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42 albums · 1927–2021

The harmonica, from the Grand Ole Opry and the South Side of Chicago to jazz and the concert hall

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

A Hohner Marine Band harmonica with its ten numbered holes and wooden comb, on a black surface
A long chromatic harmonica with its slide button beside a small ten-hole diatonic harmonicaCharlie Musselwhite on stage with his eyes closed, a harmonica cupped in both hands at the microphone
A Hohner Marine Band, the ten-hole diatonic harmonica of the blues. Photo: Lambtron, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · A sixteen-hole chromatic harmonica, with the slide that gives it every semitone, beside a ten-hole diatonic. Photo: George Leung, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Charlie Musselwhite at WOMADelaide in 2015. Photo: Michael Coghlan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The harmonica is a small free-reed instrument: metal reeds over a comb of channels, sounding as the player blows and draws. The ten-hole diatonic is tuned to one key, and the chromatic adds the semitones with a slide. Matthias Hohner began making them in Trossingen in 1857 and soon shipped them to America, where blues players learned to bend the notes.

DeFord Bailey played it on the Grand Ole Opry and recorded in 1927. In Chicago Little Walter put it to an amplifier, followed by Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, James Cotton and Big Walter Horton, and Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite took it to rock audiences. On the chromatic harmonica Larry Adler played Gershwin and Toots Thielemans took it into jazz; Howard Levy wrote a concerto for the diatonic.

The list has 42 records from 1927 to 2021; the oldest are collections, dated by the first year of their recordings. Records where a harmonica plays but does not lead, such as Bob Dylan's and Neil Young's, are left out, and so are the harmonica orchestras of Germany and Japan. About 32 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

What it sounds like

A blues riff on a diatonic harmonica in GJulien Grandgagnage, harmonica

Recording: Julien Grandgagnage, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

By genre

Blues 31%Jazz 11%Rock 5%Other 53%
  • Blues 31%
  • Jazz 11%
  • Rock 5%
  • Other 53%

The genres named most: harmonica, blues, jazz, chicago blues, classical, country.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 12 countries: United States 28, Belgium 3, France 2, Brazil 1, Canada 1 and 7 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1920s

The 1930s

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list