COURTESY OF E.U. BOOKING AGENCY Norton Buffalo, second from left, leads his Knockouts through an interisland tour this week.

Tongues of fun

Harmonica great Norton Buffalo
and his band bring their versatility
to Oahu

The harp player -- the guy with the harmonicas -- he's usually the object of good-natured ribbing by the other band members. And it's the roadies who are humping around and setting up amps and pianos and drum kits, while the harp player shows up late, flirts with the girls -- "Harp players are better kissers!" -- then snaps open a briefcase containing a battered bullet mic and a dozen gleaming, tiny instruments, like chromed shotgun shells.

Musical Knockout Hawaiian Islands Rhythm & Blues Blow Out featuring Norton Buffalo and The Knockouts, and E.C. Scott & Smoke Where: Pipeline Cafe, 805 Pohukaina St. When: 7 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $25 advance and $30 at the door Call: (808) 896-4845

But not Norton Buffalo, no sir. He apparently travels with every harmonica he's ever owned, of every different brand, and an A Team and a B Team of each (more on that later) and if a harp begins to sputter and falter, well it can be brought up to snuff by careful disassembly and micro-fine filing, intimate scraping and surgical reed-bending. Buffalo is still playing harmonicas that are 40 years old.

"Sometimes it just takes a while to get them where you want them," he says.

Norton and his band, The Knockouts, are playing the Pipeline Cafe with R&B stylist E.C. Scott this Sunday. We caught up with him at, judging by the background noise, the Kauai airport Monday.

For those not hip to harps, Norton Buffalo is one of the nation's premier harmonica stylists, playing a clean-playing cascade of notes encompassing blues, jazz, bluegrass and all points in between. We could list the artists who have demanded his services, but there's only so much newsprint in the warehouse. Here's a taste: Commander Cody. Steve Miller. Roy Rogers. Willie Dixon. Bonnie Raitt. Johnny Cash. Olivia Newton-John. Doobie Brothers. Kenny Loggins ... no wonder his recent album with the Knockouts is his first solo in some time. The boy's been busy.

Although he plays all brands, Buffalo leans toward Huang harps, a Chinese brand. "They're my main diatonics," he explained, referring to harps with a set tuning. "For chromatics, I like Hohners. I started out with Marine Bands, learning it from my father. I was just 7 or so at the time, and didn't really get into blues and jug music until high school. Man, my first two records were by Charlie Musselwhite and Paul Butterfield, and when you hear cats like that, you never look back."

Norton's style is distinctive, like a silvery spray of notes, that twirl around the melody. "I'm still learning," he laughs. "Forty-seven years at it, and I'm still trying to define my own style! Takes a while to break in harps, and when they're new, they're relegated to the B Team, the rhythm section. When they're bending notes the way I like 'em, they move up to the solo team."

He eschews playing through electronics, preferring a bright, happy sound rather than the overdriven sludge most blues players prefer (although he did record "Shuffalo" off his new record by playing into an Electrolux vacuum cleaner with a megaphone duct-taped on). "Nope. Right into the Neumann mic and out the PA. Do all the tonal changes with hands and mouth and tongue control."

So, is it true that harp players are better kissers?

Norton laughed shyly. "You'd have to ask my wife about that! But like the bumper sticker says, 'Harp Players are Tongues of Fun!' "