There are those who know me principally as a harmonica player, and some folks have asked how I learned to make actual music from an instrument that resembles nothing so much as a toy. Practice, I would answer, practice, practice, practice, and listen, listen , listen, a condition just as important. I listened to harmonica genius Ken Schoppmeyer through the Seventies and in the Eighties, when he played locally, and the fact of the matter that it was outright envy of his style, expertise, his easing finesse that compelled me to keep playing, playing, playing. This great musician died a few years ago , sadly unrecognized for the great harmonica player he was .Like so many others, I used to go see Ken Schoppmeyer and his King Biscuit Blues band play at the Mandolin Wind in Hillcrest during the '70s, and to this day I have never heard a better blues harmonica than he. He had the unique combination of grit and elegance, able to perform a sweet, melodic slow blues and wail on an uptempo shuffle; his tone was warm and well rounded, his choice of notes were inspired, his solos were sublime. He was an inspiration to my own harmonica playing; though I never came close to sounding like him, Kenny Schoppmeyer certainly inspired me to keep playing all these forty or so years late
Here are some live clips that give a taste of how fine a blues harpist this man was. I hope members of this forum enjoy what he does here.
It is a strong possibility you and I have actually met;I used to go to Mandolin Wind at least once a week in the seventies, for a four year period and quite often got into harmonica jams on the sidewalk with other players when the band took a break. Great days, no?
Thanks Ted,that Ken had it going on,superb voice,and knew how to work the audience.Definately an inspirational cat man du.Sad way to go but some don't like getting old and in the way.
Last Edited by on Nov 25, 2012 7:27 PM
@Theo I am a friend of John Frazer--we were in a band back in the early 80's--he's the one who got me started on harp (I was the guitarist). Ken had a big presence in the San Diego blues scene. Those shoes are hard to fill--we do have some fine harp players, but . . .
Harmonica John is a superb player. I used to run into him at clubs, concerts and the Mission Beach boardwalk where we jammed out from time to time. Do you know Mark Bosworth, aka Rafael Harp? He was a huge influence on my playing, as was Kenny.
hey guys, i have see kenn in uruguay in2009 wath a lot of months in my country playing with the urugayen blues man pablo traberzo al the videos from theos post wath in ''VIABAR MONTEVIDEO URUGUAY'' FANTASTICS GIGS GREAT HARPPLAYER with a increible tone sorry my inglish and ortographie
I just signed up here and saw this thread. I could add my experiences with Kenny. In 1977-79 as far as I know (unless there were harp players I did not know about) Kenny and me were the only two full-time pro harp players in San Diego. I was gigging 4-7 nights a week so, easily could have missed someone. I was in "Tall Cotton" and we were likely a bit more publicly known? As Country Honk-Tonk was a bit more known that pure blues....(I think) since we played the Belly-Up as first electric band, Balboa Park, Sea World, Camp Pendelton (Long Branch Saloon), etc. and Kenny was more purely in the Blues niche at his main ongoing club. Later I believe Hollywood Fats, James Harmen, Rod, etc. all visited him so that may have changed after I left in '79. Anyway, I went to a house one day to check out a blonde (custom) 1960 beautiful Concert Amp $425!!! I did not buy. We played nearby monthly +/- at Jose Murphy's in Mission Beach and Kenny invited me over to his gig to sit-in. He had that Concert Amp and said the man told him him I had been there earlier the same to day to see it. He said he was soooo glad I passed because he loved that amp. He had a JT-30 and tone was huge. We had great fun playing, he was totally in the pocket player and knew the traditional blues much better than I. Since I was playing a 545 and more Butterfield/Norton type style the contrast worked to our advantage and the audience was lovin' it. He was VERY nice to me, it was very sad to hear of his life ending, here on earth at least. R.I.P for Kenny.
Wow, this was back when Ted was posting as Theo--blast from the past. I live here in Hillcrest, where the Sears building used to be. The site of the old Mandolin Wind is within walking distance. Ken held court there for many a year--I played there for one week with Mark DeCerbo (before Four Eyes) and provided PA one week when UT columnist George Varga played with his duo Mountain Leaf. Now a gay bar, and very successful (but closed right now, of course, pandemic still in place). I guess Ken pulled a Danny Gatton, exiting on his own terms. Lotta respect for the man, his music lives on in the hearts of his peers and fans.
Haven't seen this since I posted it as Theo. Kenny Schopmeyer was a monumental inspiration on my playing when I was cutting my teeth on the harp back in the 70s, seeming him and his King Biscuit band at Dicks at the Beach, Mandolin Wind, Jose Murphy's, The Catamaran , all the hip joints around San Diego at the time. The man set the standard for harmonica players at the time. In truth, Ken Schoppmeyer had everything going for him as a player--he had a feel for groove, his technique was without peer, his chops were fluent, varied, rarely predictable, sublimely executed. He had a tone that was and remains the envy of hundreds of harmonica players who came to hear him play . In my view Kenny was one of the best we had in the country, not just California. He's been gone ten years.
It looks like the videos I posted ages ago have evaporated , so I'll post a couple here so we can see what kind of musician he was. He could sing pretty darn good too.
