Who is Jimmy Z?
There’s a reason legendary blues Diva Etta James calls Jimmy Z her “Hootchie Cootchie Man” and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics calls him “the best harmonica player in the world.” Jimmy attracts attention. He caught the attention of Rod Stewart, Tom Petty, the Eurythmics, Jaguares – all of whom he recorded and toured with. He also caught the attention of Dr. Dre, Eric Burdon, Carol King, Barry White, Ziggy Marley, Yes, Bon Jovi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Slash’s Snakepit, Macy Gray, John Mayer, Pink, Gladys Knight, Les McCann and countless others who sought out Jimmy Z’s blazing harmonica and soulful saxophone to spice up their recordings.
Jimmy recently toured Sweden with Swedish bluesman Slidin’ Slim. Besides playing in traditional venues, Slim also arranged for Jimmy to teach & perform at two music clinics. Here is a video of the clinic on October 25th at the Music Börsen store in Linköping. They were shot by Dave Maakestad.
Here is a video of Jimmy Z discussing recording with the Eurythmics and Rod Stewart and why they were the best. The worst: Gene Simmons on Kiss session. Not really all that bad… just funny.
Jump to the 2:30 mark for the discussion about Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Bob Ezrin.
??Trying to think of a KISS song with a harmonica but nothings coming.
A question for the great and mighty Julian at KISSFAQ! I am assuming Revenge.
That’s the only one that makes sense, isn’t it?
Great story! I was thinking it had to be Destroyer. $300/tune, even for harmonica, seems cheap in the recording world doesn’t it? Maybe not. Would love to hear the harmonica becuase like you guys, I don’t.
I confirmed it was the Revenge sessions. Julian will be doing a interview with Jimmy to get all the answers.