Aug. 9, 2024

Yvonnick Prene interview

Yvonnick Prene joins me on episode 117.
Yvonnick was born in France and has been resident in New York for seventeen years after first moving to the city to study at the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music.
He started out playing blues and jazz on the diatonic and took lessons with some of the great French players, before focusing his attention playing jazz on the chromatic.
Yvonnick is a bandleader and has released seven albums under his own name as well as numerous sessions as a sideman.
He also runs the New Harmonica School in New York and the excellent online tutorial website My Harmonica Studio, as well as numerous tutorial books.
Yvonnick is also the face of Hohner’s new Xpression chromatic harmonica.

Links:
Website:
https://www.yvonnickprene.com/

Tuition website:
https://www.myharmonicastudio.com/

Henriksen amplifiers:
https://www.henriksenamplifiers.com/

Videos:
Yvonnick’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCRked2IhFUqTf92SHisizQ

Yvonnick Prene & Manual Rocheman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O-y3YLahwY

Slim Shady song:
https://youtu.be/y6mgIJH6_EY

New York Harmonica School:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwEprk6rJ8

Triste from Jobim’s World album:
https://youtu.be/nlztkwCXeKU

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

Support the show

01:32 - Yvonnick is from Paris, France, and has lived in New York for seventeen years

01:56 - Was originally only supposed to stay for one year in New York as an exchange student from Sorbonne university in France

02:26 - Had long dreamed of meeting jazz heroes in New York but was a big change and culture shock

03:03 - Level of musicianship is very high in New York

03:40 - Paris was a hotbed of jazz in the 1940s/50s/60s

05:08 - When the young Yvonnick was learning jazz in Paris he met some American musicians, mainly from the Free Jazz genre

05:41 - Level of jazz musicianship is very high these days due to online resources

06:09 - Studies at Sorbonne university included two music degrees, with first degree focused on musicology

06:49 - Professor at Sorbonne university started a jazz history course and helped Yvonnick move to New York

07:25 - Didn’t study on the Chromatic harmonica during first course Sorbonne university, which was more general music studies

07:51 - Diatonic harmonica was first instrument played, followed by guitar and played blues on these for a few years, with jazz coming later

08:14 - Is an accomplished diatonic player and played jazz on the diatonic until age seventeen

08:34 - Studied with Greg Zlap, JJ Milteau and Sebastien Charlier

08:52 - Yvonnick’s early band in Paris playing jazz standards on diatonic

09:35 - Played overblows for jazz playing on diatonic

09:48 - Still plays diatonic everyday and teaches diatonic

09:57 - Reason why decided to play jazz on the chromatic instead of diatonic

10:04 - Was spending a lot of time customising diatonics to set-up to play jazz and the technical challenges of the diatonic

11:30 - Loves the evenness of the timbre of the chromatic, which makes it easier to play jazz than on a diatonic

12:05 - Diatonic harmonica has a lot of technical challenges to play jazz, although lots of young players using it very well

12:52 - Believes it’s easier to start playing jazz on the chromatic compared to the diatonic

12:59 - But if you love the sound of the diatonic then choose that, or play both diatonic and chromatic

13:33 - Passion is the important thing

14:20 - In 2012 started studying at the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music in New York

14:39 - Yvonnick kept requesting for extensions for his stay in New York so went to Colombia university for 6 months

15:20 - Chromatic was main instrument at the New School as they were very free on the instrument that could be used

15:36 - Studied with some jazz greats at the New School including Charlie Persip and Lee Konitz

16:46 - How chromatic harmonica was received on New York jazz scene depends on the context, with jam sessions being highly competitive

17:07 - Mic in jam sessions can be an unknown quantity and harmonica needs highs turned down and a little reverb

18:21 - Was well received by some of the musicians in New York

18:51 - Is a bandleader including in the Yvonnick Prene Quartet and Padam Swing and has released seven albums under his own name

19:17 - Important as a harmonica player to lead your own projects as the instrument is not as in demand as others

20:54 - Padam Swing was a gypsy jazz band Yvonnick put together

21:31 - Wonderful World album from 2014 is with Padam Swing

21:55 - How Yvonnick started playing gypsy jazz

23:02 - Gypsy can be a good entry point to jazz as chord progressions not so complex, but rhythms are!

23:57 - Likes to explore different styles of music

24:16 - First album, Jour de Fête, was released in 2013, just after completing studies and made to help obtain US visa

25:49 - Released a Toots tribute album in 2015, Merci Toots, with guitarist Pasquale Grasso

27:01 - Breathe album released in 2016

27:20 - New York Moments album (2019) has a song dedicated to Greg Zlap, who Yvonnick learnt diatonic from when young in Paris

28:42 - Listen album from 2023 played in a quintet and featuring the chromatic alongside tenor saxophone

29:37 - Recorded in the Van Gelder studio, where lots of Blue Note albums recorded, booth blew up when Yvonnick was recording the Listen album

30:45 - Latest album is Jobim’s World (2024), based around the music of Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and is a duo with Geoffrey Keezer on piano

32:36 - Working on touring the Jobim’s World album in 2025

33:00 - Also performs with other pianists

33:19 - Recently played some concerts in Paris including a concert recorded on radio France with pianist Manual Rocheman

34:21 - Has recorded many sessions as a sideman with other artists

34:44 - Enjoys playing with vocalists

35:30 - Has been hired to play at events, such as a perfume company

36:09 - Runs the New Harmonica School in New York

37:00 - Also has an online harmonica tutorial website called My Harmonica Studio

37:46 - Has written numerous harmonica tutorial books

38:26 - Focused on teaching for a few years, but now is concentrating more on playing

39:53 - Has played in some great venues, including the Blue Note and Birdland in New York, and a gig in Africa in the Ivory Coast

40:48 - Ten minute question

42:44 - Jazz players need to work on longer term goals, really mastering scales and inversions

43:00 - Meets so many people who don’t know the notes on the chromatic harmonica and just play by ear

44:11 - Also to leave some time to have fun in your practise and also to learn some tunes

44:32 - Advise for people who want to get into playing jazz: listen to jazz, start with simpler tunes, scales, jazz blues

46:10 - Have some knowledge, have a good sound, know the notes of chords, scales and intervals

46:35 - Jazz is played in the moment so need to react fast, have good ears, a good sense of time and rhythm

47:51 - Yvonnick is an ambassador for Hohner an a reseller for their new Xpression Chromatic, on which he has his face on the box

