Jim Zeller interview

01:31 - Jim is based in Montreal, Canada

01:36 - Speaks English and French, but plays the harmonica in French

01:49 - Started playing harmonica age 12, after ‘stealing’ a harmonica from a friend

03:57 - Ran away from home age 15 after problems with father, and learnt music and the harmonica during this year and a half

04:24 - Lots of travelling hitch-hiking, which was common in the early 1970s

04:44 - Joined up with a hippy gang who had a circus, there was a blues musician there who taught Jim some stuff

05:50 - Hitch-hiked to Alaska and was sitting with Indians on the Yukon river when he heard that Jimi Hendrix had died

07:30 - Jim has started writing a book about his life and adventures

08:02 - Jim wanted to be the ‘Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica’ and started using effects pedals

08:50 - First effects used was an Echoplex pedal

09:14 - Worked on harmonica to make it sound like a guitar, to fit in with the bands played with

10:21 - Early influences were the greats such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Walter and James Cotton

10:53 - Did tours with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon

10:58 - Carey Bell was a mentor to Jim

11:28 - Using effects has contributed to Jim’s aim of becoming the ‘Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica’

12:32 - Other influences guitar led bands including Led Zeppelin and Cream

12:49 - Had always sung but became lead singer and lead the band

14:41 - Has a unique approach to the harmonica with varied genres with generally an undercurrent of rock blues

15:13 - Started playing with Alan Gerber from the late 1970s

16:07 - Jim moved to New York in 1977 at the beginning of the punk scene

16:16 - Played sessions as a sideman, including with Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush

16:57 - Would play more or less the same harmonica parts now as he did when he recorded them in the late 1970s

17:31 - Wanted to play in a unique way, and not the typical blues riffs, but to re-invent the instrument

18:03 - Appears in the Bob Dylan movie, Reynaldo and Clara

20:13 - Played songs with Joni Mitchell

21:19 - First album released under name was Cards on the Table, in 1979

25:10 - Cards On The Table was recorded with Alan Gerber but was released under Jim’s name

27:11 - Fire To The Wire album from 1995 featured the great chromatic instrumental, The Godfather theme

27:19 - Has appeared at the Montreal Jazz festival thirty-two times

28:11 - Jim first started playing the chromatic in his teens after seeing Larry Adler on television

29:19 - Sent Larry Adler him a demo tape, and Larry replied

29:58 - Jim felt he had to learn chromatic to be a complete harmonica player

30:10 - How the chromatic differs from the diatonic

30:47 - Has worked especially hard on chromatic since the pandemic

31:03 - What Larry Adler said in his letter

31:25 - Use of the 16 hole for cello like parts

31:58 - Chromatic can play any melody you hear, which diatonic can’t quite manage

33:07 - Blues From Another Planet album from 2019 has a version of The Man With The Harmonica played on chromatic

34:09 - How to use the chromatic in a rock ’n roll band situation by using the drive from diatonic playing on chromatic

35:38 - Carey Bell’s use of the chromatic isn’t just third position

36:44 - Jim’s favourite three chromatic players are Larry Adler, Toots Thielemans and Steve Wonder

37:41 - Jim’s diatonic playing was highly influenced by the percussive style of Indian music

40:08 - The harmonica is an instrument of hyperventilation

40:19 - Teaches his students to always leave a reserve of air

41:25 - Most players neglect the top end of the harmonica, so Jim has always worked hard on that

42:05 - Jim doesn’t use overblows as he plays chromatic for the ‘missing’ notes on diatonic

42:23 - Jim uses all ten holes of the diatonic

43:34 - Ten minute question

44:09 - Playing popular songs on the diatonic to appeal to a younger audience

45:45 - Harmonicas of choice: Suzuki SCX 12 and 16 hole chromatics

46:31 - Used some diatonics from a company in France called Yonberg, where you can change the harmonica reedplates very easily

47:50 - Likes Suzuki Bluesmaster diatonics

49:02 - Plays many different positions

49:25 - Embouchre

49:36 - Jim’s comping is very percussive

50:28 - Wrote a horn part to the song Bad Girl on harmonica

51:38 - Tongue blocking on diatonic gives impression of a brass section

51:49 - A saxophone combined with octaves on harmonica make it sound like three instruments

52:21 - Uses a wireless Sennheiser mic

52:43 - Pedal board contains distortion, chorus then octave pedal into a Boss copy of the Roland Space echo

54:21 - Doesn’t use amps on the road, although does use amps in the studio

54:30 - Sings into same mic as uses for harmonica

54:52 - Has used a green bullet mic previously

55:40 - Mic of choice in studio is SM57 which gives good bite on harmonica