A Harmonica Love Story

A harmonica is easy to carry. Take it out of your hip pocket, knock it against your palm to shake out the dirt and pocket fuzz and bits of tobacco. Now it's ready. You can do anything with a harmonica's thin reedy single tone, or chords, or melody with rhythm chords. You can mold the music with curved hands, making it wail and cry like bagpipes, making it full and round like an organ, making it as sharp and bitter as the reed pipes of the hills.. And you play and put it back into your pocket. It's always with you...

From “The Grapes Of Wrath,” John Steinbeck.

Several years ago, a young Japanese man came to Chicago. He was pulled to the city because he loved American blues music - the traditional, "old school" blues of Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Bobby Blue Bland and the rest. He was a quiet young man blessed with serious talent and great focus. He plays searing harmonica; he plays rock-steady bass guitar, his blues guitar chops are formidable. Harmonica was his first instrument, and he has a deep love for that little horn. When he arrived in Chicago, his English language skills were weak. I would think that he struggled with culture shock - Chicago is not much like Japan. He took private English lessons (often paying by giving harmonica and guitar lessons to his tutors); soon, he became fluent. He enrolled in Columbia College, the Chicago institution that has excellent programs in music, visual arts and creative writing. He was a stellar student and became a serious jazz guitarist during his student days. But he wanted to be a true bluesman. He stayed out late, drank alcohol, chain smoked Marlboros and played with every blues band that would let him sit in. He also explored the blues harmonica classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music led by Joe Filisko. Soon, he was the star harmonica student in the advanced blues harp class, and also served as the "house guitarist" for Joe Filisko's classes. He has been supporting Joe's harmonica teaching efforts for over 5 years now. A few years ago, the Japanese bluesman turned 30 years old. He quit smoking and drinking and quickly dropped some weight. He went from a slightly overweight, partying blues guy to a lean, fit, intense music machine. He gained a reputation. He now plays bass with the world-famous Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater. He supports many other blues bands around Chicago with his bass, guitar and harmonica.

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About three years ago, an unusual student signed up for Joe Filisko's Chicago Blues Harp class. The gang of students in Joe's class varied in many ways - age, economic status, ethnic background - but they were all the same on one dimension. All the students were male. The new student was unusual -- a young, petite "non-male." She is a nurse at Children Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She spends her working hours looking after desperately ill children, many suffering from terminal diseases. She often shows up to class in her nursing gear (stethoscope still in place). On some evenings, the sadness and horror of her work is visible in her eyes. She was a quiet young woman with musical talent. And she had the blues, big time. Her work a source of deep distress at times, and she had no "significant other" to turn to for comfort. She plays lovely harmonica, and she sings in a soft, keening voice that often causes her raucous harmonica classmates to fall into silence. As a young woman in a group of predominantly middle-aged (and married) men, Filisko’s blues harp class was not the best place for her to find her soulmate.

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In hindsight, it was inevitable. In spite of the differences in culture, the Japanese bluesman and harmonica-playing nurse slowly moved toward each other. The two young people kept their relationship quiet, but their harmonica classmates picked up on it quickly. They finally came out from under their cloak of secrecy. The ring is on the nurse’s finger now, and the wedding date has been set. The members of Joe Filisko's harmonica cult shouted, "Hooray!" It is a wonderful romance, and now we know our Japanese friend won't be heading back to Japan - a very good outcome for his blues harp cronies.

This is a true story of two people that found each other through their love of the harmonica, the Mississippi Saxophone, the Tin Sandwich. Love can bloom in the strangest places....