48:15 - Does some set-up of the Xpression before selling them

48:43 - Features of the Xpression chromatic

49:17 - Embouchre: Yvonnick started puckering but also does lots of tongue blocking for playing intervals

49:41 - Still plays plenty of diatonic harmonica and recording of an Eminem song with a singer

50:47 - Mics: has tried many, including SM58 and Audio-Technica condenser

51:56 - New favourite mic is Beyerdynamic M88

52:46 - Amps previously include the Fishman Acoustic and Roland. Now using a Henriksen amp originally designed for jazz guitar

53:57 - Bought an extension cabinet for the amp recently so other band members can hear the harmonica

54:29 - Effects: tried a lot of pedals in the pandemic, but returned most of them, and now uses just a little reverb with the M88 mic and Henriksen amp

56:08 - Always have to diversify and not go into auto pilot to be able to make it as a harmonica player

56:20 - Future plans: has started working on a new project

WEBVTT

00:00:00.194 --> 00:00:03.039
Yannick Prenet joins me on episode 117.

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Yannick was born in France and has been resident in New York for 17 years after first moving to the city to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

00:00:13.477 --> 00:00:22.053
He started out playing blues and jazz on the diatonic and took lessons with some of the great players based in Paris before focusing his attention playing jazz on the chromatic.

00:00:22.306 --> 00:00:28.195
Yannick is a band leader and has released seven albums under his own name, as well as numerous sessions as a sideman.

00:00:28.576 --> 00:00:37.289
He also runs the New Harmonica School in New York and the excellent online tutorial website, My Harmonica Studio, as well as numerous tutorial books.

00:00:37.929 --> 00:00:42.015
Yannick is also the face of Holner's new expression, Chromatic Harmonica.

00:00:43.118 --> 00:00:45.582
This podcast is sponsored by Zeidel Harmonicas.

00:00:46.002 --> 00:00:55.332
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world, at www.zeidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zeidel Harmonicas.

00:01:27.042 --> 00:01:29.278
Hello, Yvonik Prenet, and welcome to the podcast.

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Hello, Neil.

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Thank you for having me.

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So you're originally from France, born in Paris, and now living in New York, yeah?

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Yes,

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exactly,

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yes.

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I went to arrive in New York about like 17 years ago now.

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So it's been quite a long time.

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So the pinnacle of jazz in New York, would you still agree?

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So if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

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So what was that transition to New York like for you?

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So I was supposed

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to stay a year in New York City to study.

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I was an extra a student from Sorbonne University in Paris.

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I was studying musicology, also jazz on the side.

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I had some jazz courses at Sorbonne, but it was mostly classical music, music history, musicology.

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And they have this program to send students abroad in the US, so I had the choice to study it in various universities in the in New Orleans, New Jersey, Chicago, I think also in the West Coast.

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But my dream was to visit New York and meet some of my favorite jazz players in New York City.

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So it was a big change for me.

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It was also a challenge to come from a Parisian suburb and just to learn the language, just learn to speak English.

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And then there was also musical shock because the level of musicianship and the level of the musicians that I met and I heard when I first arrived was unbelievable and incredible so high so it was really difficult in the first few years I would say it was really hard to rethink almost everything that I thought I knew about music and jazz improvisation But it was good.

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I'm glad I did it.

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And again, you know, New York probably is the pinnacle of the jazz scene these days.

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But Paris has got a good reputation for jazz as well.

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Certainly, you know, in the past, lots of Americans would come over and bass themselves, and Europe and Paris was quite a big part of that, wasn't it?

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Yes, during the 50s, 40s, and even earlier, when Sidney Bechet lived in Paris for a while, and you had also all the bebop players coming from New York and on tour in France and Europe and some of them decided to live in Paris and they were having gigs every night at the Parisian caves in Saint-Germain and you had some legends such as Dexter Gordon, Kenny Clark, Oscar Pettiford, and so many of them, even Miles Davis went there.

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We have a lot of this famous picture, this photo of Juliette Gréco, the French singer, with Miles Davis in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in a little cave.

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So at that time, in the 50s, 60s, I think there were a lot of exchange between musicians, French musicians, American musicians.

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And I'm thinking about that.

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So Johnny Griffin bought a house in the south of France and used to live there.

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So I think a lot of American musicians found freedom in a place where they were welcomed and appreciated.

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So that was back in the 40s, 50s, 60s even.

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When I grew up and when I started to practice and learn jazz, I've met a few Americans, but more on the free jazz scene like Archie Shep, Sonny Murray, maybe more recently Rick Margitza, saxophonist who played with Mike Davis and I had the chance to perform with him actually last year.

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So I think these days, yes, there are a lot of great French musicians And I think everywhere in the world, I think the level has gone really high, maybe because of YouTube and maybe because Spotify.

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Because in my day, in early 2000s, it was more difficult to get access to information.

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And I was spending my weekends at the...

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The record shop, listening to CDs, had a little budget for that.

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So it was a different era.

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Definitely, yeah.

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So going back to your education, as you say, you went to Sorbonne University and you studied two degrees, I think, a Bachelor of Music and a Master's of Music.

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So you say that the first one was focused on classical music, was it?

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yes the bachelor at the beginning when you get into the musicology so first I was studying history like medieval history I did that for a semester and then I switched to musicology and there you had a lot of classical musicians coming from conservatories but no one was very interested in jazz but I met a professor Laurent Cuny who is a pianist and arranger and he opened up a jazz course so it was more jazz history course so but then i had the opportunity to play with his band and he helped me to to move to to new york

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When you were doing these courses that saw Boeing, were you studying on the chromatic harmonica at the stage in the first one?

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No,

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no, it was the chromatic, the harmonica I was studying on the side.

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It was more like theory and history, commentary of musical pieces and writing, but some air training too.

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And so talking about your development on the instrument, so I think you started playing guitar as your first instrument.

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I started playing the marine band, diatonic harmonica.

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Really?

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And after that, a few years later, I started to pick up the guitar to play blues.

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And I did that for a few years.

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But I never really went deep with the guitar or tried to play jazz on the guitar.

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Jazz came later for me.

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So you are accomplished on the diatonic.

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You certainly can play some good blues harmonica on the diatonic, which you don't always get with chromatic players.

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So you've got able to play both, the diatonic and chromatic.

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Yeah, on the diatonic, I was a complete geek.

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Until I was 17, I was playing jazz on the diatonic.

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I studied with Greg Zlapp, Jean-Jacques Milteau and Sébastien Charlier.

