Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Most people are familiar with the traditional diatonic harmonica’s long, wailing notes and chords on blues and country songs. Yet there’s another version of the instrument that allows the musician to tear through three octaves of sharps and flats. Once cherished in jazz, classical and folk circles, the chromatic harmonica is disappearing from the musical landscape, and Enrico Granafei is one its few remaining masters.
Granafei was born and raised in the Italian region of Calabria region, and as a young man took an interest in guitar.
“I enrolled in a classical guitar course at the conservatory,” Granafei says from his home in New Jersey. “Then I moved to Rome because my professor transferred to L’Aquila. It was a small city and I wanted to be in the capital, where things were happening.”
Granafei earned a degree in classical guitar from the conservatory in L’ Aquila and taught in Germany before returning to Rome in the late 1970s. While there, he performed regularly as part of the Pippo Caruso Orchestra on the television show “Un milione al secondo.” It was during this period that he first heard the Bill Evans record “Affinity,” which featured Toots Thielemans, a Belgian musician who will be remembered as the undisputed master of the chromatic harmonica.
Thielemans played with everyone from Benny Goodman to Miles Davis and on dozens of soundtracks for TV shows and movies, including “Midnight Cowboy,” winning almost every musical award bestowed in Europe and America. Granafei became fascinated with Thielemans and eventually had the honor of becoming the master’s one and only graduate student.
“I first heard him in a festival in Italy, traveling 1,200 kilometers by train to hear him. Years later, after I moved to this country, I met him in New York City and he invited me to his house. I played with some cats who played with him,” Granafei recalls. “Later I was doing my master’s degree in jazz performance at the Manhattan School of Music. At the time, I applied as a harmonica player but they had no teacher. So I called Toots and asked him, ‘I hope you don’t mind but I would like to study with you.’ ”
Thielemans told Granafei he would love to teach him, but he was busy touring and recording around the world. And yet, the two worked out an arrangement. “He told me that we could do it informally, just getting together whenever he was in town and I said, ‘Okay, you got it.’ ”
In the ensuing years, Granafei has performed in festivals in Italy, Hungary, France, Italy and Finland as well as clubs like the Blue Note and Birdland. He also was the only individual to record an entire album playing the chromatic harmonica hands-free while also playing the guitar. The instrument has a button on the side that you press with your finger to switch from major notes to sharps and flats. Granafei perfected the skill of working the button with his lips. It was something that had never been done before, and it amazed the harmonica world. Granafei continues to amaze, performing, recording and conducting workshops and furthering the art of the chromatic harmonica.
“It’s Hard to Say Goodbye”
Enrico Granafei
If you are a fan of jazz, bossa nova and jazz fusion, Granafei’s chromatic harmonica sound blends all of them with a unique tone that makes your ears perk up and listen. The disk starts with Amina Figarova’s “Night Train,” which combines elements of bop, fusion and bossa nova. With its light, airy sound and notes that seem to dance like stardust, the instrument is perfect for capturing the bossa nova sound and mood. That feeling also comes through on “Claudinho,” where Granafei’s instrument frolics above a low sultry saxophone, and “Medo De Amar,” where he sings in Portuguese, handling the vocals with smooth perfection.
Granafei is joined by many master musicians on the record, most notably famed trumpeter and flugelhornist Claudio Roditi and pianist and longtime Dizzy Gillespie collaborator Mike Longo, both of whom passed away shortly after recording this project. Granafei ends the disk with a tribute to this mentor, Toots Thielemans. “Bluesette” is Thielemans’ signature tune, and Granafei delivers with pitch perfect tone and timing. Yet it’s the title track, “It’s Hard to Say Goodbye,” that perfectly blends Granafei’s skill with Thielemans’ inspiration. The track takes you on a leisurely walk along the Aterno River, with L’Aquila perched in the hills above, the notes spreading through the air like a field full of lilies of the valley, bursting with vibrant life.
The article above appears in the February 2025 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture.
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