A DC Musician’s Harmonica Haunts the “Killers of the Flower Moon” Soundtrack
When Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated Killers of the FlowerMoon opens on October 20, a local sound will accompany the Western crime drama about the Osage Indian murders and the birth of the FBI: Woven throughout the “bluesy” and “percussive” music score are the quivering, bending notes of DC-based harmonicist Frédéric Yonnet.
Yonnet is considered a world-renowned, urban jazz harmonicist, known for incorporating the instrument into unexpected genres such as R&B, funk, gospel and hip-hop. “I’ve also developed several techniques that allow me to morph the harmonica into sounds that are very close to a violin or guitar, a human voice and sometimes a piano,” says Yonnet, who who has lived on Capitol Hill for more than twenty years.
Originally from France, Yonnet moved to DC “for love” in 2001, he says. His wife, Carla Sims, works as a communications professional in the entertainment business. Through her, he became close friends with Dave Chappelle, who later introduced Yonnet to Stevie Wonder. Captivated by Yonnet’s style, Wonder brought him on tour. (As Chappelle put it during an NPR Tiny Desk concert: “He’s so good at playing harmonica that another man good at harmonica hired him.”) Since then, Yonnet has also played with Prince, John Legend, Ed Sheeran, and John Mayer.
Yonnet says he crossed paths with Scorsese’s go-to film composer, Robbie Robertson (who died in August), by happenstance at a house party years ago. Robertson, who had led the rock group the Band and was a former lead guitarist for Bob Dylan, was close friends with Scorsese, often serving as music director for his films. “At the time, I didn’t realize who I was talking to,” said Yonnet. He must have made an impression nonetheless. Months later when working on the score for The Irishman, Robertson and Scorsese reached out to Yonnet. “They wanted the harmonica to be the sound of an almost a grim reaper-like figure in The Irishman,” said Yonnet, who got the part. “It would basically be a musical highlight [portending] that a death was about to happen.” You can listen to his ominous yet sultry playing in The Irishman here.
When Robertson and Scorsese began working on Killers of the Flower Moon, they enlisted Yonnet once again. “I asked Scorsese, ‘What is it about my playing that makes you want to kill people?’” said Yonnet.