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I had a band in Paris, in the center of Paris where we were playing every Wednesday afternoon and we were playing jazz standards and I was playing I was using a bunch of diatonic harmonica so I was bending overblowing overdraw playing like standards like I remember like my favorite standards at the time were were like on Green Loft in the street like Lady Bird and all the things you are yes until I was 17 and then I I stopped really my my quest for for playing jazz on the diatonic, and I switched to the chromatic.

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So you were playing, obviously, as you said, a sort of full overblow so that you were able to play.

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Oh yeah, I was really into that.

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But a few things, a few factors that made me not quit really that purpose.

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But I still play the diatonic every day.

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I teach on the diatonic, and it's fun.

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I love the instrument, too.

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Yeah, so tell us about that transition to the chromatic and exactly why you decided to do that.

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Yes, so I think at some point I felt like I was spending a lot of time working on my diatonics.

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At that time I was playing the Suzuki Promaster and some golden melodies, Horner too.

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And I was really trying to customize the harmonicas and spending a lot of time just trying to bend, make my bends overblows and overdraw it in tune and trying to think about which harmonicas to use on certain songs.

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I felt like I was probably spending too much time on that aspect and not really on the music and learning tunes, learning more about improvisation, working on different aspects of music, rhythm, melodies.

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Instead of being focalized on the instruments, I was too focused on the...

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I felt like...

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And also...

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During that time, when I was 17, 18, I was at school.

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I was in school to spend a lot of time just studying literature, math, and all of that.

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But just using the little times I have for music and just focus on learning jazz because it's already a lot of things to practice, to focus on.

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So yes, that was one of the factors and also I love the instrument I love the sounds and I felt like for what I wanted to accomplish for my vision I wanted an instrument that was a little bit more even in his tones in his each note having the same timbre I would say the same tone like a piano so it's easier to create phrases to improvise and to be able to reproduce your inner melodies from your head to the instrument.

00:12:03.693 --> 00:12:07.879
The harmonica, diatonic harmonica, is a bit more, I feel like, more challenging.

00:12:07.918 --> 00:12:20.152
There's a lot of techniques that have to be really mastered, but I hear a lot of younger players these days doing fantastic jobs, like really, really playing great.

00:12:20.592 --> 00:12:51.625
It's an interesting point you make there between the difference between the chromatic and diatonic there, and as you say, the diatonic doesn't maybe have the same evenness across the different notes because she can bend ones more and you know and it's got more punch on certain holes and with the chromatic it's much more uniform so you know a lot of people consider if you want to play jazz you need to play the chromatic on it apart from obviously overblowers who might dispute that but yeah it's interesting that point on the sound there and you definitely found that yourself you think you know the chromatic is the jazz instrument on the harmonica point of view

00:12:52.145 --> 00:12:59.395
I think it's easier to start playing jazz on the chromatic compared to the diatonic, harmonica.

00:13:00.017 --> 00:13:16.732
But if you really love the sound of the diatonic, you should go with what you like to play the most because anyway you will have to spend many hours to get to the point where you can really express yourself with an instrument.

00:13:17.474 --> 00:13:51.966
and also you don't have to say just one harmonica or the other you can start with the diatonic get into the blues jazz and try the chromatic and go back and forth and see what you prefer it's most important to be passionate to love and to discover and it takes time to find what you enjoy the most for me it took many years because I hated the chromatic for a long time until I started to change and also to listen to some great players.

00:13:52.467 --> 00:13:57.876
Of course, like Two Steelmans, Stevie Wonder, so many others.

00:14:08.234 --> 00:14:11.678
Let's get into your transition again across to New York.

00:14:11.739 --> 00:14:13.020
So as you say, you...

00:14:13.505 --> 00:14:28.399
you were on a sort of placement, was it, or a sponsorship, a scholarship, was it, to go across to New York, and then you started then studying for a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance in 2012 at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, yeah?

00:14:28.938 --> 00:14:29.500
Yes, yes.

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At first, I was supposed to stay just a year at the City College of New York in Harlem, and then I keep bothering the International Relations Office at the Sorbonne and trying to ask any way that I could stay longer, extend my stay, my visa.

00:14:50.940 --> 00:15:01.912
So they gave me six months at the City College and then it was time to leave and then at the last minute they found another program that I could apply.

00:15:01.932 --> 00:15:05.154
I could apply to the Columbia University.

00:15:05.635 --> 00:15:18.052
So I went there for a semester and then something at the end of the year I was supposed to come back and try the audition at the the new school, and I got the scholarship, so

00:15:18.173 --> 00:15:20.155
I stayed a few more years.

00:15:21.138 --> 00:15:25.606
So was the chromatic your main instrument in the New York school?

00:15:25.866 --> 00:15:35.625
Yes, it's a very open school, the new school, so you can play anything you want, they will accept you.

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So I had the opportunity to study with a really great jazz man, and some legends too, such as Charles Persip, with a drummer who recorded with Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, on the Eternal Triangle.

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They have a label, and he recorded some really historical jazz sessions.

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Also with Lee Connitz, the saxophonist, Alto Lee Connitz, who was on the Birth of the Cool, the famous Miles Davis album.

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Also younger players like Kevin Hayes, who were recorded with my previous album, Listen.

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Kevin Hayes, pianist.

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piano plays

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So how was the chromatic

00:16:47.368 --> 00:16:52.880
harmonica received with these guys and also generally in the scene in New York?

00:16:52.921 --> 00:16:56.828
They're quite welcoming to the chromatic harmonica in a jazz setting.

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so it depends

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I really it depends also the context because for example jam sessions are really cutthroat in the sense of you never know how the microphone is going to be equalized sometimes they put too much highs on the microphone or the microphone is too hot and you start playing and just too much gain too loud and you get this really horrible sound and everybody is like wondering what's going on and you see their face it's not good so it happens it happens so it can be challenging in this way because when you think about it the saxophonist trumpet players or even guitar players who sometimes they come with their amps so they come with their sound us harmonica players we have to make sure that the PA the Mac to give us a a nice sound and not too much highs a little bit of reverb because you can really change your performance and also it can also stop your creativity because you have to love every note that you play, the sound so you can really start swinging, grooving and be inspired but some really musicians were impressed because they really I haven't heard a harmonica playing the language of bebop and improvising like that.

