Chris "Buddha" Michalek (July 23, 1971 – December 16, 2010) was an American

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

player. Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, he was an accomplished modern diatonic harmonica player in many styles including

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

World Music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

. Michalek was also the organizer of the Global Harmonica Summit in 2000. Michalek was known for using the overblow technique, which is used to play chromatically on the diatonic harmonica. When he was a teenager, Michalek's harmonicostic talents were discovered by members of the Twin Cities Harmonica Society, including the prominent harmonica player and one-time Harmonicat Dick Gardner. It was the music of Howard Levy that opened Chris' eyes to the possibilities of the harmonica. Levy's overblow, a kind of controlled upward bend, makes available all notes on the diatonic harmonica. The overblow allowed a combination of the excellent tone of the diatonic harmonica with the melodic possibilities of the chromatic. An instrument that once seemed limited became somewhat flexible. Chris quickly began to play jazz and experiment with other styles of music. He was still playing up until recently with well-known bassist Mahlon Hawk in the Buddha's Groove. He died of a stroke on December 16, 2010.

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1971 births 2010 deaths American harmonica players {{US-woodwind-musician-stub