The only world-class jazz vibraphonist to double on harmonica (and vice versa), Hendrik Meurkens is not only a major artist on those two instruments, but he has long had an overlapping dual career in straight ahead jazz and Brazilian music. “I’m from Hamburg, Germany, which is neither a jazz nor a Brazilian music city. It all started for me with some random records that I found in my parents’ collection. I became interested in both jazz and Brazilian music at the same time, whether it was Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson or João Gilberto. Brazilian music is so beautiful that it is hard to resist. The harmonica works very well in that style.”