Introduction
MICK MARTIN
Mick Martin has played blues harmonica professionally since 1968 and, since 1983, led "Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers." On March 31, 1994, Mick did something highly unusual for a harmonica player: he performed at Carnegie Hall for the nationally-broadcast "Blues in Jazz" concert with mentor Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Witherspoon, Grover Washington Jr., Carrie Smith and Mark Whitfield. That same year, he was featured on Jimmy Smith's Fantasy/Milestone Records release, Sum Serious Blues. Mick has played harmonica on stage behind Freddie King, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Mick Taylor, the Yardbirds, Roy Brown and many others. He is a featured artist on Dig Music's Bob Dylan tribute, "Positively 12th & K," which also features Sal Valentino and Jackie Greene.
Mick shared the “Best West Coast Blues Harmonica Player” nod with Mark Hummel in 2001. Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers have won the Sacramento Area Music Award (a.k.a. the SAMMIES) for “Best Blues Band” three times, thus entitling them to a place in the SAMMIES Hall of Fame.
Mick has been producing and hosting the Blues for over 20 years, beginning with "The KZAP Blues Show" in August of 1989. He joined the staff of KXJZ in July 1991 to create "Mick Martin's Blues Party."
Information taken from the Bands website
B.W.
Welcome to my show, well Blog. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. I am glad to return the favor you did for us. You host a show on the radio called Mick Martin’s Blues Party and you aired my former bands first CD on that show back in 2005. I remember taking my boom box with me to work and threatening the whole job site to be quiet when you first aired my band on your show. Its funny how just hearing yourself for the first time on the radio is so special. Even though you’ve already performed the tune live so many times you don’t even like it anymore! It was really cool too because friends all over the state called me to say they just heard my band on the radio. We first met briefly at a gig in Lodi California where we performed at an event together. Since then we have met a few other times. You were very nice and even remembered my name which blew me away! I think we were at Blues on the river in 2006. We were on the side stage watching Shane Dwight. You looked over at me and said, “We gonna act like we don’t know each other?” I said ah...well, I know who you are but you might have me confused with someone else. You said I know who you are! I said I really doubt it, I am nobody! You laughed and said, “You’re Big Wayne and you play trumpet with Highway 61 Blues Band!”
We only performed together two or three times and very briefly met! That was so cool! A photographer happened to be there and he took a shot of us talking and then you went on to perform. A great show I might add!
B.W.
So Mick, how did it all begin? What made you choose and want to learn to play Harmonica?
M.M.
I was in a band in my teens and one of the guitar players brought in a harmonica. I think he had learned “Little Child” by the Beatles. For some reason that made me angry – that he could play two instruments and I couldn’t play any. So I bought a harp and learned the solo on “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by the 13th Floor Elevators. Then I heard “Little Red Rooster” by the Rolling Stones and fell in love with the blues. I looked on the LP to find the songwriter’s name and saw “Willie Dixon.” So I went out looking for more albums with songs by him. I found “The Best of Muddy Waters,” “Howlin’ Wolf (also known as the “Rockin’ Chair” album) and “More Real Folk Blues” by Sonny Boy Williamson. Once I heard Sonny Boy, I knew I had to learn to play the harmonica right, but I wasn’t able to get that beautiful tone and almost gave up.
B.W.
What encouraged you to continue on to become proficient on Harmonica.
M.M.
When the first “Paul Butterfield Blues Band” LP came out, I knew “white boys could play the blues.” Before Butterfield’s record, and shortly after, Charlie Musselwhite’s “Stand Back” LP, all I heard were the British guys, who didn’t quite get the playing right. Brian Jones (of the Rolling Stones), Keith Relf (of the Yardbirds) and Ray Davies (the Kinks) sounded sloppy compared with Sonny Boy, the Wolf and the guy I heard on the Muddy Waters album (who turned out to be Little Walter Jacobs, of course). Paul Jones (Manfred Mann) was the closest thing to a real harp player of the “Caucasian persuasion” I had heard up to the point of discovering Butterfield , Musselwhite, Rod Piazza (with the Dirty Blues Band at the time) and Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson of Canned Heat. Once I heard them, I knew I had to knuckle down and do it right. I was 16 and, by the time I was nearly 50, I finally was able to play what I heard in my head.
