David Waldman Interview

David Waldman, in his own words…
“I grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. I started playing harp when I was around 13 or 14. I moved to Chicago in 1976. The first person to hire me for a gig here was Louis Myers. His band didn’t show up at one of his club dates and I happened to be in the audience, so he hired me to help him out on harp. Starting in 1980, I played for long periods in the bands of both Taildragger (replacing Big Leon Brooks) and Big Smokey Smothers. My colleagues in Big Smokey’s band were Steve Cushing and Illinois Slim. We called ourselves the Ice Cream Men.

The Taildragger gig was notable, among other reasons, for the fact that I got to play with some really great guitarists: Eddie Taylor (Sr.), Willie James Lyons, Hubert Sumlin, and, not least, James Scott, a superb and under-recognized guitarist who recorded for Sun records in the early 1950’s. It’s a tragedy that Scott wasn’t recorded more: he had some wonderful instrumentals with which he used to open the show. He had grown up on the same plantation as Tony Hollins, and he used to play some of Hollins’ pieces--very well, as I remember.

In the summer of 1985, I toured with Jimmy Rogers, playing piano. Other members of the band were Big Smokey Smothers on guitar, Wild Child Butler on harp, Bob Stroger on bass, and Ted Harvey on drums. One highlight of this was appearing at the 10th anniversary celebration of Clifford Antone’s club in Austin. It seemed like virtually every major living Chicago blues figure was there, and the celebration lasted a week. It took me another week to come back down to reality.

I also have fond memories of a month long tour that I did in Canada with the Legendary Blues Band in the late 1980s. At that time the band consisted of Willie Smith on drums, Billy Flynn and Little Smokey Smothers on guitars, and Calvin Jones on bass.

From 1988 to 1992, I played guitar in a band that had a weekly gig at Lilly’s on North Lincoln. We specialized in getting old school Chicago blues figures to come out and front our band; among these were Big Wheeler, Little Willie Anderson, Joe Carter, Jimmy Lee Robinson, and John and Grace Brim.

I played in the Chicago blues festival a number of times with this band; we backed up Jimmy Lee Robinson, John Brim, Big Wheeler, and on one occasion, Yank Rachell. I should also mention that on an earlier occasion, I played in the Chicago Blues Festival with Floyd Jones at what turned out to be his last public appearance. In the 90’s and in the first decade of this century, I played at Smokedaddy on many occasions with Billy Flynn’s band. Steve Cushing and I also had a regular Wednesday night gig there for awhile with Big Wheeler. I’ve recorded with Big Smokey Smothers, Big Wheeler, John Brim, Taildragger, Billy Flynn and Elmore James Jr.

I consider myself fortunate to have seen a lot of the more obscure, old school harp players in Chicago: Big Wheeler, Middle Walter, Big Leon Brooks, Lester Davenport, Earring George Mayweather, Birmingham Jones, Louis Myers, Billy Boy Arnold, Harmonica George Robinson, Easy Baby, Little Addison, Dan Smith, etc. These men helped form my conception of what Chicago blues harp should sound like. My favorites were Willie Anderson and Louis Myers; Big Leon was also great.

I’ve been involved in the University of Chicago Folk Festival since the early 1980’s and I’m proud of having played a role in bringing to Chicago a number of blues figures who might otherwise not have appeared here: George McCoy, Jesse Thomas, Jack Owens, Lavada Durst (i.e. Dr. Hepcat), Grey Ghost, and Mose Vinson.

Since 1979 I’ve done a blues radio show on WHPK-FM (88.5FM). It runs from 9:00PM to midnight on Mondays.”

This interview was held in Chicago, Illinois in June of 2012.

Videos Include:
David Waldman’s Early Years, Part 1
David Waldman’s Early Years, Part 2
David Waldman’s Early Years, Part 3
Essential Listening - Little Walter & Little Willie Anderson
Obscure Harp Player in Chicago
How Playing other Instruments has Helped David’s Harp Playing
David’s Thoughts on Tongue Blocking and Bending
David’s Approach to 1st Position Playing
David’s Approach to Improvising
David’s Approach to Accompaniment Playing
Recommended Do’s and Don’ts for Harp Players
What David Likes about the Chromatic Harmonica
What David Likes to Hear when Listening to Another Harp Player
Closing and Playing out with Scott Dirks