William Clarke - Heavy Hittin' West Coast Harp (2019)

With "Heavy Hittin 'West Coast Harp" we pay tribute to one of the great harmonica stylists. As an instrumentalist, William Clarke was heavily influenced by George Harmonica Smith, a Chicago colleague of Little Walter or Walter Horton. Smith came to Los Angeles in 1956 for a recording session and settled on the west coast. Similar to his idol Smith, from whom he learned a lot of tricks in countless joint performances, Clarke was equally at home on the small harmonica as on the chromatic. The combination of Chicago-style harmonica and the cool groove and swing of the West Coast met worldwide open ears of blues fans.