B.W.
Was your family or anyone in your family musically talented?
M.M.
My mom and dad used to sing at piano bars. For my 12th birthday, I asked to join them for one night and was allowed to play maracas with an organist named Clyde Derby. I was a Jimmy Smith fanatic, so I was in heaven, even though Derby was pretty much an “easy listening” artist. So my folks sang, especially my mother. My cousin, Steve Peterson (the son of my father’s sister), is a singer, songwriter and pianist who has toured the country and made recordings, but it wasn’t until our generation that anyone in my family went on stage or into the studio.
My mom and dad used to sing at piano bars. For my 12th birthday, I asked to join them for one night and was allowed to play maracas with an organist named Clyde Derby. I was a Jimmy Smith fanatic, so I was in heaven, even though Derby was pretty much an “easy listening” artist. So my folks sang, especially my mother. My cousin, Steve Peterson (the son of my father’s sister), is a singer, songwriter and pianist who has toured the country and made recordings, but it wasn’t until our generation that anyone in my family went on stage or into the studio.
B.W.
What were the early years like when you were starting out onto the local music scene?
M.M.
At first, we played teen centers; places set up by churches in the Sacramento area where bands could play and teens could hang out under supervised conditions. Of course, we played high school dances when we could get them. Then the “Summer of Love” hit and we had a place in Sacramento called the Sound Factory, our own local version of the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. I did anything they needed: swept up, took tickets, ran errands for the artists (most memorably for Muddy Waters and James Cotton), whatever they needed. That was where I played my first professional gig in 1968 as a last-minute addition to a band from Davis called Wake Forest. I walked in during their rehearsal – I was there as often as possible during the week as well as weekends-- and the manager, Whitey Davis said, “Go get your harmonicas. This band needs a lead singer.” So, after that one rehearsal, we opened up for Pink Floyd that weekend. Our name isn’t on the poster, but we were there in front of a packed house. I can still see the lights over the tops of the heads of the members of the audience as I sang and played Sonny Boy’s “Help Me.”After the band broke up, Whitey set up an after-the-sets jam session as, believe it or not, a favor to me, and one night I jammed with the Peter Green version of Fleetwood Mac. Whitey had me form another band called The Mick (he named it, not me) and we opened up for Savoy Brown, the Son of Champlin, the Family Tree from Stockton and other Bay area bands you probably wouldn’t know. It was a great time in my life. When the Sound Factory closed – the last show was us with Savoy Brown – I kept playing. With my best-known bands of the period, Timothygrass and Joshua, we played many free concerts in William Land Park and Carmichael Park, Freeborn Hall at UC Davis and anywhere we could get a booking – usually playing for free. We mixed blues with originals, just as Mick Martin & the Blues Rockers do today.
B.W.
How has the Local Blues scene changed through the years?
M.M.
When we were old enough to play bars, I found myself in a cover band, which I found profoundly unsatisfying. So I found some kindred spirits and we evolved into Smith, Martin & Shaw, which had a local “hit” with Jim Shaw’s bluesy “Oh, the Road.” When the band split in two directions, I ended up in Mick Martin & the Orion Express, which also had FM success with “Hey Mama.” We later released two LPs, “Orion Express” (1974) and “Prisoner of the Sky” (1979). As long as it was original music, I felt comfortable playing rock, but I never truly strayed from the blues at nightclubs like the Shire Road Pub, the Oasis Ballroom/Crabshaw Corners, Slick Willy’s, C Street North and others. When the original Shire Road Pub burned down in 1977, I gave up music – for two years. I kept stopping and starting over. Disco has brought the original music scene to a dead halt in the ‘80s and then the blues came back full force because of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Phil Givant’s Sacramento Blues Festival , which I was fortunate to play from 1983 to 1993 with Mick Martin and the All Stars. The All-Stars turned into the Blues Rockers in 1984, and started off pretty much with members of Smith, Martin & Shaw. Before the Torch Club became the dominant downtown blues club in Sacramento, the best blues bands played at Sam’s Hof Brau. It was there that Johnny Heartsman reigned supreme as the godfather of Sacramento blues. If you could get into Sam’s, you’d made it. We finally got in after being rejected over and over again. Then they got a new manager, Bob McCook, and we had to prove ourselves all over again … In Folsom, the Sutter Street Saloon emerged and a kind phone call from Norton Buffalo to owner Kirby Jones got us into the mix that included Elvin Bishop, Cold Blood, Charlie Musselwhite, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, the Fabulous Flames and other top bands.
