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Corky Siegel joins me on episode 129.
Corky played was central in the emergence of the popularity of the blues to a white audience. His Siegel-Schwall band gained a residency at Chicago’s Pepper Lounge, sharing the stage with blues giants such as Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. The band were also part of San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin.
Corky has a unique place in harmonica history with his blues / classical collaborations. After performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1966, he has gone on to enjoy a platinum selling classical record, composed numerous blues / classical orchestral pieces, recorded with a Chamber music ensemble and performed with orchestras around the world.
Links:
Website: https://www.corkymusic.com/
Siegel-Schwall band: https://www.corkymusic.com/siegel-schwall
Chamber Blues: https://www.corkymusic.com/chamber-blues
Symphonic Blues: https://www.corkymusic.com/symphony
Echo Audiobook: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Echo-Audiobook/B00VS6N4ZI
Corky’s lesson on dynamics: https://www.corkymusic.com/harmonica-lesson
Videos:
Chamber Blues: https://www.corkymusic.com/video-chamber-blues
Lullaby, composition by Dr L Subramaniam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty1ri62uBuU
Corky playing with Howard Levy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjnYE-jIprc
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
Chapters
1. Corky Siegel interview (00:00:00)
2. Corky was born in Chicago (00:01:38)
3. Also plays piano and played other instruments (including saxophone) before picking up the harmonica 20, with it’s portability the initial attraction (00:01:53)
4. Still performs on the piano as well as the harmonica, and sat in on saxophone with Mike Bloomfield and also Billy Boy Arnold in the 1950s (00:02:35)
5. Was inspired to take up harmonica after hearing harmonica on records by Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed (00:03:19)
6. Had classical piano lessons when young, but wasn’t a very good student, and mainly plays blues on piano (00:03:57)
7. Corky is currently 81 years of age (00:04:38)
8. Was part of the emergence of the white blues boom in Chicago in the mid-1960s (00:04:58)
9. Formed the Siegel-Schwall band with Jim Schwall at university (with Corky playing saxophone) (00:05:10)
10. First played with Jim Schwall in a coffee house and there met James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and started working on the musical ‘Hair’ with them (00:05:56)
11. Then got a residency at Pepper’s Lounge in Chicago, and were taken under the wing of blues greats such as Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Walter and others (00:06:37)
12. Little Walter turned up and asked to sit in but Corky didn’t know who he was! (00:07:54)
13. Corky thinks he was asked to do all these amazing things early in his career because he didn’t take anything too seriously, put all his energies into it and focused on expression in his music (00:08:28)
14. Produced Joni Mitchell’s first demo tape (00:08:51)
15. Seiji Ozawa asked Corky to bring blues to classical music (00:08:58)
16. Had a residence with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (00:09:11)
17. Was fearless in what he took on and didn’t worry about what other people thought (00:10:10)
18. Was friends with Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Butterfield and other white pioneers in the early days in Chicago (00:10:43)
19. A memory of Paul Butterfield playing Corky his new record in New York (00:11:35)
20. What he learnt from sharing the stage with the blues greats is they put their maximum energy into every performance, and focus (00:11:55)
21. Howling Wolf said the Siegel-Schwall band was his favourite band as they were different from the other blues bands (00:12:14)
22. Blues greats loved the blues symphony starting (although it wasn’t popular with everyone) (00:13:02)
23. Siegel-Schwall band’s first album was released in 1966 (00:13:19)
24. Went to San Francisco and was there in the 1967 ‘Summer of Love’ and became the ‘hot band’ there, with Janis Joplin counted as a fan (00:13:44)
25. Kept the music of Siegel-Schwall simple and focused on expression, and an example of the shuffle they played (00:14:35)
26. Siegel-Schwall band made a lot of use of dynamics (00:15:38)
27. Became involved with classical music through the composer William Russo and the conductor Seiji Ozawa (00:16:05)
28. More on the importance of dynamics and how the band’s use of it probably attracted the classical conductor Seiji Ozawa (00:16:33)
29. Started collaboration with Seiji Ozawa in 1966, not long after forming the Siegel-Schwall band (00:17:15)
30. Corky was involved with composing alongside William Russo for the Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony (00:17:47)
31. Performed with the Chicago Symphony orchestra in 1968 and the classical audience loved it (00:18:44)
32. This was probably the first time there was a collaboration of Chicago blues with classical music, and even if not, it’s a collaboration, rather than a symphony backing up a blues band (00:19:26)
33. Even Gershwin didn’t do this in his jazz / classical collaborations (00:20:22)
34. Only recently heard something done similar to the collaboration with classical which Corky recorded back in the 1960s (00:20:52)
35. Symphony was playing from a written scores in the Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony, with the Siegel-Schwall band mostly improvising while also using a ‘mapping’ (00:21:06)
36. The Siegel-Schwall band split (temporarily) the day of the 1968 concert with the Chicago Symphony orchestra (00:21:50)
