Can the harmonica play a part in jazz? Find out at upcoming concert at The Other Side

There are instruments immediately recognized as well suited for playing jazz – trumpet, saxophone, vibes, etc. Harmonica? Maybe not so much.

Other than Toots Thielemans or maybe Larry Adler, jazz harp players aren’t exactly a common phenomenon.

Hendrik Meurkens is looking to change that.

Meurkens, one of the world’s leading exponents of the jazz harmonica, will be appearing at The Other Side, 2011 Genesee Street, at 7:30 p.m. on March 16, accompanied by Mike Cortese, drums; August Bish, bass; Bill Dobbins, piano; and Mike Dubaniewicz on sax.

“When I conceive of the Jazz @ The-Other-Side Alumni Big Band, it has top musicians in every chair, to which we now add the world’s reigning jazz harmonica wizard, Hendrik Meurkens on both chromatic & Marine Band,” says Other Side co-owner Orin Domenico. “Hendrik, among other things is a harp-samba-monster. Do not miss this rare opportunity to hear world-class harp live.”

Meurkens was en route to being an instantly recognizable vibraphonist when, at the age of 19 he heard Toots Thielemans, an experience which totally changed Meurkens’s musical direction, and he bought his own chromatic harmonica the very next day.

A vibes major at Berklee College of Music in Boston at the time, (he still performs as a highly accomplished vibraphonist) Meurkens secretly played his harmonica whenever possible.

“Playing jazz harmonica is very difficult," Meurkens notes.  "It's hard to connect all the notes smoothly.  But it’s a wonderfully expressive instrument, as well. And like the saxophone, you can work with the tone and develop your own sound.”

His 24 CDs have received rave reviews and strong airplay and have established him as a major voice in the jazz harmonica world.

In addition to being influenced by jazz masters – he has accomplished the daunting feat of transcribing Charlie Parker solos and mastering them on the harmonica – his playing has also been heavily impacted by his time in Brazil, where he established his immediately recognizable style of Brazilian Jazz, winning the Brazilian International Press Award in 2014.

“I’ve always been attracted to music that focuses on melody and harmonic beauty,” says Hendrik. “For me, the perfect music is Brazilian because of its sympathetic emotional context.”

Meurkens is also a respected studio musician, recording with European Radio Orchestras and leading his own groups, as well as accompanying visiting legends like Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and Buddy Tate. A perennial name in the Downbeat jazz polls, Meurkens has worked with Ray Brown, Paquito D'Rivera, Oscar Castro-Neves, Herb Ellis, Herbie Mann, James Moody, Charlie Byrd and many others.

Seats for the show, which are $20 and $10 for students, can be reserved by calling 315-735-4825, emailing kodomenico@verizon.net or by stopping at the Cafe Domenico.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Jazz concert set for March 16 at The Other Side