The chromatic harmonica (as opposed to the blues harp) may look like a simple toy or a novelty but it is actually one of the most difficult of all instruments to play. Because half of the notes are achieved by inhaling rather than exhaling, creating a legato line while playing each note in an octave is nearly impossible. Stating a bebop melody with the ease of a saxophonist has only been achieved by a small handful of jazz harmonica players, most notably Toots Thielemans and Hendrik Meurkens.

“I grew up in Germany and started on the vibes when he was 16. “My parents had one jazz record in their collection, Benny Goodman’s famous concert at Carnegie Hall. I heard Lionel Hampton and I thought that was pretty cool.” Three years later he heard Toots Thielemans and was soon doubling on harmonica. “I was 100% self-taught on the harmonica. I went to record stores, found Toots’ albums, looked at the cover to see how he was holding the instrument, found a book that showed me where the notes are, and I taught myself.” Since that time he has spent a period living in Rio where he immersed himself in Brazilian music, worked as a studio musician in Germany, and become part of the New York jazz scene. Hendrik has played with many of the who’s who in jazz and led at least a couple dozen recordings of his own.

For the Jazz Meurkengers, Hendrik Meurkens decided that a new swinging jazz album was long overdue so he contacted pianist Steve Ash, bassist Chris Berger and drummer Andy Watson. “Those are the guys who I call first for straight ahead jazz because they are masters of this style, the hard bop Wynton Kelly/Wes Montgomery/Jimmy Cobb groove.” Four of the nine songs on this release have guitarist Ed Cherry making the group a quartet while tenor-saxophonist Nick Hampton is on four of the other tunes. “Ed Cherry always hits the right notes and is soulful and bluesy, the essence of jazz/blues guitar. Nick Hampton has the special quality of getting to the essence of bebop playing like Dexter Gordon, rarely using double time, and always being in the pocket, playing with feeling and a great tone.”

“The album is dedicated to the great drummer Jimmy Cobb and his hard bop late 1950s/early ‘60s type of swing. I played a lot with him and we recorded three albums together. I learned so much from being with Jimmy Cobb. His spirit is always with me.”

In addition to four standards, the group performs five of the leader’s originals starting with “A Slow One.” An attractive relaxed melody that was written for the last recording that Hendrik made with Jimmy Cobb, it swings lightly and features excellent harmonica, guitar and piano solos. “Belgian Beer At Dawn” is a contrafact of “Stella By Starlight”that has a quirky melody. “I love playing over the chord changes of ‘Stella By Starlight,’ but since the tune is so overplayed, I wrote a new melody so I can play it again!”

“A Lullaby For Benny” was written for Hendrik’s grandson. Just two choruses long, this performance lets his beautiful melody speak for itself. The frontline of harmonica and guitar is featured on “Silver’s Serenade,” a classic Horace Silver piece. “Music from the hard bop era fits me best. I love the songwriting of the time, particularly Horace Silver and Benny Golson, They really wrote tunes, not just chord changes to blow over.” “Meurks’ Mood” has a fresh new melody that could make it a standard in the future if enough musicians hear it. Henry Mancini’s “Dreamsville” was originally composed for the romantic scenes in the Peter Gunn television series. Hendrik brings out the beauty of the haunting tune as do Cherry and Ash during their tasteful solos. “If I Were A Bell,” made famous in jazz by the Miles Davis recording with John Coltrane, is a hard-swinger that includes one of pianist Ash’s finest solos of the set.

Hendrik’s heartfelt ballad “A Tear For Toots” was written during the centennial year of the immortal Toots Thielemans. “Toots is the man. He is unsurpassed, and I don’t think anyone will ever challenge him in the jazz harmonica world. He founded the language.” The Jazz Meurkengers concludes with the lesser-known Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn song “Smada.” Watson’s rhythmic groove is reminiscent of both “Caravan” and Vernel Fournier’s playing on Ahmad Jamal’s version of “Poinciana.”

While Hendrik plans to record his next album on vibes, he will certainly continue being one of the world’s top jazz harmonica players. “Whatever I play, it will always be something melodic and with nice harmonies that I hope listeners will enjoy.”

Scott Yanow