Fabrizio Poggi interview

Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Fabrizio Poggi joins me on episode 137.

Fabrizio plays blues, folk and spiritual music. Hailing from near Milan, he took some time to find his way with the harmonica but since then he has performed at Carnegie Hall and been nominated for a Grammy.

His first band was Chicken Mambo who played New Orleans music on their early album releases.

Fabrizio traveled around the US where he made lots of friends and great strides with his musical development.

This culminated with the making of an album in 2013 where the Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite make an appearance. Fabrizio then teamed-up with Guy Davis where their second album together, Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train, was nominated for a Grammy in 2018.

Links:

Website: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/

Biography: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/biography/

Discography: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/discography/

Juba Dance album with Guy Davis: https://guydavis.bandcamp.com/album/juba-dance

Videos:

Italian Folk Band: Fabrizio Poggi e Turututela Miniera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnhwOfCjrpU

Harpway 61 album song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx-Reyl3ZuI

Playing live at Carnegie Hall with Guy Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joe1mRWMLwc

TV appearance with Guy Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzlcccMDPFM

Fabrizio live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqHNcATQ3A

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
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Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

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Chapters

1. Fabrizio Poggi interview (00:00:00)

2. Fabrizio lives just south of the Italian city of Milan and is a singer and writer, as well as a harmonica player (00:01:36)

3. Main genres are blues, spirituals and folk (00:01:47)

4. Played some Italian folk music early on in career with the band Turututela (00:02:10)

5. Also plays a lot of gospel (aka spiritual) music (00:02:58)

6. First turned onto the blues when saw Paul Butterfield and Muddy Waters on The Last Waltz where he jumped on the seat in the movie theatre when Muddy appeared (00:03:49)

7. Bought a harmonica the day after hearing Paul Butterfield for the first time but it took some time for Fabrizio to learn, with no-one playing harmonica in the local area (00:06:02)

8. Almost gave up learning harmonica until someone told him how to play in second position (00:06:43)

9. Was obsessed to learn the harmonica from age of around 20 (00:08:13)

10. Learnt blues harmonica from records (00:08:21)

11. Started playing in bands but learnt most when travelled to the US in the 1990s (00:09:58)

12. Came back with a suitcase full of CDs from the US (00:10:43)

13. There was a blues scene around Milan but not much harmonica, with British player John Mayall the best known harmonica player and the British blues bands visible in Italy (00:11:39)

14. The language barrier was also a factor, with not many people in Italy speaking English at that time (00:13:18)

15. Fabrizio jokes that he learnt English from Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf (00:13:30)

16. Blues scene in Italy is popular now, with lots of young players and Fabrizio hopes he has been an inspiration to some young players there (00:13:42)

17. Blues is widely available across Italy now, especially festivals in the summer (00:14:56)

18. Lot of music venues have closed in Italy (00:15:24)

19. Fabrizio’s first main band was Chicken Mambo, who wanted to play New Orleans music (00:15:53)

20. Visited New Orleans on first visit to the US and to the Jazz and Heritage festival with lots of big names appearing (00:17:23)

21. Second album with Chicken Mambo was Under The Southern Sky, another self-produced album (00:18:07)

22. Toured the US between 1998-2002, making a lot of friends along the way and improving as a musician (00:19:13)

23. In 2010 took the whole Chicken Mambo band to play in the US (00:20:26)

24. Made first album in the US in 1999: Nuther World, in an attempt to record with an authentic sound (00:20:33)

25. Self-funded a lot of Chicken Mambo’s albums and travel in the early years (00:21:24)

26. Nuther World was a tribute to the singer songwriters that Fabrizio enjoyed when young (00:22:07)

27. Learnt a lot during this time, especially from the generous support of people in the US (00:22:43)

28. The musicians were very supportive and happy to perform with Fabrizio (00:23:02)

29. Album Songs For Angelina is for his wife, who has been very supportive throughout his career (00:23:56)

30. Performed at the King Biscuit Time festival in Helena, Arkansas, several times, where he met James Cotton, among others (00:24:23)

31. Might have played through the very same mic as Sonny Boy Williamson II (00:25:19)

32. Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite appear on Fabrizio’s 2013 album: Spirit of Mercy (00:25:43)

33. Some of the many great artists Fabrizio has shared the stage with (00:26:11)

34. How got Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite to play on the Spirits of Mercy album (00:27:27)

35. Released Harpway 61 album in 2012, a tribute to the blues harmonica greats, and gifted to the Blues Foundation to help raise money for blues musicians (00:29:49)

36. Made first album with Guy Davis in 2013: Juba Dance, and how teamed-up with him (00:31:33)

37. Shared a passion for acoustic blues with Guy Davis (00:32:32)

38. Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train album from 2017 was nominated for a Grammy (00:33:26)

39. The Rolling Stones won the Grammy in the same category in the year they were nominated (00:34:59)

40. Went to the Grammy ceremony in Madison Square Gardens in New York (00:35:16)

41. Chastised by security after playing the harmonica on the red carpet at the Grammy ceremony (00:35:53)

42. Guy Davis appears on Fabrizio’s Basement Blues album from 2022, an archive compilation of live recordings made by Fabrizio over the preceding years (00:37:14)

43. His wife, Angelina, has played a pivotal role in Fabrizio’s career (00:38:25)

44. Latest album, from 2024, is Healing Blues, with Shar White (backing singer with Eric Clapton) guesting on the album (00:39:16)

45. Has appeared at Carnegie Hall with Guy Davis and the special acoustics there (00:41:12)

46. Has written four books, with a biography about Fabrizio written by Serena Simula released last year, entitled ‘Believe’, it’s about the belief that Fabrizio has in his dreams (00:42:31)

47. Has been awarded a Hohner Lifetime Achievement Award (00:43:34)

48. Honoured by the President of the Italian Republic with a Knight of Merit for artistic merit (00:45:20)

49. Ten minute question (00:46:49)

50. Is a Hohner endorsee with the Special 20 the diatonic of choice (00:48:27)

51. Doesn’t do any customisation but will sometimes have customisers make different tunings on his diatonics (00:49:06)

52. Plays acoustically through the PA, not using any amplifiers or dedicated harmonica mics (00:49:33)

53. Sonny Terry did play a little amplified harmonica, as discussed on the Sonny Terry retrospective podcast episode (00:51:06)

54. Only plays diatonic now, but played some tremolo, bass and chromatic harmonica in the Turututela folk band (00:51:33)

55. Was in contact with Brendan Power about his Irish harmonica playing on chromatic (00:52:12)

56. Doesn’t use any overblows (00:52:33)

57. Mainly uses lip pursing but mixed with tongue blocking when required for certain effects (00:53:40)

58. Uses SM58 to play and sing through (00:54:12)

59. Likes some reverb and delay on the mic, especially in the studio when has different channels for vocals and harmonica (00:55:05)

60. Some of studio work recorded has other effects when added by the producer in post-production (00:55:49)

61. Future plans include promoting the Healing Blues album and the Believe biography and a tour in Europe coming up (00:56:23)