00:18:50.721 --> 00:19:16.798
You're a band leader and you're also a composer and so you've had the Evonik Prenet Quartet and also Padam Swing so I think you've been the leader of these and so you've released seven of your own albums and so that's obviously one way to counter having to compete in jam sessions right with loud saxophones and things is to have your own band right so is that part of the obviously you wanted your own band but part of that drive as well to get heard was to get your own outfits yeah.

00:19:17.346 --> 00:19:33.400
Yes, as a harmonica player, as a rare instrument, you have to, I think, lead your own projects because it's not an instrument that other band leaders will think about first.

00:19:34.141 --> 00:19:41.866
And most of us are not probably in constant demand, like some of musicians here in New York.

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Guitar players, bass players can perform almost every night in various bands, because we always need them in the band, and drummers also.

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But harmonica players, it's not probably the first thing that we think about when we want to put a jazz gig together.

00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:10.073
So it's important, I think, to lead your own project and create opportunities for yourself.

00:20:10.849 --> 00:20:12.230
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00:20:53.986 --> 00:20:56.667
So I had this band, Padam Swing.

00:20:57.229 --> 00:21:05.016
It was a gypsy jazz band with guitar, bass, harmonica, and violin.

00:21:05.036 --> 00:21:16.885
So we played a lot of private events in New York at hotel gigs, even weddings, club dates, bars, restaurants, cultural centers.

00:21:18.247 --> 00:21:29.200
But I'm not really playing with this band too much these days because the violinist scott tixier is a move to texas to

00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:41.519
teach at the unt so your second album wonderful world in in 2014 this was with padam swing and as you say you uh you mentioned some playing some gypsy jazz on here you've got all of me you've got coquettes

00:21:41.598 --> 00:21:51.074
and

00:21:51.094 --> 00:22:03.921
so Were you into Gypsy Jazz, obviously playing as part of your other general jazz playing as well, or did you go into that area for this album?

00:22:04.721 --> 00:22:13.673
At the time I was living in Brooklyn, I had a roommate, Michael Valerneau, who is a great French guitar player.

00:22:14.154 --> 00:22:16.076
He's still playing with...

00:22:16.897 --> 00:22:18.799
the French singer Cyril Aimé.

00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:24.684
So they will come at our loft and rehearse there.

00:22:24.724 --> 00:22:28.688
And I will go to their gigs sometimes.

00:22:29.669 --> 00:22:35.193
So I was surrounded by gypsy jazz music, Manouche jazz.

00:22:35.634 --> 00:22:40.999
And so I met other French musicians who were playing in that style.

00:22:41.138 --> 00:22:44.882
And I got asked to play gypsy jazz.

00:22:45.061 --> 00:23:02.478
So I started to learn the repertoire but I was familiar with this music because I listened to it since I was like 8 years old 9 years old Django Reinhardt my father had a jazz CD collection so I used to listen to a lot of music

00:23:02.498 --> 00:23:12.006
and maybe it's quite a good entry point to jazz because I've played some myself the chord changes tend not to be quite as complex as some of the jazz standards do they?

00:23:12.546 --> 00:23:41.832
there are all the jazz standards like Coquette it's an old tune all of me it's quite challenging too because it's very rhythmic because you have the guitar Sometimes you don't have bass, sometimes you just have two guitars and the harmonica.

00:23:42.352 --> 00:23:48.381
And you have what we call the pump, when they play a chord on each beat, like a drummer.

00:23:48.780 --> 00:23:54.188
So you have to be really strong rhythmically, I think, to play this music.

00:23:54.848 --> 00:23:57.271
So it was fun, yes, I did that a lot for a few years.

00:23:57.833 --> 00:24:06.984
And I like to explore various styles of music, and I felt like there was a demand at the time for...

00:24:07.617 --> 00:24:15.929
for that in New York for this type of jazz so you have to to change yourself to

00:24:15.969 --> 00:24:21.036
adapt and your first album which is the year before in 2013 Jour de Fé

00:24:35.395 --> 00:24:42.886
so yeah I recorded a jour de fête and I think I probably should have waited a few more years.

00:24:43.186 --> 00:24:47.550
I was a little bit green in my playing and everything.

00:24:48.692 --> 00:25:04.425
But I was just finishing the school, the new school, and then I was trying to get an artist visa and I felt like I didn't have enough credits, enough musical professional experience.

00:25:05.046 --> 00:25:43.105
So I thought that recording a CD maybe would give me enough evidence to prove that I was you know ready to because you know for the visa you had to in the US you have to prove that you have a certain stage in your career so I rushed a little bit making this album to in order to try to get the visa and I did with Steeplechairs I love Steeplechairs record when I grew up I used to collect albums from this label so I recorded with some friends from the new school.

00:25:43.665 --> 00:25:43.786
But

00:25:43.925 --> 00:25:45.446
yeah, some good stuff.

00:25:45.627 --> 00:25:48.069
Always good to get your first album out, isn't it?

00:25:49.191 --> 00:25:53.054
And then you mentioned Toots earlier on, so you've done an album called Mercy Toots.

00:25:53.134 --> 00:25:56.297
Obviously this is sort of a tribute to Toots, is it?

00:25:57.218 --> 00:26:07.547
Yeah, at the time I was playing a lot with this amazing guitar player from Italy, Pasquale Grasso, who's really a genius on the guitar.

00:26:07.866 --> 00:26:11.390
He's the only one who can play like Bud Powell.

00:26:11.682 --> 00:26:14.044
and Charlie Parker on the guitar.

00:26:14.904 --> 00:26:22.971
So I was doing a lot of gigs and again, like private parties and sometimes I would play gypsy jazz with him.

00:26:23.672 --> 00:26:28.817
I never really played strict gypsy jazz, not like the cats in Paris.

00:26:29.497 --> 00:26:34.321
But I would play with him a lot, a lot in 2014 for a few years.

00:26:35.281 --> 00:26:49.499
So I decided to record something with him and we went to the studio in Brooklyn, and just for, you probably stayed like three hours there, and just played a few tunes.

00:27:01.434 --> 00:27:04.218
And then a couple more albums going through, you did Breathe.

00:27:06.801 --> 00:27:06.942
Breathe.

00:27:19.490 --> 00:27:20.653
and then New York Moments.

00:27:20.834 --> 00:27:23.643
And there's a song on New York Moments called Dear Slap.

00:27:23.702 --> 00:27:25.367
So that's for Greg Slap, is it?

00:27:25.387 --> 00:27:25.888
Oh, yeah,

00:27:26.089 --> 00:27:26.270
yeah, yeah.

00:27:26.290 --> 00:27:27.574
Greg Slap, yeah.