---------- www.ted-burke.com
Last Edited by ted burke on Apr 24, 2020 12:02 PM
@snowman, thanks for posting. Good reminder of how well he sang also. I do not recall what songs we played but, I do recall how good of a vocalist he was.
@Gnarly, yes, it was that Mandolin Wind place, as I recall it was not all that far from Jose Murphy's. The other names and references I am not familiar, I left in mid-'79 but, after 6'5 years in Austin, I just moved here to San Diego again. Was going to play at the HarpFest, a friend I moved to CA with in '77 (David Stoeber) was the "winner" of the unknown players section last year. Invited me to do the 30 minute opening set with Backwater Blues Band for back-up. David actually plays guitar, piano, banjo (we played in Bluegrass band as teens) and plays harp for fun. ....maybe next year!
@ Ted, yes, in Tall Cotton, we played Dick's at the Beach also.......I also sat in there with "The Bratts" rock band. That was good time to be in San Diego. I only met Kenny a couple times and only played with him once, we were both usually playing.
San Diego had quite a music scene back in the jazz, literally something for everyone. Was it Bratz you played with? I wrote a cover story on them for the --old KICKS Magazine way back win. Fun band to see live.--- www.ted-burke.com
Bratz evolved into Private Domain, Jack Butler on guitar. Jose Murphy's was in PB, Mandolin Wind is inland and up the hill in Hillcrest. I bet Ted has Jose Murphy's stories . . .
Yes, Bratz. Our band, Tall Cotton was a big draw, we packed the Belly-Up as the first electric band they tried, with the Country Two-Step Dancers.....I was playing "Cotton-Eyed Joe", Orange Blossom, Real McCoy (Peter "Madcat" Ruth helped me on that one) and other dance-able instrumentals (Steel Guitar Rag, etc.) but, also all this George Jones, Merle Haggard, Willie & waylon, Honky-Tonk, etc. Dick's at the Beach (as you guys obviously know) was a rock club but, since our band was so popular they brought us in there too.......people loved that type country when they heard it. So, the Bratz knew us (they played there all the time) and they invited me to play a whole night with them. They were fun. I give credit for help to Norton Buffalo and Finger's Taylor for being invited to wail on the straight ahead rock they were. I do not remember their exact style, super high volume, I played a 545 out the PA and could hang at that volume. I remember a large outdoor concert on lawn area at Balboa Park, 11 or so of all the best know San Diego Bands.....some rock group headlined and went last, we were second-to-last, huge crowd. Everybody loves Orange Blossom Special !!! It must not have been Mandolin that I played with Kenny (maybe), I just seem to remember it was a regular gig for him and it seemed close to Jose Murphy's......I could be wrong. It was a very cool music scene and Kenny Schopmeyer was for sure "the man" on the straight ahead blues.....seems like he knew tons of songs, could just roll off the lyrics back-to-back.
p.s. oops, sorry, I just looked at the Map, for sure I played with Kenny at Mandolin Wind, that is not too far from PB. I missed on Jose Murphy's, I just remember walking a block to the ocean on breaks and the place was packed with people, the stage though was super small with this railing. I had a super long mic cable and would sometimes go out in the audience to get out of that railed in stage. Super Reverb/Green Bullet. I don't know if there are more Kenny Schopmeyer recording but, for anyone interested (the videos above show it) he was really in that Kim Wilson, Sugar Ray Norcia type style. Really knew how to groove and never look liked he was trying hard either! I was sad to hear about him.
Kenny's main band while in San Diego was the legendary King Biscuit Blues, which also highlighted the superlative guitarist Paul Cowie. The band went through many , many fine musicians through their long tenure in the area, but Kenny and Paul were the constants. Over time, Ken started something called the King Biscuit Revue, which was jump blues, swing and other jazz-inflected material, a slick and finely made package for hire for special occasions. They had one album out, which featured this cooking version of The Work Song. It hasn't the verve of the live versions I saw Schoppmeyer do, but his solo here is very sweet and inventive. I never could predict where he would go with his pentatonics . ---------- www.ted-burke.com
Very Cool!!! I went and listened to the rest of the album too. On the cut "Playin' with my Friends" his solo starts out with a couple distinct Butterfield tones/licks, followed by a riff with tone that could easily be mistaken for Paul Delay. When I sat-in with Kenny he was playing very traditional Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Walter Horton type tongue-block straight ahead blues style. It was was I who was playing more single note melodic type style, which was a contrast but, we sounded good together that way. Anyway, very cool to hear Kenny playing in this mode, excellent. He definitely was not playing stock blues harp player language. It appears this album was 2006? It's interesting because I had a band in Oregon for 10 yrs. 1999-2009 (Gabriel & The Technicians), we were the favorite swing dance band in Southern Oregon (hired by the swing dance society for large live dances), female vocals, piano, horns (with me on harp of course), etc. so would have been in the same time period. I have about a dozen live recorded CDs but, never released anything formally. Funds and a few personnel changes, plus smaller market so word of mouth brought plenty of dances, concerts regional Jazz & Blues Festivals. Also, had day job so not working to play full-time as was in San Diego. Thank you for sharing, very cool to hear how he evolved, or to show his versatility......and more good vocals. Seems as though he would have/could have reached a broader market outside of SD, especially if compared with some of his contemporary harp player/singers who have fronted bands.
