Bruce Ewan

BRUCE EWAN - HARMONICA MAESTRO

Harmonica player Bruce Ewan is respected as a blues musician in his native town of Washington, D.C., where he has been active musically for more than 25 years.

Since 1995, Ewan has been part of the international blues scene as well, touring Europe and Latin America to great acclaim. Calling him a “Bluesero Differente,” the Buenos Aires Clarin notes “Ewan looks more like an English country gentleman than a Southern U.S. field worker, but when he starts to play his harmonica, it’s all blues in the solid tradition.” States the British Roots & Rhythm magazine, “Ewan is an excellent harmonica player.”

In the United States, Ewan has shared the stage with artists like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and Carey Bell; recorded with Big Joe & the Dynaflows, and performed in venues from New York to Florida, including the Blue Note in New York City; the Kennedy Center Millennium stage in Washington, D.C.; Strathmore Hall in Rockville, Maryland; the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia; the Virginia Museum of Fine Art; the Baltimore Museum of Art; and the Joseph Myerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore, Maryland. He has made joint appearances with his older brother, blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff. In recent years, he has played harmonica on East Coast TV and radio commercials for the Food Lion supermarket chain.

Ewan has been called “a harmonica wizard” by the Washington Post and a “highly regarded harp player” by the D.C. Blues Society. Reviewing one of his studio recordings, the DC-area Entertainment Weekly raved: “You could swear he must have two tongues and four hands.”

In 1995, Ewan debuted in Buenos Aires, playing clubs and concert halls and appearing on national Argentinean television and radio. Since then, he has toured Argentina on five more occasions, often in the company of Miguel Botafogo, a top-tier South American guitarist. Ewan’s Argentine tours have taken him to Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, and the Andes, the first U.S. blues artist ever to appear in those locales. He recorded twice in Argentina with Miguel Botafogo. “Ewan Shuffle” from Botafogo’s 1997 [?]CD “Cambios” received international airplay. “Bruce Ewan and Miguel Botafogo Live Rio IV” was released on DFN Records in 2002.

Since 1996, Ewan has made seven major tours of Brazil, playing top clubs and concert halls in the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador Bahia, Recife, Porto Alegre, and Recife (where he performed at Carnival in 2001). His Brazilian appearances were the subject of a feature on Globo TV network news. He capped his Brazilian experience by recording the CD “Mississippi Saxophone,” backed by noted Brazilian guitarist Andre Christovam and his trio. The album was released on the Movieplay do Brasil label.

In 2002 and 2005, Ewan toured Chile, adding to his reputation as an American blues man who is well traveled throughout Latin America.

Starting in 1999 [?], Ewan has taken his music across the Atlantic Ocean, playing Spain in the first of his three tours on the Iberian Peninsula. In 2003, he and his brother, guitarist Bobby Radcliff, played the Granada Jazz Festival, accompanied by The Blues Blasters, widely regarded as Spain’s top blues band.

In addition to bringing American blues to the other continents, Ewan has begun to bring world blues to the U.S. In 2000, he toured New York, Washington, and Miami with noted Brazilian guitarist Big Gilson. The CD “Bruce Ewan and Big Gilson Live at the Blue Note NYC” was released in 2001 on Top Cat.

Other recordings include the CD “Bruce Ewan and the Solid Senders,” released by Top Cat Records in 1999 and a track on “The Blues You Hate to Lose, Vol. 2,” a compilation CD of the Washington, D.C. area’s top bluesmen released by Right on Rhythm. In yet another example of his virtuosity and his ability to relate to a variety of international musical styles, Ewan recently played harp on a recording by Don Carlos and Roots Radics on RAS Records.

Ewan’s virtuosity on the harmonica stands out among his peers and competitors. He plays complex solos that combine flurries of notes, changes of tonality, and a keen sense of timing. Thoroughly schooled in the history and traditions of the blues in general and the blues harp in particular, he is a master of both diatonic and chromatic harmonica. His vocals, too, are faithful to the subtleties and nuances of authentic-sounding blues.

Ewan’s repertoire is not limited to a rotation of the most common or clichéd blues. Instead, he reaches deep into the blues heritage for an intriguing blend of obscure as well as familiar blues tunes originated by great blues harmonica players. He especially prides himself on his work on the chromatic harmonica, augmenting the “Chicago style” of Little Walter and George “Harmonica” Smith with jazzy inflections.

Incorporating his love for Latin music, Ewan is currently working on a major Latin/Blues project “Bluesero” which fuses chromatic and di