When we were old enough to play bars, I found myself in a cover band, which I found profoundly unsatisfying. So I found some kindred spirits and we evolved into Smith, Martin & Shaw, which had a local “hit” with Jim Shaw’s bluesy “Oh, the Road.” When the band split in two directions, I ended up in Mick Martin & the Orion Express, which also had FM success with “Hey Mama.” We later released two LPs, “Orion Express” (1974) and “Prisoner of the Sky” (1979). As long as it was original music, I felt comfortable playing rock, but I never truly strayed from the blues at nightclubs like the Shire Road Pub, the Oasis Ballroom/Crabshaw Corners, Slick Willy’s, C Street North and others. When the original Shire Road Pub burned down in 1977, I gave up music – for two years. I kept stopping and starting over. Disco has brought the original music scene to a dead halt in the ‘80s and then the blues came back full force because of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Phil Givant’s Sacramento Blues Festival , which I was fortunate to play from 1983 to 1993 with Mick Martin and the All Stars. The All-Stars turned into the Blues Rockers in 1984, and started off pretty much with members of Smith, Martin & Shaw. Before the Torch Club became the dominant downtown blues club in Sacramento, the best blues bands played at Sam’s Hof Brau. It was there that Johnny Heartsman reigned supreme as the godfather of Sacramento blues. If you could get into Sam’s, you’d made it. We finally got in after being rejected over and over again. Then they got a new manager, Bob McCook, and we had to prove ourselves all over again … In Folsom, the Sutter Street Saloon emerged and a kind phone call from Norton Buffalo to owner Kirby Jones got us into the mix that included Elvin Bishop, Cold Blood, Charlie Musselwhite, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, the Fabulous Flames and other top bands.
B.W.
What challenges did you encounter or still encounter?
M.M.
The recent economic crisis has had a negative impact on the music business, but it seems to be recovering. If it weren’t for help from drummer Bruce Pressley and guitarist Obie Dee, I would probably have give up booking and promoting the band. It is the hardest part of keeping your music out there, since few musicians really want to deal with that kind of thing and the so-called leader ends up with the responsibility.. After 18-plus CDs, three European tours and, most recently, playing Woodstock’s 40th Anniversary West Fest as part of Harvey Mandel’s SnakeCrew, I still find that something comes along to inspire me to stay in the game get back on the phone to book gigs. When people ask us how much we charge per hour, I always laugh, telling them the music is free; it’s the loading and unloading of equipment, setting up and driving to the gigs that they’re really paying us for.
The recent economic crisis has had a negative impact on the music business, but it seems to be recovering. If it weren’t for help from drummer Bruce Pressley and guitarist Obie Dee, I would probably have give up booking and promoting the band. It is the hardest part of keeping your music out there, since few musicians really want to deal with that kind of thing and the so-called leader ends up with the responsibility.. After 18-plus CDs, three European tours and, most recently, playing Woodstock’s 40th Anniversary West Fest as part of Harvey Mandel’s SnakeCrew, I still find that something comes along to inspire me to stay in the game get back on the phone to book gigs. When people ask us how much we charge per hour, I always laugh, telling them the music is free; it’s the loading and unloading of equipment, setting up and driving to the gigs that they’re really paying us for.
B.W.
Mick, you have played harmonica on stage behind Freddie King, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Mick Taylor, the Yardbirds, Roy Brown to name a few. At the time did it feel like you were making a part of music history. Did it feel special at the time?
M.M.
