Christian Marsh joins me on episode 102.
Christian is an Australian who plays both the diatonic and chromatic harmonica. Starting out playing diatonic, Christian drew inspiration from players such as Norton Buffalo and Charlie McCoy, absorbing as much harmonica as he could lay his hands on . He picked the chromatic up a few years later after hearing Toots Thielemans play, and even went on to maintain Larry Adler’s harmonicas while he was touring Australia.
Christian is a mainstay on the Australian music scene, having 60 album credits sessions to his name, as well as a number of albums with Dr Goodvibe, and several under his own name, with a new release coming out in January 2024. Christian has also performed a concerto written for harmonica, as well as performing at the Sydney Opera House.
Links:
Christian Marsh website:
https://christianmarsh.com.au/
Recording credits:
https://christianmarsh.com.au/credits/
Online tracks:
https://www.reverbnation.com/christianmarsh/song/27991199-sven-libaeks-harmonica-concerto
Videos:
Nun In The Back Seat, with Dr Goodvibe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cov-WjwvCp4&t=200s
Roxanne, live with Dr Goodvibe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh136n8OQHY
Live with Paul Robert Burton trio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBMiFbRZYSk
Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com
Donations:
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or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support
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
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Christian is from Australia, just north of Sydney
Plays diatonic and chromatic harmonica, starting diatonic first at age 14, inspired by rock records of his brother
Initially liked the sound of the hammond organ but family couldn’t afford one of those so opted for the harmonica (which he also liked the sound of)
Christian was a surfer and took the harmonica to the beach to play
Self-taught on the harmonica, initially from playing along with records
Norton Buffalo and Charlie McCoy were early inspirations
Joined a high-school band where he learned the role of the harmonica in the band
Perfectionist and always practising during these formulative years
Lee Oskar in the band War was another inspiration and later Christian recorded Low Rider
Started playing chromatic age 17, after first hearing Larry Adler on tv years earlier
Record store owner played Toots Thielemans to Christian, which really turned him on to chromatic
Learning scales was the first step on learning the chromatic
Did the maintenance of Larry Adler’s harmonicas when he was touring Australia with the Glory of Gershwin album
Story of how Christian acquired one of Larry’s silver slides from his Silver Concerto chromatic
I have one of Toots Thielemans slides in one of my chromatics
Started learning chromatic age 17, initially learning different scales
Joined a group jazz class at the Sydney Conservatorium, to improve musical and jazz knowledge
Worked equally on the diatonic and chromatic, and applied scale knowledge from chromatic practise to the diatonic practise. This helped in versatility and getting work
Started learning overblows after discovering Howard Levy, who Christian do perform with at a workshop
Did a jazz improvisation course following the foundation course at Sydney Conservatorium, playing with a range of different instruments
This taught Christian the skills of how to navigate and learn jazz tunes and applied jazz learnings to pop and rock songs he was performing then
Has recorded many sessions in Australia, appearing on over sixty albums, meeting several contacts at a Country music festival over there
Developed the typical fast playing of the Country style, including performing Orange Blossom Special
New album coming out in January 2024 (Christian Marsh and the Imagineers) uses Country musicians in a jazz genre, for a cross-over concept
Being a multi-genre player of the harmonica gets Christian more work, and it’s all music to him
First album release was in 1997, Planet Bound, where Christian experimented with different effects and sounds on the harmonica
Second album, The Sketch, makes more use of the chromatic and has Frank Zappa’s drummer
The Lilting is an album Christian released with a concert pianist and a didgeridoo player, following a tour of Asia
Performed Sven Libaek’s Harmonica Concerto in 2007 & 2008 with the Newcastle Symphony orchestra
Chromatic harmonica was used extensively on nature programmes in Australia through the composer, Sven Libaek
How Christian got the gig playing the concerto
How went about playing a concerto without being a highly proficient reader of music scores
Played Henry Mancini’s Breakfast at Tiffanys with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, which was terrifying
Both Larry Adler and Toots Thielemans advised Christian to strive for his own sound
Also developed tone by trying to emulate saxophone players, like Stan Getz, Pat Metheny’s guitar playing
Chromatic playing reflects what he plays on diatonic, and vice versa
Likes to play gently to get the best tone, and let the amplification cover the sound level
Recorded bass harmonica with Ed Kuepper, a well known composer in Australia
How got started on the bass harmonica, and playing it in a stage musical, Big River, which also included playing some harmonica on stage
Has done lots of tv work in Australia
Has won some awards, including the Hohner ‘Gold Harmonica Awards’ 3 times at Hohner’s National Harmonica Championship in Tamworth
Competition was great for development as a player, and the prize money was good
Works on getting the overblows and overdraws really clean
Does own maintenance and set-up of harmonicas. Feels it needs to be done for his individual needs
Larry Adler learnt to play his chromatics very hard (in order to be heard in large halls in the early days), so he wanted his reeds tuned to 445 as they would flatten to 442 as he played
Reed gappings that Christian uses and solo from song ‘Hard To Understand’
Doesn’t need to re-tune harmonicas much now as they stay in tune more than when younger
Norton Buffalo gave advice to play gently and let the amp bring the volume
Hohner endorser, playing Rocket diatonics (previously Meisterklasse and Special 20s)
Started playing a Larry Adler chromatic, now plays the Super 64, only playing four octaves
Owns a DM48 and has used it live for a hammond organ sound, using a Proteus 2000
Doesn’t use the DM48 as a trumpet, etc. because feels he can’t play it to sound like a trumpet (or the other instruments it can emulate)
Uses AER amp for chromatic and diatonic, with multi-effects processor for the sounds he wants
Favourite mic is Beyer 88
Future plans include plans to record an Americana album with Rory Ellis, as well as the new album coming out with The Imagineers