37. Released ‘Street Music’, which went platinum on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon classical label (00:21:58)
38. Has played with about fifty different orchestras with this blues / classical collaboration (00:22:53)
39. Only a diatonic harmonica used with the orchestras, no chromatic, or any overblows on the diatonic, with a little reading of music scores (00:23:14)
40. Playing blues with an orchestra on a diatonic (rather than classical music on chromatic) harmonica is unique (00:23:41)
41. Siegel-Schwall band reformed a few times before finally disbanding, and last album with them was in 2005 (00:24:13)
42. Corky has released four albums on the Alligator label but didn’t sell lots with them as Corky doesn’t go on the road to help sell albums, which is Alligator’s typical model (00:24:49)
43. Made some solo albums which were more folk and pop than blues (00:25:38)
44. Has written many songs with a lot composed on piano, with some composed on harmonica (00:26:22)
45. Will overdub a harmonica solo when playing piano on recorded albums, and will sometimes play piano and harmonica together (one with each hand) (00:27:02)
46. Why piano players, including Howard Levy, prefer not using a rack (perhaps because the harmonica is playing the right hand part) (00:27:21)
47. Corky has toured a lot with Howard Levy and is also good friends with Joe Filisko, with one of the songs on his latest orchestra album entitled Filisko’s Dream (00:27:38)
48. The influence of Joe Filisko and Howard Levy on the harmonica community (00:28:30)
49. Released two solo albums in 2022, one of them the Truth and Harmony album (00:29:07)
50. Chamber blues albums are made with great classical musicians from Chicago (and one from India) in a small ensemble (00:29:58)
51. 1994 album Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, again with blues and classical music complimenting each other (00:30:37)
52. How Corky got into writing symphonic music, something he had no experience in when he started (00:31:47)
53. Has been writing symphonies since the first one in the mid-1960s and the importance of bringing blues to a classical audience and keeping the blues alive (00:32:49)
54. The joy on the faces of the Chamber musicians as they play the plays with Corky (00:33:52)
55. The Chamber musicians have some scope to improvise (00:34:44)
56. Has recorded five Chamber Blues albums (00:35:06)
57. Released album Symphonic Blues No.6 in November 2024, which took Corky one year to write (00:35:25)
58. Has toured the world playing blues with orchestras and some of the famous concert halls performed in (00:36:38)
59. Has played at The Proms in London (00:37:14)
60. Is usually a guest performer with an orchestra, rather than touring with one orchestra (00:37:44)
61. Performed in India, including with renowned violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam (00:38:50)
62. Focus has been on classical music in recent years but also does solo shows and some with Howard Levy and a few others (00:40:14)
63. Has written a book called ‘Let Your Music Soar: The Emotional Connection’ after running workshops about dynamics, beginning in 1973 (00:41:15)
64. Recorded harmonica on an audiobook called Echo, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan (00:43:11)
65. Corky plays one position on diatonic (second), and when using minor tuned harp plays in the same position (00:43:53)
66. Corky thinks you should do what makes you happy when it comes to your playing (00:44:34)
67. 10 minute question: use dynamics (00:45:32)
68. Has a harmonica course on his website which teaches how to apply dynamics (00:47:08)
69. Corky has a great website with lots of information (00:47:29)
70. Has won various awards, including the national award for Chamber Music Composition, which he almost didn’t enter the competition for (00:47:50)
71. Corky’s place as a composer is accepted by the classical fraternity (00:48:37)
72. How composing has influenced Corky’s harmonica playing (00:49:46)
73. Diatonic of choice is the Special 20, some of which are customised by Joe Filisko (00:50:38)
74. Plays some overblows (00:51:01)
75. Mainly uses pucker (single note) embouchre, as this matched technique used when previously played saxophone (00:51:13)
76. Does play some tongue blocking, having learnt it from Billy Branch and Joe Filisko (00:51:24)
77. Plays some minor tuned harmonicas when orchestra is playing a minor section (00:52:12)
78. Just plays diatonics (00:52:53)
79. Amps: has a Fender Twin although has Bassman envy, but doesn’t use amps anymore (00:52:59)
80. Uses an EP boost in place of an amplifier, which sounds similar to the Fender Twin (00:53:15)
81. Now just plays directly into the PA uses a Shure 545 mic, which produces a clean sound, different than most blues players (00:53:30)
82. Doesn’t use any effects. Only ever used a volume booster for a short period of time (00:54:14)
83. When playing with orchestra plays mainly holds the the mic, but doesn’t on a few songs (00:54:40)
84. Doesn’t use many hand effects with the orchestra (00:55:04)
85. Future plans include a concert with a symphony in Illinois, some gigs in LA with a jazz saxophone player (Ernie Watts) and some solo dates (00:55:20)
86. Is trying to put his legacy in place and play music as long as possible (00:55:57)
87. Main legacy is the blues / classical ‘mash-up’, because nobody else is doing it (00:56:37)
88. The blues harmonica works in an orchestra setting (00:57:07)
89. No plans to write any more symphonies (00:57:22)
90. On latest album all the musicians played their parts in isolation from the orchestra, so they were performed like solo parts (00:57:33)
91. 45 instruments in the orchestra on the latest album (00:58:04)
137 episodes
