Henryk M

An almost 40-year old dream has become a reality… the dream of a young boy who wanted to be a musician.

I can still remember a day when my father took me to a music teacher to check if I had predispositions to play any particular instrument. The audition was short and verdict was brutal. The teacher played a few notes on the piano and asked me to sing the notes he just played. But no matter what I heard in my mind, when it came out, it sounded totally out of tune. We repeated the drill a few times and the music teacher announced to me: “Boy, you will never play an instrument in your life”.

I should have been devastated by this verdict. However, giving up was not in my character and the whole experience had just the opposite effect on me. I became even more determined. All I could think about was playing a guitar. I bothered my father so much to buy me a guitar that he finally borrowed one from a friend of his for me to try. I started learning on my own by banging on the strings. The guitar was out of tune but it did not matter to me because I could not tell the difference. So, this practicing and learning on a out-of-tune guitar was going on for a few months. I drove my parents insane with the noise and yelling, which in my mind sounded like playing and singing. One day my father had had enough. He asked his friend to come by, take his guitar back, and explain to me that playing was not meant for me.

I remember it as if it was yesterday. It was fall, Saturday afternoon. My father’s friend came by and before he took the guitar back, he tuned it. He played 3 chords: C, F , and G and a miracle happened For the first time in my life I heard the difference between the chords. It was absolutely amazing. My father’s friend also showed me two different grooves. I took the guitar from him and played what he showed me. I heard music coming from the guitar, and so did my parents. here was no more noise there was music.

In Poland, similarly to many communist countries those days, the whole nation celebrated Teachers Day. I surprised all the teachers in my school, especially the music teacher when I wrote lyrics to two songs by famous and popular Polish bands, and performed on stage accompanied by one of my friends.

My music teacher could not believe what she saw. The student who was excused from singing a single tune as long as he recited lyrics, and whom she gave passing marks just for the effort, turned into a budding musician.

Before I finished high school, my father suddenly passed away. Our family: my mother and my 13 years old brother, inherited my father’s car repair shop. Neither my mother nor my brother knew anything about cars. Thus, I became a 20-year-old proud owner of a car repair shop. My parent’s plans for my higher education vanished. I put the same amount of determination in learning car repair business as I did a few years earlier in learning how to play guitar. But that was not good for my music.

A few years later, possibly when I was 24 years old, I met someone who’s friend played in a famous band in Poland. The band was touring in West Germany at that time but he promised to introduce me when the band returned to Poland. He was true to his word and a few months later I met Mirek. Mirek was a lead guitar and harmonica player of Polish band “Sezam”. Mirek gave me a few Honer harmonicas and I became instantly fascinated.

Mirek went back on his tour in West Germany and I started learning how to play. It was like dejavu to me. I have been though this already with the guitar whatever possessed me to try harmonicas! I would blow and draw but music was not coming though. Regardless, I was hooked. I experimented with my Honer harmonicas for months. Mirek came back to see me a few months later. He gave me a few new harmonicas and another miracle happened. I blew and drew into my new harmonica and blues came out from nowhere. I remember, I closed my car repair shop and we spent the whole night playing harmonica and guitar.

In 1981, I went to visit my friend in Germany. The first day, he took me to a music store and I was amazed by the abundance of choices. I bought 8 harmonicas on the spot.

I have decided to stayed in Germany.

For the next years I played on and off. In 1986 I met the first famous blues musician Champion Jack Duppre and had the pleasure of jamming with him in the “Leine Domicil” club in Hannover. Other memorable encounters include Ecki Hüdepohl and his various bands. Finally, a Blues Garage club, opened its doors in Hannover. Doors opened in more than one way. I jammed and played on stage with amazing musicians like Luisiana Red, Dave Kelly of “The Blues Band”, Colin Hodgkinson of the “Spencer Davis Group” and Rick Lee of the “Ten Years After”, and many other musicians.

In 2003 I came to Toronto. I met Jerome Goodboo in “Blues on Bel Air” club. Jerome invited me to join him on stage. That was the first time I played in Toronto. I noticed that Toronto is special. I have never seen so many world class harmonica players all in one city. I had lots to learn from the best. I celebrated my first Christmas in Canada shortly thereafter. I could not ask for a better gift than one I got. My wife gave me a gift certificate for 4 private lessons with Carlos del Junco. I then took some lessons with Mark “Bird” Stafford and Jerome Goodboo.

On the evening off March 4, 2007, I played many songs of my favorite Polish blues band and my idol Tadeusz Nalepa in a small group of my friends. I was telling them how Nalepa’s music inspired me to be a bluesman. The whole night was dedicated to sharing stories about Nalepa and playing his music. I was totally devastated when the next day a friend called me and said “Tadeusz Nalepa passed away last night”.

Was it a coincidence that out of the blue I played his song all night not knowing that he was no longer with us?

I promised myself that one day I would do a tribute to my idol. But I was not ready yet. That year, my wife Eva totally in-tune with my other love, blues, bought me a small Boss 900 Digital Recording Studio as a birthday gift. Soon thereafter, I recorded my first instrumental piece “Blues about my Wife”. Ideas started flowing in, I could not stop them, I could not get away from them, they became my obsession. All I heard was blues. I recorded fifteen instrumental songs playing all instruments except drums, twelve of which you would hear on this CD. I had them professionally mixed and mastered in the Alcatrax Recording Studio.

That is what you are holding in your hand right now. My blues has many influences but it is my own creation with my own twist on blues. I have more ideas. The next CD will be a mix of instrumental and songs.

Stay tuned..

Henryk M