Personnel: Charlie Musselwhite (vocals, harmonica); Sam Mitchell (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin); Stefan Grossman (acoustic guitar); Bob Hall (piano); Steve York (bass guitar); Jeff Rich (drums, percussion).

This album comes recommended to anyone who wants to learn how to play blues harmonica. With its accompanying instructional booklet (written by Musselwhite himself), THE HARMONICA ACCORDING TO CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE is full of useful information for harmonica students. Yet the disc is not a mere how-to manual, thanks largely to Musselwhite's generous helpings of harp-fueled bluesifying on such tracks as "Pistol in Your Face," "Blues All Night," and "Shelby County Blues."

Ostensibly an instructional blues harp album (with an exhaustive accompanying book penned by Charlie), this is emotional and listenable rather than academic. Charlie covers a wide range of blues styles (and harp positions), and ventures to the outer fringes of the genre for the instrumentals "Hard Times" (from Ray Charles's sax man David "Fathead" Newman) and his Latin original "Azul Para Amparo" (backed only by guitarist Sam Mitchell). The English studio band is sympathetic, especially pianist Bob Hall. ~ Dan Forte