No, not really. It was just an incredible honor. I remember being so blessed out having backed Bo Diddley at the Sacramento Blues Festival in 1991 that I left without getting paid. (I wondered why Bo and the band looked at me so funny when I shook their hands and floated out of the concert grounds) Before I heard of having a “bucket list,” I made up a list of people I would love to play with and set out to do that. I didn’t think of it as making history, just as realizing a dream. It started when my ultimate musical hero, Jimmy Smith, moved to Sacramento in the ‘80s. This was a miracle to me. The next thing I knew I was playing harmonica with him locally, then recording a CD (“Sum Serious Blues”) with him for Fantasy Records in Los Angeles and, finally, on stage at Carnegie Hall doing the harp part on “Hobo Flats” with this amazing orchestra. This emboldened me to actively pursue sitting in with my heroes. Being in Harvey Mandel’s band is a mind-blower, as his music has always been among my favorites, In addition to being on Musselwhite’s “Stand Back” (recently selected as one of the top 100 blues albums of all time), John Mayall’s “USA Union” and “Back to the Roots,” Canned Heat’s “Future Blues” and The Rolling Stones’ “Black and Blue,” he has made a number of classic albums as a leader, beginning with those great LPs he did for Phillips/Mercury Records. I’m truly honored to be on his latest CD, “Harvey Mandel & the SnakeCrew Live” with an amazing all-star group.
B.W.
You were honored to perform on stage at Carnegie Hall for the nationally-broadcast "Blues in Jazz" concert, a rare thing for anyone, yet alone a blues harmonica player! How was the experience?
M.M.
It was breathtaking. To do that lonesome-sounding harp part at the beginning of “Hobo Flats,” then have the orchestra pick up the theme sent chills up my spine. I truly felt I had arrived, and it made up for all the concerts and festivals I might have played if I hadn’t chosen to stay home and be there for my daughter, Francesca. I kept getting in trouble, though, with the conductor, trumpet player Jon Faddis, because I kept turning around to watch Jimmy Smith play. I wanted to enjoy the show just like the audience. Playing with great musicians brings out the best in anybody, so it was deeply satisfying. Afterward, a group of us went out for drinks and jazz drummer/singer Grady Tate, another hero of mine, kept staring at me. I started to get uncomfortable after awhile, then he said “Mick Martin, you’re the party starter, man!” Coming from him, it was the highest compliment I’ve ever received..
B.W.
You were on stage with some great Musicians, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Witherspoon, Grover Washington Jr., Carrie Smith and Mark Whitfield. I could ask a lot of questions about all these cats but got to ask about Jimmy Smith. He is one of my favorite Keyboardists of all time! He really played from his heart. You say in your Bio that Jimmy Smith was one of your mentors. Can you tell us more about how he influenced you and your relationship with him?
M.M.
He was like a father to me, sometimes stern but always encouraging. The first time we met at the Palms Playhouse in Davis, I gave him a hug. This shocked his band members, but I LOVED this man. He brought music alive for me with “Walk on the Wild Side,” “The Cat,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,” “Back at the Chicken Shack,” “Midnight Special,” “Bucket,” “I’m Movin’ On” and so many great recordings.He had that “thing,” you know? He could create such intense power then break into a groove. I still listen to him with awe. Plus, I learned more from him in one night than I had in the in the 20-plus years of playin I’d done before he allowed me to come up on stage. The first time, I thought, “Well, I did it; I played with my number-one hero.” When he called me up a second time, I really felt I’d “made it.” Playing with him in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York made me feel like I was a member of a very special fraternity.
B.W.
I asked some of my readers to participate with questions to ask you:
Akarsha Kumar: Harmonica Player with Tip Of the Top Blues Band asks:
I'd be interested in any advice you have for younger blues harp players today.
M.M.
