The harmonica is "the accordion of the soul," said Bud Gardner, founder of the Sun City Harmonicoots. Last year Gardner and the Harmonicoots, made up of 60 people from the Sun City retirement community, wrote a letter convincing the Society for the Advancement and Preservation of Harmonicas (SPAH) to hold the Harmonica Convention in Sacramento.

The convention, now in its 46th year, began Tuesday and continues every day through Saturday at the Radisson Hotel. It features harmonica concerts, lectures and sales as well as impromptu (and scheduled) jam sessions.

The convention will be continued next year in Milwaukee.

"All four of the major harmonica manufacturers are here: Hoener, Sydel, Hering and Suzuki," Gardner said. They sell all the major different types of harmonicas: diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, soprano, alto, bass, baritone, chord, and even the melodica (a hand-held piano that you blow into).

Almost 450 people will pass through the doors, some coming from as far as Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, and even Japan, Italy, England and Germany.

Gardner's wife, Jennifer Martin, Harmonicoots' publicist and one of the few people at the convention who does not play the harmonica, added, "This is the largest turnout in 25 years." In terms of the local scene, Rick Estrin and Charlie Musselwhite are the two biggest Northern Californians attending the event, she said.

Estrin, who leads a group called Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, won a W.C. Handy award for a song he wrote called "My Next Ex-wife" in 1993. Musselwhite has been a featured guest on two Grammy Award-winning albums, and has been nominated for a Grammy six times.

Darrell Williams, a 77-year-old attendee, said about the event, "I love coming to these places eventhough I have to sit through the blues, I wish they would call it the 'happies.'"

Harmonicas are not limited to blues, Martin stressed. In addition to blues, people at the convention will play rock, country, jazz and even classical music on the harmonica.

"Some of the best players in the world are here," said Larry Marks, a 67-year-old harmonica player from Mt. Shasta, Calif. "Sacramento, the Bay Area and Chico all have good harmonica players."

"It's great to see people taking a simple instrument and taking it to another level," said Randy Sandoval, 49, owner of Sacramento's Genesis Harmonicas, a specialty harmonica store. "I was getting burned out sitting in my store, but now that I'm here, I get more motivated."

Genesis Harmonicas creates combs, the inside part of the harmonica, out of an acryllic polymer called Corian, which makes the harmonica sound brighter than the traditional wood. It has been open for 10 years, Sandoval said.

Carol Hall, an 80-year-old first time attendee, said, "I've loved the convention so far, I have my own little band in Florida called The Harmoniguys even though there's two girls."

Though SPAH conventions usually draw an older crowd, this year has the most young people out of all the conventions, noted Sandoval upon seeing the day's crowd. Sandoval, who has attended several previous conventions, noted that the younger crowd is likely due to the presence of Jason Ricci, a younger harmonica player known as the "Jimi Hendrix of harmonica."

John Gindick, author of Country and Blues for the Musically Helpless, a book teaching the techniques of harmonica, described the event as "a place for people who haven't played since they were 19, because they got all serious and started raising kids, but are full of amazing talent."

The activities for the event range from open mic rooms to How to set up an Amp classes. There are also nightly concerts featuring some of the biggest names in the harmonica industry.

Attendee David Groben said, "PT Gazelle is even here, he is a God in the harmonica world."

Wednesday's concert was a packed house of nearly 400 with an amazing opening performance by Christelle Berthon, a harmonica player from France accompanied by Jimmy Lee on guitar.

Berthon played familiar tunes as well as some of her own creations. A crowd favorite was her rendition of Louis Armstrong's "It's a Wonderful World" as the enormous group of fellow players and admirers sang along.
For a full schedule of the events, visit SPAH's website.

Jonathan Mendick contributed to this article.

Photos by Jonathan Mendick.