00:27:27.595 --> 00:27:30.784
It's probably my favorite diatonic harmonica player.

00:27:31.445 --> 00:27:31.887
He's great.

00:27:33.813 --> 00:27:34.013
He's great.

00:27:50.018 --> 00:27:57.268
I started learning the blues harmonica with him when I was like 12 years old and I took lessons.

00:27:57.949 --> 00:28:03.396
I used to go every Saturday at the blues school in Paris.

00:28:04.298 --> 00:28:07.281
And he was really kind and a great teacher.

00:28:07.301 --> 00:28:12.829
And yes, I was really, yeah, he's a great guy.

00:28:13.122 --> 00:28:14.585
He's one of a kind.

00:28:14.904 --> 00:28:23.580
He has incredible time and also beautiful tone on the harmonica that you can recognize instantly.

00:28:23.601 --> 00:28:28.250
And unique, unique sound on the diatonic.

00:28:29.030 --> 00:28:30.394
And a great improviser too.

00:28:30.913 --> 00:28:31.835
No, he's fantastic.

00:28:31.894 --> 00:28:32.535
He's one of my favourites.

00:28:32.555 --> 00:28:34.257
I interviewed him quite a long time ago on here.

00:28:34.297 --> 00:28:37.660
So yeah, Greg's great for people who haven't listened to him.

00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:38.681
Check him out for sure.

00:28:38.800 --> 00:28:39.602
He's fantastic, yeah.

00:28:39.961 --> 00:28:42.544
And then you've done two more, your more recent albums.

00:28:42.564 --> 00:28:47.107
So in 2023, you did an album called Listen, which you mentioned earlier on.

00:28:47.127 --> 00:28:48.709
This is a full band.

00:28:49.150 --> 00:28:50.471
Is this your quartet?

00:28:51.050 --> 00:28:52.413
So it's a quintet.

00:28:52.873 --> 00:29:00.720
The idea was to bring the chromatic harmonica into formation with tenor sax, so to have the tenor sax...

00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:38.397
chromatic harmonica in the front with the piano drums and bass and the idea was to to play really jazz swing compositions, some standards and I had really a great band for this session.

00:29:39.118 --> 00:29:45.325
We recorded at the famous Rudy Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey.

00:29:46.226 --> 00:29:51.611
It's a place where so many Blue Notes albums were made.

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
...

00:30:05.250 --> 00:30:18.424
So that was a special experience, especially when my boot blew up and there was a fire starting around at the end of the day.

00:30:19.041 --> 00:30:21.664
There was a lot of smoke in my booth.

00:30:21.785 --> 00:30:31.176
There was a problem, electrical, something that happened, and so the mics were cut off, and I had to stop for almost two hours for the smoke to...

00:30:31.196 --> 00:30:31.277
Must

00:30:31.778 --> 00:30:32.377
have been your hot

00:30:32.417 --> 00:30:32.739
playing.

00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:34.421
Yeah, I don't know.

00:30:35.321 --> 00:30:36.763
It was strange.

00:30:36.804 --> 00:30:37.944
But I got a good discount.

00:30:39.406 --> 00:30:39.547
Great.

00:30:39.567 --> 00:30:42.310
It was okay, but I think it's a great album.

00:30:42.391 --> 00:30:43.893
My favorite albums

00:30:44.053 --> 00:30:44.713
are the last two.

00:30:45.281 --> 00:30:48.588
So your most recent one, bringing it on to that, is Jobin's World.

00:30:48.669 --> 00:30:52.858
So this is Antonio Carlos Jobin, the Acosta Brazilian composer.

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.000
.

00:31:08.385 --> 00:31:10.928
and this is with a duo yeah with the piano

00:31:10.948 --> 00:31:42.855
player yeah with Geoffrey Kieser so I wanted to do something completely different from my last album from a lesson and a little bit show myself a little bit more because one can say that I was surrounded by some of the greatest musicians in the world I had Bill Stewart on drums Dana Stephens on sax Kevin Hayes on piano and of course I'm not close to the same level.

00:31:42.875 --> 00:31:47.740
So it's always better to be playing with better musicians than yourself.

00:31:48.121 --> 00:32:07.357
But also for that new album, Jeux Bimes Sourds, I wanted just to be in a situation where we can listen more of my harmonica and put me in a more, not dangerous situation, but where I'm not as helped or as backed.

00:32:11.650 --> 00:32:12.413
Bye.

00:32:22.498 --> 00:32:25.845
Always great, that combination with the piano and chromatic harmonica, isn't it?

00:32:26.005 --> 00:32:28.589
Yeah, Geoffrey Kieser, it's incredible.

00:32:29.030 --> 00:32:36.006
So you've got some videos out of you playing, and I'll put a couple of links on to the podcast page so people can check it out, you playing in this duo.

00:32:36.246 --> 00:32:40.595
So are you touring this or performing this album now?

00:32:40.615 --> 00:32:42.077
Because it just came out this year, yeah?

00:32:42.498 --> 00:32:45.921
Yes, so I'm working on a tour for 2025.

00:32:46.461 --> 00:32:50.785
It takes a lot of time to do that.

00:32:50.904 --> 00:32:54.347
Even with a duo, it's not easy to put together.

00:32:54.448 --> 00:33:00.232
So I'm trying to prepare that and have a few concerts with the duo.

00:33:00.272 --> 00:33:02.955
So I'm not always performing with Geoffrey Kieser.

00:33:03.496 --> 00:33:08.099
I have other pianists that have a different take on the music.

00:33:08.941 --> 00:33:15.207
And it's interesting also to hear the songs, the these arrangements played differently.

00:33:15.887 --> 00:33:19.111
And would this tour be just in the US or are you coming to Europe or anywhere else?

00:33:19.592 --> 00:33:46.259
So I was in Paris in June and I played with Manuel Rochman and I had a different pianist that was booked but just when I arrived it's Pierre de Bettman an amazing French pianist couldn't do the gigs so I had to find someone I had just a few days to find a different pianist who could play these quite intricate arrangements.

00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:52.547
And I was lucky to have Manuel Rochman, another French pianist, to play with me.

00:33:52.586 --> 00:33:57.772
And we had performances at the jazz radio TSF in France.

00:33:58.074 --> 00:34:03.259
You can see some videos on YouTube from that performance.

00:34:08.865 --> 00:34:09.085
PIANO PLAYS

00:34:16.130 --> 00:34:21.239
and we played it for Radio France and we played it at the Sunset in Paris.

