Artist:Little Walter
Song:Blues With A Feeling
Album:His Best
Blues harmonica legend Little Walter was best known for his days with Muddy Waters. He has influenced anyone who has ever played blues harmonica. He was born Marion Walter Jacobs May 1, 1930 in Marksville, LA. He arrived in Chicago in 1946 and along with Jimmy Rogers & Babyface Leroy Foster, became part of Muddy Waters & The Headhunters. This band shook the blues world. By 1950 he was also playing harmonica on plenty of Chess sessions. An instrumental called Juke that was recorded at the end of a Waters session became Little Walter's first hit in 1952. So then he formed his own band called The Aces with guitarists Louis & David Myers and drummer Fred Below. Also, Leonard Chess continued to use him on Waters recordings. Little Walter had 14 Top Ten R & B hits from 1952-58 on the Checker label including Blues With A Feeling. This comp is a perfect intro for beginners. Like a lot of blues artists, Walter's star faded in the 60s and he was a serious alcoholic as well. That combined with a hot temper resulted in a 1968 street fight and he died on Feb. 15, 1968 at age 37. Little Walter was deservedly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008. Here's Little Walter with Hound Dog Taylor performing Wild About You Baby in 1967.
No comments:
Post a Comment