Just received my copy of Wim Dijkgraaf's cassette in the mail and put it on.
Wow. This, or something very much like it, deserves to be a commercially-released CD. Wim has chops, phrasing, sensitivity, dynamics, guts, and just plain musicality to spare, with some very nice arrangements. When it ended, I wanted more.
Our previous conversations notwithstanding, his playing is certainly not lacking in note sequences that lie well on the harmonica or make good use of its tuning. I know he's looking beyond that, but he's certainly not ignoring the instrument's "native chanrms."
I would say that Wim can stand shoulder to shoulder very easily with Mike Turk and Hendrik Meurkens as a jazz harmonica player. Considering how young he is and how good his chops are, and the fact that he's frustrated with the physical and organizational limits of the instrument, and the nearness of the stylistic horizon, I'd say we have a lot to hear yet from this player.
If you like jazz harmonica, get this tape or you'll be missing out on something really worthwhile. I believe that someone posted his address and a price a few days ago.
