Rob Paparozzi interview

Rob Paparozzi joins me on episode 77.

Rob is based around the New York area where he started out playing in blues bands before quickly adding the chromatic to his harp arsenal. He took lessons with Robert Bonfiglio and then had Toots Thielemans giving him tips over the telephone. The versatility afforded to Rob by playing both diatonic and chromatic allowed him to enjoy a tremendous career on the session scene in New York, playing with many famous names including Dolly Parton, Randy Newman and Whitney Houston. He’s fronted the Original Blues Brothers Band for over twenty years, released a Paul Butterfield tribute album and his own Grammy nominated album.

Links:

Rob’s website:
http://robpaparozzi.com/

Blue Moon Harmonicas:
https://bluemoonharmonicas.com/

Videos:

Rob’s YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/chromboyx

Tommy Morgan playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDv0nLlUxDs&list=RDEMkbeA-8Dfp9SMty0FJvHNpA&start_radio=1

Rob performing with Dolly Parton:
https://youtu.be/RILd7USxBMc

Rob performing with Randy Newman:
https://youtu.be/4EmF3Xxlxg8

Electric Butter: Walking By Myself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdaabsUn-PQ

Rob’s My Music Masterclass videos: https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/rob-paparozzi-harmonica-masterclass-videos-1-2-3-bundle/

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
and Blows Me Away Productions: http://www.blowsmeaway.com/

Chapters

• 1:27 Rob’s moniker is ‘The Honeydripper’ from playing with the Original Blues Brothers band
• 2:21 Lives in New Jersey, just over the river from New York
• 2:44 Has Italian ancestry
• 3:11 Rob is mainly a harmonica player and singer and has worked a lot as a session musician
• 3:21 Started out playing in blues bands as a teenager
• 3:47 Started playing harmonica age 15, starting on diatonic, starting chromatic five years later
• 4:13 Equally comfortable on chromatic and diatonic and the similarities he saw between them
• 4:57 Took lessons from Robert Bonfiglio (who learnt from Chamber Huang)
• 5:40 Also had lessons with Toots Thielemans over the telephone after finding his number in the union directory in New York
• 7:01 What did Toots teach Rob
• 7:55 Length of the telephone lessons with Toots and kept in touch through the years
• 8:34 Met up again with Toots in later years during a harmonica summit also featuring Howard Levy
• 9:46 Didn’t focus on learning jazz from Toots Thielemans as Rob wanted to be an all-rounder on the harmonica
• 10:29 Spent some time studying the playing of Larry Adler and Tommy Morgan
• 10:58 Rob is a real all-rounder on the harmonica, which helped him in his session work
• 12:11 Session work partly came because of proximity to New York
• 12:22 Started playing chromatic after hearing it on pop music recordings such as Bob Dylan and The Beatles)
• 13:07 Differences and similarities between diatonic and chromatic and tips transitioning between the two
• 14:47 Also plays some piano and guitar, on which he was mainly self-taught
• 15:23 First time played harmonica was picking up one of older brother’s Hohner Marine Band harmonicas
• 16:00 Bought a piano, mother also played piano
• 17:14 One of Rob’s first bands was the Psychotic Blues Band, and they used to hang out with Bruce Springsteen before he made it big
• 18:41 Missed out the chance to support Bruce Springsteen when he was getting famous
• 19:27 How Rob started with the session work
• 20:12 Formed a wedding band with his brother where he had to play piano but he stopped that so he could sing and play harp
• 21:59 Started getting more of a name for himself and people contacting him to perform
• 22:14 Joined Blood, Sweat and Tears
• 23:18 Got a call to play in a Broadway Show, Big River, but turned it down at first due to family commitments
• 24:33 Did go back to perform some Big River shows later, subbing for Don Brooks
• 25:40 Played in the Hudson River Rats band, an offshoot of Blood, Sweat and Tears
• 26:23 Hudson River Rats had lots of famous guest performers at their regular New York gig, including Julian Lennon
• 27:22 Recorded a session with Cyndi Lauper
• 27:54 Also did shows with many others, including Dolly Parton and Randy Newman
• 29:39 Did a session on a Whitney Houston song and another with James Galway
• 29:48 Did a session on a Whitney Houston song and another with James Galway
• 31:38 Rob’s versatility was probably the thing which got him the sessions over other great harp players in New York
• 32:34 Rob’s album Etruscan Soul was nominated for a Grammy in 2009
• 34:00 Recorded a version of Ticket To Ride, which works so well on the harmonica
• 35:05 Strange Brew is another song off the album
• 35:53 Peg O My Heart song, which Rob chose to play on diatonic to bridge the gap between diatonic and chromatic at SPAH
• 37:49 Recorded a Paul Butterfield tribute album with a big band and influence of Butterfield on Rob and exposure to Blues (and Rolling Stones)
• 39:44 Has fronted The Original Blues Brothers Band for over twenty years
• 42:02 Was originally hired to be just the singer with Blues Brothers band. Rob had to work the harmonica into the show
• 43:22 Has been playing with The Original Blues Brothers Band for over 20 years now
• 43:42 Paparozzi’s Juke Joint is the latest of Rob’s bands
• 44:17 Has done session work for movie soundtracks and TV appearances
• 45:09 Teaches harmonica and has some online tuition videos available
• 45:37 Taught at the Turtle Bay music school, where he attended lessons when younger
• 46:39 10 minute question
• 47:26 Has played with the New York Philharmonic orchestra
• 47:56 Harmonica of choice is a Hohner Big River after playing hard on original Hohner Marine Bands when first learning
• 49:21 Sells custom Big Rivers with Blue Moon combs on his website
• 50:42 Chromatic mainly plays Hohner 270s, but played Suzuki chromatics for a spell
• 51:38 Has a customiser who sets up his 270s as doesn’t like maintaining chromatics himself (will do some diatonic work)
• 52:10 Plays some 270 Deluxe model too
• 52:21 Different tunings: uses Country Tuning
• 53:14 Plays some overblows
• 53:16 Doesn’t modify chromatics, buys different keyed chromatics
• 53:21 Embouchre: plays lip pursing and puckering
• 53:32 Doesn’t believe that tongue blocking gives you a bigger tone
• 55:03 Mics: Rob helped Audix design the Fireball mic
• 55:43 Mainly goes for a clean sound
• 56:13 Does still use tube amps, with the Audix Fireball
• 56:36 Doesn’t like to modify amps for harmonica
• 57:14 Future plans