Tom Ball Interview

Born in Los Angeles on Sonny Terry's birthday (October 24), Tom began playing guitar at the age of eleven and took up harmonica two years later. A teenage member of the Yerba Buena Blues Band in the mid-1960's, he played Love-Ins and Sunset Strip nightclubs before leaving the country for most of the '70s. In 1978 he came back to the U.S. and teamed up with guitarist Kenny Sultan - a partnership that still flourishes today and has resulted in eight duo CDs and literally thousands of concerts and festivals all over the world. The Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan duo has appeared on television internationally, played for audiences of 300 million via Voice Of America, were featured on the Levi's 501 Blues commercials and are frequent guests of National Public Radio. Their music from the film Over The Edge won them the prestigious Telly Award in 1994, and they were the only musical act in America to play all four venues of the 1984 Olympic Games. In addition to working with Kenny, Tom has played harmonica on over 200 CDs, performed and sung on countless film soundtracks, TV shows and commercials, recorded four solo guitar CDs, written five instructional books and authored a couple of novels. Tom's most recent studio projects include playing with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band on the soundtrack to the film "Hoot," and with Kenny Loggins on his latest two CDs, "All Join In" and "How About Now." Tom has been on the cover of both American Harmonica Newsmagazine and Harmonica World, and Blues Revue called his playing "stupendous," and Sound Choice magazine wrote, "The best acoustic blues act going, bar none!" Meanwhile he has carved out a secondary career as a solo guitarist and "kills time" writing both music books and fiction. Tom is one of the best acoustic harmonica players in today's scene. His Sonny Terry-influenced playing and control of hand usage on the harmonica are also of great interest in this interview. You can learn more about Tom at www.tomball.us Videos Include: The Early Years; Teaming up with Kenny Sultan; Early Influences on Harmonica; Essential Listening; Approach to Improvising; Keeping Solos Fresh Throughout an Evening; Recommendations for Improvising; Accompaniment Playing; Bending; Tongue Blocking; Position Playing; Chromatic Harmonica; Playing on the High-end; Music Theory; Playing in Minor; Equipment: Harps, Mics and Amps; Hand Usage and Growl; Sonny Terry Playing; Books and CDs; Philosophy; Closing