Keep playing – and learning. I’m always trying to stretch. Sitting in with Café R&B was a pretty bold move for me, since their tight, inventive arrangements don’t really leave room for harmonica, but I found a niche and it turned out to be a great experience. My young protégé (if I may call him that), Kyle Rowland, is an example of a humble but serious player who learns from everyone he plays with or hears. He’s always copping a lick here or a groove there. When I produced and arranged his new CD, “Messin’ With the Kid,” I wanted to make something he could still listen to without wincing when he was 30. I think I accomplished that, BUT the amazing thing is how much better a harmonica player he is now in the short time since we cut those songs. Recently, he sat in with James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin on “Got My Mojo Working,” and played a near-perfect 24-bar solo. It was really something to see and hear. Afterward, Kyle was kind enough to take me backstage and Hubert kept patting my leg or shoulder and saying, “Thank you for what you’ve done for us with this young man. He’s going to keep our music alive.” Does it get any better than that?
Aloha Henry from Hawaii Asks:
What are the difficulties involved with playing Dates/Gigs in Hawaii?
M.M.
The cost of airplane tickets and housing are major concerns. I have friends over there, guitarist Colin John in particular. So does Bruce Pressley. It’s just the logistics and getting paid enough to not take a loss on the trip. The Blues Rockers always just barely scraped by when we went to England, Italy and Belgium. That said, I’d play in Hawaii in a heartbeat.
Larry Underhill with the Semper Fi band asks :
How old were you when you started playing harp? and What variety of harp do you most like to play?
M.M.
1. I was a junior in high school, so I was about 15. 2. I used the $2 Old Standby Hohner harmonica for songs in G and spent the extra buck on Marine Bands for everything else because they were the only harmonicas I ever saw!
I have an interview with Darrell Mansfield coming up so I asked him if he had a question for you:
What is the most or ''one'' the most embarrassing things you've done or said on stage?
M.M.
It was during my experience with playing at Carnegie Hall that I had my most embarrassing moments. First off, during the first two rehearsals, I became used to playing a certain length of time on “Hobo Flats.” So, during the third and final rehearsal, I stopped at the same point but the orchestra kept playing. Conductor Jon Faddis turned to me and said, “You don’t stop until I tell you to stop.” That was a big “oops.” Then, more recently, I discovered why jazz musicians were always giving me weird looks. In blues, you play two times through and then stop unless encouraged by the band leader to do a third time around. In jazz, it’s always three times around. So when I’d do two times or four times when playing with Jimmy, he always would give me a funny look and I didn’t know why. One night, I went four times and he got a look on his face that seemed to imply, “Oh, so you think you’re hot stuff.” So he kept pushing me until I played eight progressions. My face was color purple, but I made it through and the audience went wild. And, oddly enough, that was the night I learned more about playing than I ever had before. I had to top myself with each new progression. Fortunately, Jimmy was a master accompanist and would change the groove every 12 bars, so it was like having a rocket strapped to my back and crashing through 20 floors of a skyscraper. However, the absolute worst thing I ever did was when I became comfortable with just bringing my Bb harp to Carnegie to play on “Hobo Flats.” I was so dumb. On the big night, after every song on the program was played, they had a grand finale. When Jon Faddis called me out, he had to say me name twice I was so stunned. I had left my harp case back at the hotel, so I had only one harmonica. I was terrified. They went into the song and I played quietly to myself and, sure enough, it was the wrong key for cross harp. Grover Washington Jr. was finishing his solo and Faddis was eyeing me. I knew I was next. I tried one last thing and played first position, also quietly to myself. Rick Estrin had been giving me some tips on how to play Jimmy Reed style, so the first time I EVER played first position in front of an audience was at Carnegie Hall. The band members actually laughed when they heard me “tweet tweet” in the upper register, but somehow I made it through – twice. The audience gave me a big round of applause and that’s when I realized the orchestra was still playing, building a third backing progression. So I hurriedly got back on the mic. It sounds terribly amateurish to me when I listen to the “Jazz in Blues” recording of the whole show (the encore was omitted from the broadcast, fortunately), but that was the part Grady Tate liked best. So, as all musicians know, it’s your worst nights when people seem to like you or your band the best. You know, when someone says, “I felt I had nothing to live for and hen I heard your band.” That said, I can still feel that ice-cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that came as part of “my” not-so-grand finale.
