonica after hearing harmonica on records by Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed

03:57 - Had classical piano lessons when young, but wasn’t a very good student, and mainly plays blues on piano

04:38 - Corky is currently 81 years of age

04:58 - Was part of the emergence of the white blues boom in Chicago in the mid-1960s

05:10 - Formed the Siegel-Schwall band with Jim Schwall at university (with Corky playing saxophone)

05:56 - First played with Jim Schwall in a coffee house and there met James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and started working on the musical ‘Hair’ with them

06:37 - Then got a residency at Pepper’s Lounge in Chicago, and were taken under the wing of blues greats such as Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Walter and others

07:54 - Little Walter turned up and asked to sit in but Corky didn’t know who he was!

08:28 - Corky thinks he was asked to do all these amazing things early in his career because he didn’t take anything too seriously, put all his energies into it and focused on expression in his music

08:51 - Produced Joni Mitchell’s first demo tape

08:58 - Seiji Ozawa asked Corky to bring blues to classical music

09:11 - Had a residence with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

10:10 - Was fearless in what he took on and didn’t worry about what other people thought

10:43 - Was friends with Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Butterfield and other white pioneers in the early days in Chicago

11:35 - A memory of Paul Butterfield playing Corky his new record in New York

11:55 - What he learnt from sharing the stage with the blues greats is they put their maximum energy into every performance, and focus

12:14 - Howling Wolf said the Siegel-Schwall band was his favourite band as they were different from the other blues bands

13:02 - Blues greats loved the blues symphony starting (although it wasn’t popular with everyone)

13:19 - Siegel-Schwall band’s first album was released in 1966

13:44 - Went to San Francisco and was there in the 1967 ‘Summer of Love’ and became the ‘hot band’ there, with Janis Joplin counted as a fan

14:35 - Kept the music of Siegel-Schwall simple and focused on expression, and an example of the shuffle they played

15:38 - Siegel-Schwall band made a lot of use of dynamics

16:05 - Became involved with classical music through the composer William Russo and the conductor Seiji Ozawa

16:33 - More on the importance of dynamics and how the band’s use of it probably attracted the classical conductor Seiji Ozawa

17:15 - Started collaboration with Seiji Ozawa in 1966, not long after forming the Siegel-Schwall band

17:47 - Corky was involved with composing alongside William Russo for the Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony

18:44 - Performed with the Chicago Symphony orchestra in 1968 and the classical audience loved it

19:26 - This was probably the first time there was a collaboration of Chicago blues with classical music, and even if not, it’s a collaboration, rather than a symphony backing up a blues band

20:22 - Even Gershwin didn’t do this in his jazz / classical collaborations

20:52 - Only recently heard something done similar to the collaboration with classical which Corky recorded back in the 1960s

21:06 - Symphony was playing from a written scores in the Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony, with the Siegel-Schwall band mostly improvising while also using a ‘mapping’

21:50 - The Siegel-Schwall band split (temporarily) the day of the 1968 concert with the Chicago Symphony orchestra

21:58 - Released ‘Street Music’, which went platinum on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon classical label

22:53 - Has played with about fifty different orchestras with this blues / classical collaboration

23:14 - Only a diatonic harmonica used with the orchestras, no chromatic, or any overblows on the diatonic, with a little reading of music scores

23:41 - Playing blues with an orchestra on a diatonic (rather than classical music on chromatic) harmonica is unique

24:13 - Siegel-Schwall band reformed a few times before finally disbanding, and last album with them was in 2005

24:49 - Corky has released four albums on the Alligator label but didn’t sell lots with them as Corky doesn’t go on the road to help sell albums, which is Alligator’s typical model

25:38 - Made some solo albums which were more folk and pop than blues

26:22 - Has written many songs with a lot composed on piano, with some composed on harmonica

27:02 - Will overdub a harmonica solo when playing piano on recorded albums, and will sometimes play piano and harmonica together (one with each hand)

27:21 - Why piano players, including Howard Levy, prefer not using a rack (perhaps because the harmonica is playing the right hand part)

27:38 - Corky has toured a lot with Howard Levy and is also good friends with Joe Filisko, with one of the songs on his latest orchestra album entitled Filisko’s Dream

28:30 - The influence of Joe Filisko and Howard Levy on the harmonica community

29:07 - Released two solo albums in 2022, one of them the Truth and Harmony album

29:58 - Chamber blues albums are made with great classical musicians from Chicago (and one from India) in a small ensemble

30:37 - 1994 album Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, again with blues and classical music complimenting each other

31:47 - How Corky got into writing symphonic music, something he had no experience in when he started

32:49 - Has been writing symphonies since the first one in the mid-1960s and the importance of bringing blues to a classical audience and keeping the blues alive

33:52 - The joy on the faces of the Chamber musicians as they play the plays with Corky

34:44 - The Chamber musicians have some scope to improvise

35:06 - Has recorded five Chamber Blues albums

35:25 - Released album Symphonic Blues No.6 in November 2024, which took Corky one year to write

36:38 - Has toured the world playing blues with orchestras and some of the famous concert halls performed in

37:14 - Has played at The Proms in London

37:44 - Is usually a guest performer with an orchestra, rather than touring with one orchestra

38:50 - Performed in India, including with renowned violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam

40:14 - Focus has been on classical music in recent years but also does solo shows and some with Howard Levy and a few others

41:15 - Has written a book called ‘Let Your Music Soar: The Emotional Connection’ after running workshops about dynamics, beginning in 1973

43:11 - Recorded harmonica on an audiobook called Echo, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan

43:53 - Corky plays one position on diatonic (second), and when using minor tuned harp plays in the same position

44:34 - Corky thinks you should do what makes you happy when it comes to your playing

45:32 - 10 minute question: use dynamics

47:08 - Has a harmonica course on his website which teaches how to apply dynamics

47:29 - Corky has a great website with lots of information

47:50 - Has won various awards, including the national award for Chamber Music Composition, which he almost didn’t enter the competition for

48:37 - Corky’s place as a composer is accepted by the classical fraternity

49:46 - How composing has influenced Corky’s harmonica playing

50:38 - Diatonic of choice is the Special 20, some of which are customised by Joe Filisko

51:01 - Plays some overblows

51:13 - Mainly uses pucker (single note) embouchre, as this matched technique used when previously played saxophone

51:24 - Does play some tongue blocking, having learnt it from Billy Branch and Joe Filisko

52:12 - Plays some minor tuned harmonicas when orchestra is playing a minor section

52:53 - Just plays diatonics

52:59 - Amps: has a Fender Twin although has Bassman envy, but doesn’t use amps anymore

53:15 - Uses an EP boost in place of an amplifier, which sounds similar to the Fender Twin

53:30 - Now just plays directly into the PA uses a Shure 545 mic, which produces a clean sound, different than most blues players

54:14 - Doesn’t use any effects. Only ever used a volume booster for a short period of time

54:40 - When playing with orchestra plays mainly holds the the mic, but doesn’t on a few songs

55:04 - Doesn’t use many hand effects with the orchestra

55:20 - Future plans include a concert with a symphony in Illinois, some gigs in LA with a jazz saxophone player (Ernie Watts) and some solo dates

55:57 - Is trying to put his legacy in place and play music as long as possible

56:37 - Main legacy is the blues / classical ‘mash-up’, because nobody else is doing it

57:07 - The blues harmonica works in an orchestra setting

57:22 - No plans to write any more symphonies

57:33 - On latest album all the musicians played their parts in isolation from the orchestra, so they were performed like solo parts

58:04 - 45 instruments in the orchestra on the latest album