Search - Carlos Del Junco :: Big Boy

Best unknown harp player out there

Patrick Henry | Boston | 12/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled unto Carlos Del Junco on the web. Listened to some of the cuts on his web site and was blown away by the command he has over his instrument. I ordered one CD (Just Your Fool)and was amazed. From a technical standard he is better than anyone out there. His selection of music however is all over the place. Some of his stuff sounds like Miles Davis on the harp and some like the Harmonicats. This CD is my second favorite out of the five of his I own. The other three are average at best. I would highly recommend "Just Your Fool" over this one if you are a blues fan. It has Walking Blues, Key to the Highway, Rocket 88 and the absolutely amazing B Thing Intro. However it is not available on Amazon.com. This CD is worth buying if only for Another One Done Gone Down the Track which is the best harp/train simulation I've ever heard. Go to his web site to preview these songs. It's worth it."

Awesome!

G. Heumann | Geyserville, CA USA | 01/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Saw this guy at the Harmonica Blowout concert at Yoshi's in Oakland on 1/11/02. I've been playing harp for 3 years - never heard of him. From his name I was expecting a latin or south american influence. NOT! He's a white guy from Toronto! I'm pretty sure he won 1st place in a recent International Harmonica competition in BOTH Blues and Jazz categories.Del Junco has a rare mix of incredible technical proficiency and musical creativity. He uses a technique called "overblowing" which, in addition to the more well-known "bending", allows virtually all the notes of a chromatic scale to be played on a standard diatonic harmonica. (The other well known artist known for this technique is Howard Levy, whom I am told Del Junco studied under for 3 years.) This is an elusive and difficult technique that most pros avoid. However Del Junco plays them so proficiently that if you weren't trying to follow along with his licks on your own harp, you'd never know - those notes just aren't there! But the technique is a means to an end, and the end in this case is a set of songs with progressions you've never heard, which sound absolutely terrific. I'm picky - but with this one album (and I have more on the way) this guy has climbed right to the top of my "Harmonica God" list. He compliments the wonderful licks with a great voice, a good backup band and a nice range of musical styles on a single album. This is a must-buy for any harp fan."

Carlos Del Junco Rewrites The Book

peter krampert | eharmonica.net | 02/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the great pleasures of doing research on the harmonica and the players who have made it sound so good is that every so often I get absolutely floored by a player. Someone who reachs so far beyond the textbook way of playing that it makes the entire harmonica community re-think the way it looks at the harmonica. Carlos Del Junco is such a player.Carlos is the student of harmonica revolutionary Howard Levy, the guru of overblows. Carlos has taken the lessons he learned fro Levy and has incorporated those ideas into the Blues. Blues harmonica has long stagnated into a miasma of how Sonny Boy or Walter would have played. By introducing Overblows and other new ways of thinking into the harmonica, Blues harmonica can now enter the 21st century.This CD presents an excellent sampling of what Carlos can do. It gives us a few old favorites, a few original compositions and a few major suprises, like when Del Junco plays in all 12 keys on a single harmonica, built to play in only one key. Though I have attended several seminars by Howard Levy and his disciples, my mind still boggles at those who have the ability to think that far outside the box.For those who want an idea of what potential a simple Blues harmonica has, this is a definite must-have album."