When you hear him play, you might think Blackie Marlo was born with a harmonica in his mouth, but it didn't really happen that way. He got his first harmonica at age 12, so the 95-year-old has only been playing the instrument for 83 years.
Growing up in Brooklyn he was drawn to accordion music, an interest that led him to the harmonica and its similar sound. Marlo quickly discovered an aptitude for the instrument, as well as an uncanny ability to play the music he heard others play. He began playing along with the Mills Brothers and other musicians he heard on the radio or saw in the movies.
"I could never read music," Marlo said. "I can't read music now, but I play everything by ear."
One of his early heroes was Larry Adler, who revolutionized the harmonica in the 1920s.
"He was one of the finest harmonica virtuosos. That's what they called them at that time," Marlo said of Adler. "This man was fantastic. He played with symphony orchestras, and that made me say, 'Gee, I wish I could do that.' I never played with the symphony, but I played with guys who appreciated that kind of music.
"God gave me a gift. It's pretty tough, you know, to play a classical piece note for note without reading the music," said Marlo.
Marlo started playing around New York as a teenager, and won a wristwatch ("I'll never forget it") on an Arthur Godfrey talent contest in Brooklyn. In 1941, he joined the U.S. Army, where he became a sensation among his buddies.
"I got more experience in the Army than I did anywhere else, because I could play anything I wanted to see how they would accept it," Marlo said. "I played in the barracks, I played for USO shows, they even chose me to travel all over to different bases, and I got even more experience."
After 12 years in the Army, with his buddies saying "you ought to get out of here and do something," Marlo left the service and became a professional musician. A year later, he auditioned for the Harmonicats, and played as a substitute in the popular group from 1954 through 1956. They played "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other big TV shows of the time, as well as made recordings.
Then Marlo got himself an agent and struck out on his own, playing as a solo performer or leading a band. He even played a tour in Europe, where audiences couldn't get enough of the harmonica player who could play classical music.
But by the early '60s, "music was changing," he said, and he gave it up. His wife's family was from Chickamauga, Ga., so he moved there, taking a job at Rossville Yarn and only playing the occasional show.
These days, he keeps active with a weekly jam session with some friends who play country music. Interviewed after one of his weekly get-togethers, he is quick to offer to play some of his old repertoire. "Malaguena" is his favorite, and he plays an amazing segment of the song usually played by flamenco guitarists. Playing rhythm and melody at the same time, he also plays some Gershwin and some marches.
Marlo may be a little rusty around the edges, but his virtuosity is quickly evident, even though he is not too impressed with himself.
"I'm not doing like I should. My breath control ain't like it used to be." Never mind that he recently acquired a pacemaker, and hasn't played this kind of music in a long time.
"Sometimes I sit down and think about the years I had to play this kind of stuff," he said as he packed up all his harmonicas. "You know, it's pretty tough music. I don't do like I should, but I prefer this music."