00:34:22.302 --> 00:34:27.733
As well as your old albums, you've also done lots of work as a sideman and you've created a great playlist on Spotify.

00:34:27.914 --> 00:34:31.380
For example, playing with Arthur Vine, you're doing Man with a Harmonica.

00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:51.884
Man with a Harmonica Great song I really love called Everything Happens to Me, which you're playing with a band called Talking Strings, which has got a vocalist, and he's got a great voice, that guy.

00:34:51.903 --> 00:34:57.050
So again, the chromatic harmonica works so nice with the vocals too, doesn't

00:34:58.152 --> 00:34:58.291
it?

00:34:58.532 --> 00:35:10.869
At first my heart thought you could break these jeans for me But love would turn the trick to end a spell

00:35:11.590 --> 00:35:27.329
Yeah, I love to play with singers, I've done that since I arrived in the US, first at schools, at ensembles, when we had jazz ensembles at the City College, the new school, I was always mixed up with singers.

00:35:27.389 --> 00:35:47.166
And then I started to, in my own bands, when I was hired sometimes to play for events, like I did an event in Miami last year for this perfume company, French perfume, and I hired an Italian singer, Chiara easy to play with us.

00:35:47.827 --> 00:35:57.137
For a few months I had a regular Tuesday where every Tuesday I would invite a different singer to play as a trio, guitar, harmonica and voice.

00:35:57.157 --> 00:36:01.461
It's not easy to play with a singer because they have their own repertoire.

00:36:01.902 --> 00:36:06.226
Most of the time it's standards that we are familiar with but they can play it in different keys.

00:36:06.748 --> 00:36:12.313
So as well as all this great music recorded, you're also very big on tuition.

00:36:12.353 --> 00:36:22.644
You founded the harmonica school in in new york which is an in-person class here where people come and you teach them in in sort of groups and and is it is it one-to-one as well

00:36:23.105 --> 00:36:49.653
yes the new york harmonica school i teach diatonic and chromatic harmonica players we are doing a concert every year sometimes twice a year at a local music studio where i rent a space and we have the the friends and family coming to to hear the harmonica students to to perform with a Ben, some of my friends, really great players to back up the students.

00:36:49.713 --> 00:36:59.264
So they perform songs by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, some blues that I write, some blues like standards.

00:36:59.443 --> 00:37:00.605
So it's a lot of fun.

00:37:01.025 --> 00:37:06.331
And as well as this then, you also got a really excellent tutorial website called My Harmonica Studio.

00:37:06.692 --> 00:37:08.534
You got over 750 lessons.

00:37:08.574 --> 00:37:14.320
And on this, you really focus heavily on playing the chromatic and really digging deep into the jazz.

00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:19.545
which I don't think there's so much of online is there with the chromatic and the jazz side

00:37:20.306 --> 00:37:45.833
yeah I'm not sure about the other websites because it takes a lot of time to put the videos together the PDF and thinking about the lessons and even just taking care of the website it takes a lot of time just the design but yes a lot of videos a lot of PDF people can download We have a lot of resources.

00:37:46.333 --> 00:37:49.697
As well as that, you've also written, I think, 13 tutorial books.

00:37:49.998 --> 00:37:54.822
Yeah, I need to review that number because a lot of them I discontinued.

00:37:55.443 --> 00:38:03.992
So I think there are a few, I'm not sure, maybe four or five that are available on my website, also on Amazon.

00:38:04.132 --> 00:38:08.577
And I'm thinking about to put more at the end of the year or next year.

00:38:09.057 --> 00:38:25.952
but I mean for example you've got a jazz etudes for chromatic harmonic you've got 100 jazz patterns for the chromatic harmonic volumes 1 and 2 you've got classical themes chromatic harmonic you've got 101 easy blues harmonic elixir you've got some diatonic stuff so yeah some great stuff and again obviously you put loads of effort putting this material together yeah

00:38:26.472 --> 00:38:42.588
I did that for a few years I was really focusing on teaching and on doing that I think like between 17 to 20 3-4 years to focusing on on the website, on the videos, on teaching, on the books.

00:38:43.108 --> 00:38:55.442
Now I'm more getting back to the playing, and since 21, I would say 20, 21, I am really trying to get to the next level, really more on the chromatic.

00:38:55.501 --> 00:39:22.376
I'm still teaching, of course, but also I keep my goals to being the greatest player I can be, trying to get better at a lot of area in music, rhythm, ear training, harmonica techniques challenge myself that's also like having a band and making records it's very expensive but so it keeps you motivated and having some artistic goals also but yeah

00:39:31.510 --> 00:39:31.550
so

00:39:33.538 --> 00:39:43.619
Hey everybody, you're listening to Neil Warren's Harmonica Happy Hour Podcast, sponsored by Tom Halcheck and Blue Moon Harmonicas out of Clearwater, Florida.

00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:47.887
The best in custom harmonicas, custom harmonica parts, and more.

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Check them out, www.bluemoonharmonicas.com.

00:39:53.153 --> 00:39:57.320
You've also played in lots of places, just touching on some of the places you've played for.

00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:07.576
Some of the great New York venues, such as you played at the Blue Note, for example, and Birdland, and some of these great venues, and also played in Europe, and even in Africa.

00:40:07.757 --> 00:40:08.858
Where have you played in Africa?

00:40:08.878 --> 00:40:11.362
I played in Ivory Coast.

00:40:11.922 --> 00:40:16.349
I played there with violinist Scott Tixier.

00:40:16.449 --> 00:40:22.079
It was a trio, I think, because I think the bassist didn't catch the plane in time.

00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:27.387
So I think, I'm not sure if we did just guitar, harmonica and violin.

00:40:27.407 --> 00:40:36.221
I just remember that I got sick there with the water or the food sometimes, just before the show.

00:40:36.581 --> 00:40:38.565
But it went well.

00:40:38.605 --> 00:40:40.266
It was probably 10 years ago.

00:40:41.068 --> 00:40:42.751
But it was just a few days.

00:40:42.771 --> 00:40:44.574
It was not a big tour.

00:40:44.865 --> 00:40:52.211
So, you know, again, looking back on your tuition side, so the question you ask each time is if you had 10 minutes of practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

00:40:52.853 --> 00:40:59.057
So if you have 10 minutes, first I'm thinking about focusing on one thing.

00:40:59.579 --> 00:41:09.827
It can be an arpeggio, a scale, a melody, or just a sequence of chords that I want to practice on the piano.

