Boaz Kim Interview

INTERVIEW WITH BOAZ KIM

Sam Spranger

After speaking to chromatic maestro Isabella Krapf from Vienna last issue, I journeyed to Philadelphia to speak with Boaz Kim. There isn’t a type of harmonica that Boaz Kim doesn’t play and I’ve been really impressed by his videos on YouTube and social media, where he demonstrates a fluency in a range of genres and styles. Like many, he began on a tremolo harmonica before progressing to the diatonic and chromatic. However, he has become particularly renowned for his work on the chord and bass harmonicas as well as for his skills in restoration and maintenance.

My first question is always the same. How did you come to the harmonica?

Like most, we had a harmonica in the house when I was a kid. My dad had a Yamaha tremolo harmonica and my sisters and I would fool around on it. Since it was a tremolo it seemed like everything you played on it sounded good! After that, it must have been The Blues Brothers movie and the song Spokey Dokey from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack that made me pick up a diatonic. From there, I had to figure everything out on the instrument from my basic piano training. I learned to bend pretty well, but didn't know about the concept of overblowing (all pre-youtube). Frustrated with the 'missing half steps,' I quit playing harmonica at the end of high school with the intention to focus on the trumpet. Later, I went to West Chester University to study music education on the trumpet and I had an issue with my chops so had to re-audition for a vocal major. It was then that I really started to pursue the harmonica again with the goal of playing professionally.

As far as I can tell, you play every type of harmonica. How did you get started on the bass and chord harmonicas?

It progressed from wanting to be a more versatile studio musician as many of the pros like Tommy Morgan, Rob Paparozzi, Ross Garren, and even Howard Levy can also play bass harmonica if they get the call. So I bought one and fixed it up myself using my knowledge of how to customise diatonics. From there I met a guy named Bill Morris who fixes up chord harmonicas and I thought that’s crazy cool, I have to get one! So it started as wanting to be a more versatile player but then I really fell in love with the old harmonica bands such as Borrah Minevitch and the Harmonica Rascals, and the Stagg McMann Trio and I’m really into playing the instruments seriously now!

So you started repairing instruments by first customising your diatonics to overblow?

Yes, sure, overblowing is a technique more than anything but there are things you can do to help! So I started gapping, tuning, and cleaning and now I work on everything. As you can imagine with the number of reeds involved, repairing and maintaining chord harmonicas are really big jobs, but it’s also a privilege to restore instruments that are often very old and very unique.

What’s the music scene like in Philadelphia?

There are less gigs following on from Covid, but I was very proud to premier in a new musical called Little Things earlier this year. Luckily, I’m still getting studio calls and doing online teaching as well.

I saw you collaborated with Rob Paparozzi on some online videos.

Yeah, I met him at a charity concert when I got to sit in. I was just messing around on the chord harmonica and he reached out to me and said, “I want to put a chromatic lead on that!” He’s such an amazing performer as well as a great player. A few years ago he also recommended me for some session work and I can’t thank him enough for that.

How does one begin on the chord and bass harmonicas? Walk me through the main techniques.

Yeah sure, I’m getting a lot of requests for that as there isn’t enough quality instructional material out there. The chord harmonicas are arranged in the circle of fifths. The top row features major chords on the blow, and dominant 7th chords to resolve to that major chord on the draw. The lower harmonica on the chord harmonica is tuned to the parallel minor on the blow, and the draw is composed of diminished and augmented chords. In terms of practice, a great technique is trying to play your scales but with chords! You have to hold the instrument at each end and try as much as possible not to look but use your ears. If you’re even more advanced, you can figure out chord extensions to play some of the jazz chords as well. Those extensions are what made me really fall in love with the chord harmonica. The bass harmonica is similar to the chromatic in as much as the lower harmonica is tuned diatonically to C (with an extended E in the bass) and the top row of the instrument is in C#. Like the chromatic, however, there are a few note substitutions. Again, if you want to learn, it’s a process of learning scales and then trying out different melodies on the instrument.

What are you looking forward to in the future?

I’d love some time to sit down and do some composition and arrangements building upon the ideas of the old harmonica big band groups. In addition to that, I want to keep developing my recording reputation and pick up more studio work. Also, to all your readers, I am teaching via Zoom at the moment and would be happy to take on new students from your readership! For more info on Boaz Kim see his website: www.boazkimmusic.com To watch the interview in full see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDxRD9fKXWw