Hendrik Meurkens

Hendrik Meurkens emerged to contest the unchallenged stature Toots Thielemans had maintained on harmonica since launching his first solos during the mid-1950s. Born in Germany to Dutch parents, Meurkens initially concentrated on vibraphone and took up the harmonica only after hearing Thielemans at age 19. He journeyed to the United States to enroll at Berklee, then lived in Brazil through the early 1980s, where he steeped himself in Brazilian jazz. Once back in Berlin he balanced studio work with sessions for the Danish Radio Orchestra and performances by his own jazz ensemble. In 1989 he cut an album in Brazil for the Bellaphon label; beginning in 1991 he released multiple leader dates on Concord and Concord Picante while also contributing as a sideman on recordings by Charlie Byrd.