It was during my experience with playing at Carnegie Hall that I had my most embarrassing moments. First off, during the first two rehearsals, I became used to playing a certain length of time on “Hobo Flats.” So, during the third and final rehearsal, I stopped at the same point but the orchestra kept playing. Conductor Jon Faddis turned to me and said, “You don’t stop until I tell you to stop.” That was a big “oops.” Then, more recently, I discovered why jazz musicians were always giving me weird looks. In blues, you play two times through and then stop unless encouraged by the band leader to do a third time around. In jazz, it’s always three times around. So when I’d do two times or four times when playing with Jimmy, he always would give me a funny look and I didn’t know why. One night, I went four times and he got a look on his face that seemed to imply, “Oh, so you think you’re hot stuff.” So he kept pushing me until I played eight progressions. My face was color purple, but I made it through and the audience went wild. And, oddly enough, that was the night I learned more about playing than I ever had before. I had to top myself with each new progression. Fortunately, Jimmy was a master accompanist and would change the groove every 12 bars, so it was like having a rocket strapped to my back and crashing through 20 floors of a skyscraper. However, the absolute worst thing I ever did was when I became comfortable with just bringing my Bb harp to Carnegie to play on “Hobo Flats.” I was so dumb. On the big night, after every song on the program was played, they had a grand finale. When Jon Faddis called me out, he had to say me name twice I was so stunned. I had left my harp case back at the hotel, so I had only one harmonica. I was terrified. They went into the song and I played quietly to myself and, sure enough, it was the wrong key for cross harp. Grover Washington Jr. was finishing his solo and Faddis was eyeing me. I knew I was next. I tried one last thing and played first position, also quietly to myself. Rick Estrin had been giving me some tips on how to play Jimmy Reed style, so the first time I EVER played first position in front of an audience was at Carnegie Hall. The band members actually laughed when they heard me “tweet tweet” in the upper register, but somehow I made it through – twice. The audience gave me a big round of applause and that’s when I realized the orchestra was still playing, building a third backing progression. So I hurriedly got back on the mic. It sounds terribly amateurish to me when I listen to the “Jazz in Blues” recording of the whole show (the encore was omitted from the broadcast, fortunately), but that was the part Grady Tate liked best. So, as all musicians know, it’s your worst nights when people seem to like you or your band the best. You know, when someone says, “I felt I had nothing to live for and hen I heard your band.” That said, I can still feel that ice-cold feeling in the pit of my stomach that came as part of “my” not-so-grand finale.
B.W.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions that would help bands to promote themselves?
M.M.
Just keep at it. Use everything you can think of and look at what the more successful bands are doing. Try EVERYTHING!
B.W.
Do you have any suggestions or requests for my website www.LiveBluesTonight.com that would help bands signed and un-signed in regards to tools and resources we could provide that would help bands and venues.
M.M.
Just its existence is a help. I appreciate the exposure you’re giving me. We’re all in the same boat, so let’s try to row together. The blues is a calling, and we owe so much to the originators. Muddy Waters never said a bad word about any other artist, so I take my attitude from him. In other words, just keep doing what you’re doing!
B.W.
I know your Radio show has helped my former band (Highway 61 Blues Band) and your show has attributed to countless bands and performing artists. On the behalf of all of us Thank You for all you do and especially for letting the world know about some local small bands tiptoeing on the threshold of greatness.
M.M.
It’s my honor to be able to play music on the radio. I am one of the fortunate few disc jockeys who can play whomever and whatever they want, so I take that gift seriously. My goal is to support other blues musicians and to give listeners a quality, no-repeat show every Saturday.
B.W.
Again thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions.
Peace….
Big Wayne
Locals to the central valley of California can catch Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers this weekend at
11/14/2009 8:00 to 11:30 PM
6124 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, California
call 209-474-8474
Visit Mick on myspace...
http://www.mickmartinblues.com
Listen to Mick Martin's Blues Party
Saturdays 1-5pm for Great!
No repeat Blues!
Your Choice for NPR
KXJZ 90.9 Sacramento
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• KQNC 88.1 Quincy
