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Buzzsprout

Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Neil Warren

Fabrizio lives just south of the Italian city of Milan and is a singer and writer, as well as a harmonica player

Main genres are blues, spirituals and folk

Played some Italian folk music early on in career with the band Turututela

Also plays a lot of gospel (aka spiritual) music

First turned onto the blues when saw Paul Butterfield and Muddy Waters on The Last Waltz where he jumped on the seat in the movie theatre when Muddy appeared

Bought a harmonica the day after hearing Paul Butterfield for the first time but it took some time for Fabrizio to learn, with no-one playing harmonica in the local area

Almost gave up learning harmonica until someone told him how to play in second position

Was obsessed to learn the harmonica from age of around 20

Learnt blues harmonica from records

Started playing in bands but learnt most when travelled to the US in the 1990s

Came back with a suitcase full of CDs from the US

There was a blues scene around Milan but not much harmonica, with British player John Mayall the best known harmonica player and the British blues bands visible in Italy

The language barrier was also a factor, with not many people in Italy speaking English at that time

Fabrizio jokes that he learnt English from Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf

Blues scene in Italy is popular now, with lots of young players and Fabrizio hopes he has been an inspiration to some young players there

Blues is widely available across Italy now, especially festivals in the summer

Lot of music venues have closed in Italy

Fabrizio’s first main band was Chicken Mambo, who wanted to play New Orleans music

Visited New Orleans on first visit to the US and to the Jazz and Heritage festival with lots of big names appearing

Second album with Chicken Mambo was Under The Southern Sky, another self-produced album

Toured the US between 1998-2002, making a lot of friends along the way and improving as a musician

In 2010 took the whole Chicken Mambo band to play in the US

Made first album in the US in 1999: Nuther World, in an attempt to record with an authentic sound

Self-funded a lot of Chicken Mambo’s albums and travel in the early years

Nuther World was a tribute to the singer songwriters that Fabrizio enjoyed when young

Learnt a lot during this time, especially from the generous support of people in the US

The musicians were very supportive and happy to perform with Fabrizio

Album Songs For Angelina is for his wife, who has been very supportive throughout his career

Performed at the King Biscuit Time festival in Helena, Arkansas, several times, where he met James Cotton, among others

Might have played through the very same mic as Sonny Boy Williamson II

Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite appear on Fabrizio’s 2013 album: Spirit of Mercy

Some of the many great artists Fabrizio has shared the stage with

How got Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite to play on the Spirits of Mercy album

Released Harpway 61 album in 2012, a tribute to the blues harmonica greats, and gifted to the Blues Foundation to help raise money for blues musicians

Made first album with Guy Davis in 2013: Juba Dance, and how teamed-up with him

Shared a passion for acoustic blues with Guy Davis

Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train album from 2017 was nominated for a Grammy

The Rolling Stones won the Grammy in the same category in the year they were nominated

Went to the Grammy ceremony in Madison Square Gardens in New York

Chastised by security after playing the harmonica on the red carpet at the Grammy ceremony

Guy Davis appears on Fabrizio’s Basement Blues album from 2022, an archive compilation of live recordings made by Fabrizio over the preceding years

His wife, Angelina, has played a pivotal role in Fabrizio’s career

Latest album, from 2024, is Healing Blues, with Shar White (backing singer with Eric Clapton) guesting on the album

Has appeared at Carnegie Hall with Guy Davis and the special acoustics there

Has written four books, with a biography about Fabrizio written by Serena Simula released last year, entitled ‘Believe’, it’s about the belief that Fabrizio has in his dreams

Has been awarded a Hohner Lifetime Achievement Award

Honoured by the President of the Italian Republic with a Knight of Merit for artistic merit

Ten minute question

Is a Hohner endorsee with the Special 20 the diatonic of choice

Doesn’t do any customisation but will sometimes have customisers make different tunings on his diatonics

Plays acoustically through the PA, not using any amplifiers or dedicated harmonica mics

Sonny Terry did play a little amplified harmonica, as discussed on the Sonny Terry retrospective podcast episode

Only plays diatonic now, but played some tremolo, bass and chromatic harmonica in the Turututela folk band

Was in contact with Brendan Power about his Irish harmonica playing on chromatic

Doesn’t use any overblows

Mainly uses lip pursing but mixed with tongue blocking when required for certain effects

Uses SM58 to play and sing through

Likes some reverb and delay on the mic, especially in the studio when has different channels for vocals and harmonica

Some of studio work recorded has other effects when added by the producer in post-production

Future plans include promoting the Healing Blues album and the Believe biography and a tour in Europe coming up

Fabrizio Poggi interview