An interview with LONG DENG JIE

Next on my tour of the world’s greatest harmonica players, I stopped off in Guangzhou in China, where I spoke with the fantastic Long Deng Jie. Long’s chops on the chromatic, diatonic, and even digital harmonica have wowed audiences on the internet. He was kind enough to chat with me about his journey on the harmonica.

How did you begin on the harmonica?

Well, my father was actually a professor of the oboe at a conservatory, so I began learning music on the piano at the age of 5. When I was 10, I also began learning the oboe and went on to become a professional classical musician. Shortly, before I turned 30, I wanted to try something different and fell in love AN INTERVIEW with the harmonica. Initially, I started on the diatonic and within a month I had learnt to overblow and was WITH LONG really inspired by Howard Levy. So, after one year of playing diatonic, I also began studying the chromatic DENG JIE harmonica, which I have been playing for about 8 years now.

How did you get so good so quickly!

Around the Because I studied music and the oboe, I had plenty of musical knowledge to draw on. Crucially, I practised scales world with and difficult scale patterns in all 12 keys for at least half of 80 great my practice time. I would spend 3–4 hours a day practising – however, now I have less time, so I commit to about 1–2 harmonica hours. Is the harmonica popular in Chinese players culture? During the ’80s, a lot of people played the Sam Spranger tremolo harmonica, but by the ’90s, the Editorial Team trend had died out. However, there has been a resurgence since the 2010s, especially on the chromatic harmonica. Asian culture really appreciates pop music and classical music. There is less of a culture for blues and jazz in China.

So what turned you onto blues and jazz?

Because when I was young my father was so influenced by classical music, which I enjoyed, but when I was 13, I found blues and jazz and it was really exciting. However, at that age I was only playing the oboe, which is not ideal for playing the styles I wanted to play. The harmonica, on the other hand, gave me a way of expressing myself in these genres.

I saw that you are pioneering a new midi harmonica.

Yes, the first digital harmonica was the DM48 which I originally played. Then, last year, a Chinese factory started researching their own concept and they contacted me as a consultant. The Chinese model is vastly different, as it has internal effects as well as acting as a midi controller.

How is the scene right now?

Yes, with COVID, things were difficult, but now I am up to gigging once a month with a duet again. But in China not many people are into jazz, so I am mostly playing classical concerts but introducing a jazz element within the programme.

Do you have any practice advice for our readers?

Whenever I ask this of my harmonica friends, they always say the importance of tone. Draw vibrato, for example, is incredibly important to master and not to be confused with throat tremolo.

In terms of technique, it goes back to getting your scales down and practising every day, however many people don’t have the patience to do that. Like everywhere in the world, people underestimate the potential of the harmonica. I’m trying to change that perception and encourage people to keep learning on the instrument. You can listen to Long Deng Jie’s wonderful performances on YouTube @DengJieLong You can watch the full interview @ mybrokenharp