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Wim Dijkgraaf
World class jazz harmonica player, educator & innovator.
About Me
World class jazz harmonica player, educator and innovator Wim
Dijkgraaf (born the 4th of october 1970 in The Netherlands) has an
acadamic background as a composer of contemporary classical music.
Inspired by Kenny Werner’s publications on Effortless Mastery, Wim is
widely recognized as an innovator in the field of effortless harmonica
playing and as such is by the age of 40 already an influential point of
reference for many younger harmonica players today.
Toots Thielemans certainly was an important source of inspiration when
Wim started playing the harmonica at the age of 19. But overtime he
developed his own playing style and a highly personal sound that he is
so well know for today.
Besides the sound of his harmonica, his approach towards
improvisation and note choice certainly is remarkable too. Inspired by
composers like Olivier Messiaen and Béla Bartók, Wim creates melodic
phrases that sound modern and sometimes intellectual yet lyrical,
romantic and always highly accessible. It is in his way of improvising
that a strong background in classical composition becomes immediately
clear; the art of effortlessly constructing original material out of instantly
invented small musical building blocks.