00:41:10.327 --> 00:41:50.510
So I'm not thinking about in terms of time, but just in terms of having like a goal because you don't want to rush into what you're practicing what you're doing the harmonica is an instrument where you have to really be cool I mean we are always cool but you have to even be cooler you have to really have to your heart beat low and be in peace with yourself so your breathing is going to be the best for you to be able to breathe in and out with less air and you'll be able to to manage your breathing technique better, and you'll be also able to focus.

00:41:50.911 --> 00:41:58.800
So if you start 10 minutes and having to jump into different things, I think it's probably the best way to go about it.

00:41:58.840 --> 00:42:05.409
So it depends on what you are into, your level, if you're just getting started.

00:42:06.146 --> 00:42:13.657
I'll just start playing a long note, like everybody has some trouble with the two-jewel, or the one-jewel, the three-jewel.

00:42:14.039 --> 00:42:16.088
So I'm trying to relax.

00:42:16.641 --> 00:42:33.340
and focus on the sound, on my breathing, breathing from the diaphragm with less air, a little bit of air, gently, and trying to hold the sound, trying to breathe really naturally, and almost forget that I have a harmonica in my mouth.

00:42:33.782 --> 00:42:41.309
And I start with that, trying to make a sound, consistent sound, and then I just start breathing in, breathing out.

00:42:41.710 --> 00:42:44.293
So that's just really for a total beginner.

00:42:44.673 --> 00:42:48.898
Then when you get into jazz, of course, you have some goals, some long-term goals.

00:42:49.538 --> 00:42:55.764
Learn all your scales, arpeggios, and various inversions, and really master them.

00:42:56.423 --> 00:42:59.447
You really want to learn them in and out.

00:42:59.467 --> 00:43:06.152
And so I meet so many people who don't know the notes on the harmonica, on the chromatic harmonica.

00:43:06.572 --> 00:43:09.175
They don't know where is the G, where is C, where is F.

00:43:09.335 --> 00:43:22.487
And they already want to play Flaming to the Moon or all of me, but they're lacking really some fundamental knowledge about the instrument.

00:43:23.592 --> 00:43:26.221
And a lot of people just play by ear.

00:43:26.626 --> 00:43:29.688
That's another problem that I encounter.

00:43:30.168 --> 00:43:44.862
It's hard just to say that, to generalize, but I would say just having one idea, and you start with that, and then if you still have more time, you get to a second idea, second purpose.

00:43:45.061 --> 00:44:27.606
Like, for example, one arpeggio over the harmonica, like the F triad, trying to find where are the notes, trying to play the F triad, starting on the third, on the trying to sing the triad if you have a piano keyboard that's very important but also you want to have fun so take some time to do what you enjoy the most learning some tunes that's what I'm going to do after that because I have a show tomorrow playing with my organ trio and I want to bring some new blues some new melodies so And that's fun.

00:44:27.646 --> 00:44:31.032
I love to do that, to practice new songs.

00:44:32.353 --> 00:44:37.021
Yeah, as you said earlier on, obviously jazz is a big undertaking, right?

00:44:37.141 --> 00:44:37.902
There's lots to it.

00:44:37.981 --> 00:44:41.327
So, yeah, you touched on many of the aspects there.

00:44:41.367 --> 00:44:46.333
But people who are maybe daunted about playing jazz, what would your advice be on that front?

00:44:47.795 --> 00:44:50.079
You don't want to feel overwhelmed.

00:44:51.161 --> 00:44:54.686
And start with listening carefully.

00:44:55.074 --> 00:44:59.521
to jazz, something easy that everyone can do.

00:44:59.541 --> 00:45:12.666
And depending where you are with your harmonica journey, if you have just started, you will not probably get into Charlie Parker, bebop right away.

00:45:12.706 --> 00:46:21.958
I will teach you just some simple melodies, folk songs, some scales easy scales it has to be really progressive easy and fun and you start with the blues to learning just blues melodies riffs that you can play and already sound like you are playing music so that's very important so it depends every person has some different taste and some really love the theory aspect some other prefer just to play the harmonica just to play songs and they really don't care about also playing jazz or so it depends who you have in front of you and you are the person who is interested but yeah starting like if I want to generalize starting jazz harmonica I think it's better to have a little background before, as I say, be able to play some simple tunes, having good sound.

00:46:22.722 --> 00:46:30.047
have a little bit of knowledge of what's a chord, what's a scale, an interval.

00:46:30.509 --> 00:46:33.090
Because you need to build up your musicianship.

00:46:33.271 --> 00:46:38.376
Because in jazz, we improvise in the moment.

00:46:38.536 --> 00:46:45.882
So you have to react fast, you have to have sharp ears, a good sense of time, a sense of rhythm.

00:46:46.422 --> 00:47:32.208
So there are a lot of different musical aspects to practice and to get better in order to play jazz there are other ways to to get slowly to because you know you're not going to jump into playing like charlie parker and fast tempos but i like to uh when i teach i uh i bring like some blues head some some simple blues and also some uh some of the repertoire from the uh the blue note um like the the organ like jimmy smith uh lou donaldson some of this repertoire like the boogaloo which is very fun to play and it's already jazz so it's something else if the person comes from the blues it's a better progressive move from the blues to the

00:47:32.289 --> 00:47:39.677
jazz

00:47:48.257 --> 00:47:51.106
We'll move on to the last section now and we'll talk about gear.

00:47:51.146 --> 00:47:54.197
So you're an official ambassador for Hohner.

00:47:55.179 --> 00:47:59.253
I think you're a reseller for the Hohner Expression.

00:47:59.650 --> 00:48:00.291
Chromatic, yeah.

00:48:00.471 --> 00:48:03.054
And you've got your name on the box too.

00:48:03.817 --> 00:48:14.532
Yeah, so it was a great honor, privilege to be the face of the new 12-hole harmonica, the Expression.

00:48:14.552 --> 00:48:19.320
So I have a few at home that I can sell.

00:48:20.577 --> 00:48:50.144
and usually what I do is that I open the box and I check the reeds and I make sure everything works correctly and I'm trying to also make the reeds a little work of gapping so to optimize the breathing and the response on the harmonica It's a great harmonica also for anyone, really beginners and intermediate players.

00:48:50.164 --> 00:48:58.717
It's a 12-hole that has a nice moon-shaped mouthpiece, so it's quite comfortable.

00:48:58.737 --> 00:49:12.360
I had some of my students who played tongue-blocking that had some, not some issue, but it was not the most comfortable tone, for the tongue blocking, if I want to be honest.

00:49:12.621 --> 00:49:17.101
Because the hole inside can be a little bit sharp, but it's great for pucker.

00:49:17.744 --> 00:49:19.393
And so are you a pucker player yourself?

00:49:19.842 --> 00:49:40.980
yeah I started puckering but also I do a lot of tongue blocking in order to play various intervals fourth sixth thirds octaves and yes that's something that I'm practicing to find some original new ideas for myself

00:49:41.760 --> 00:49:51.309
and you also like to play some diatonic as you say so I think I've got you down here playing golden melodies and crossovers so you still play playing diatonic on those?

00:49:52.411 --> 00:49:53.833
Yeah, diatonic all the time.

00:49:53.853 --> 00:50:00.342
I always have my bag of diatonic with me.

00:50:00.382 --> 00:50:07.693
I did a nice video with this singer on YouTube.

00:50:08.295 --> 00:50:14.563
He was singing an Eminem song, but with a metal approach.

00:50:15.344 --> 00:50:17.507
I played a solo on the diatonic.

00:50:33.889 --> 00:50:37.715
I did a couple of projects where I played the Diatonic.

00:50:38.356 --> 00:50:41.681
Great, and what about equipment-wise when you're playing?

00:50:41.900 --> 00:50:46.947
You talked earlier on about going to jam sessions and having a good mic and using a PA.

00:50:47.688 --> 00:50:48.911
What mics do you like to use?

00:50:49.632 --> 00:50:55.079
I tried many microphones and most of them are really good.

00:50:55.139 --> 00:50:59.144
The SM58, the Shure...

00:50:59.809 --> 00:51:08.804
Right now, I'm speaking on the Artist Elite Condenser Audio Technica.

00:51:09.405 --> 00:51:13.251
I use it many times for my gigs.

00:51:14.353 --> 00:51:23.128
The first time I played with this microphone was when I performed at Dizzy Club in New York City, and then they had this microphone.

00:51:23.228 --> 00:51:26.454
What's great is that it really captures a lot of...

00:51:26.882 --> 00:51:38.898
a lot of the harmonica so you can have the microphone on a max 10 and just being in front And it's going to really take all the highs and lows.

00:51:40.460 --> 00:51:43.083
So it's a very sensitive harmonica.

00:51:43.382 --> 00:51:44.623
But yeah, it's a condenser.

00:51:45.184 --> 00:51:50.311
So you need to have a preamp or using an amp into a PA.

00:51:50.891 --> 00:51:55.757
It's not every amp that can power this type of microphone.

00:51:56.137 --> 00:52:00.262
But now I found a microphone that I really absolutely love.

00:52:00.442 --> 00:52:03.644
It's the M88, I think.

00:52:04.418 --> 00:52:06.563
is that the the buyer dynamic the buyer

00:52:06.603 --> 00:52:44.307
yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah i used i used the on my last recording jobim sword I brought this microphone to the studio, Octavion Studios in New York, and we tested against other microphones, and it was the best.

00:52:44.768 --> 00:52:45.809
It was the best sound.

00:52:46.271 --> 00:52:50.155
And what about, do you use any amplifiers, or are you always going through a PA?

00:52:50.757 --> 00:52:58.688
Yeah, so again, I used so many amps, ranging from$200 to maybe$400.

00:52:59.730 --> 00:53:01.972
So various amps...

00:53:02.849 --> 00:53:05.976
for like singers, for like keyboard amps, guitar amps.

00:53:07.099 --> 00:53:11.990
I had the Fishman for a while, Fishman Acoustic.

00:53:12.010 --> 00:53:16.780
I had some Roland, Roland Acoustic also.

00:53:17.663 --> 00:53:19.949
But now I'm using Henriksen.

00:53:20.831 --> 00:53:22.052
He's a local...

00:53:23.137 --> 00:54:15.744
amp maker located in colorado peter henriksen and he is he's making like this these guitar amps for for jazz guitar amps i've seen it the first time at uh when performing with my friend guitarist so many of them are using this amp so it's a really small amp really portable that has over 200 watts very powerful little amp and light that I put in a suitcase and a few days ago I just bought an extension cabinet because when you're playing with the organ a drummer And outside, or even in a room, sometimes you need the other musicians can't listen to you.

00:54:16.146 --> 00:54:26.358
So when you have like two amps and you link them, you can put one as a monitor for the drummer and one for the public, for you, for yourself.

00:54:27.340 --> 00:54:28.742
So it's important to have a...

00:54:29.342 --> 00:54:30.443
And what about any effects?

00:54:30.625 --> 00:54:31.445
Do you use anything?

00:54:32.001 --> 00:54:38.028
So yeah, during the pandemic, I used to go on Amazon and buy a lot of pedals.

00:54:39.110 --> 00:54:40.130
And I will send them back.

00:54:40.150 --> 00:54:43.675
Not all of them, but I tried.

00:54:43.894 --> 00:54:44.655
I was testing.

00:54:45.617 --> 00:54:51.182
But no, I was looking for sound.

00:54:51.824 --> 00:54:56.108
So I had different reverbs that I was using with my amp.

00:54:57.150 --> 00:55:35.956
But since I found this microphone, and this amp, this combo, it's just the best for me, to get a pure sound, just a bit of reverb, and everything is balanced, and yeah, I love it, and now I'm bringing the amp everywhere, even when I play at a festival, or at a jazz club, I'm just going to bring my amp, even if they have a PA, but just I want them to plug, into my amp and go through their monitor, their speaker, because I'm getting used to that sound.

00:55:53.409 --> 00:55:54.231
Yeah, great stuff.

00:55:54.251 --> 00:55:57.014
So just final question then, just about your future plans.

00:55:57.034 --> 00:55:59.057
I mean, you've talked about them some already.

00:55:59.077 --> 00:56:02.623
You're going to tour the new album next year and you've got some gigs coming up.

00:56:03.043 --> 00:56:05.726
So what else is on your radar?

00:56:05.786 --> 00:56:06.969
Yeah, a lot of things, a lot of things.

00:56:07.048 --> 00:56:13.757
I mean, you always have to constantly almost rewrite yourself and...

00:56:14.369 --> 00:56:15.710
coming up with new ideas.

00:56:16.512 --> 00:56:21.255
Yes, it's quite challenging to be a harmonica player, I feel like.

00:56:21.775 --> 00:56:23.177
But it's not boring.

00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:33.927

Yvonnick Prene interview

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