The Blues Time Machine Takes Us Back To December 1976

This is my blues column from the December 1976 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Dexter Gordon on the cover to promote his appearance at the Tralfamadore Cafe in November. As I noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. 

Clifton Chenier is the undisputed master of zydeco music, a hybrid form which mixes the· cajun music of the French speaking population of Southwest Louisiana with blues. His latest album on Arhoolie, Bogalusa Boogie (1076), is his seventh for the label. It is as usual a thoroughly ingratiating set as Clifton's mastery of the accordion, his warm good-humored vocals (most of which are in cajun French) and a tight band, which features his brother Cleveland ori rubboard and 'the honking r'n'b tenor saxophone of John Hart, brew a musical gumbo that is one of his best sets. Highlights include Je Me Reveiller Ce Matin, a French version of B.B. King's Woke Up This Morning, with Clifton's accordian playing King's guitar part, One Step at a Time, where Clifton adds Jimmy Reedish harmonica and the stomping instrumental Ride 'Em Cowboy. Clifton is about to have a double album set released on Utopia and I can't wait for it. One warning about this music - exposure to Clifton's good time music can be addicting and his output for Arhoolie is uniformly high though this set is especially fine. 

Arhoolie is one of the finest labels of blues and folk music. J.C. Burris' One of These Mornings (1075) features the bluesy vocals and harmonica of Sonny Terry's nephew whose music is the dominant influence. This is a warm set which includes a couple of pieces where J.C. plays the bones. A highlight on this album, which was recorded live, is Inflation Blues. J.C. is unaccompanied.

Blues Classics is subsidiary of Arhoolie and has a catalog of excellent reissues. The latest release When Women Sang the Blues is a valuable reissue of women singing down-home, or rural, blues, as opposed to the vaudevile blues of Bessie Smith, Ida Cox and others. Excellent performances by Lillian Glenn: Chippie Hill (with excellent accompaniment from Georgia Tom Dorsey and Tampa Red), Memphis Minnie and Willie B. Huff are included. There are also two excellent collections of Memphis Minnie on the Blues Classics.

Nighthawk Records is a new label that apparently will  be specializing in reissues of rare postwar blues  records. Their initial release of four albums are of a uniformly high standard and produce many cases of the rural flavor city blues so popular among enthusiasts. As they all are fine releases, I will simply describe their contents and mention some of the performers heard. Windy City Blues: The Transistion (101) features one side of pre-World War 2 recordings including Pinetop Sparks' Everyday I Have The Blues (the first recording of the song) Washboard Sam, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Jr. Lockwood. The second side includes Lockwood, Tampa Red, and Tony Hollins in post-war recordings.

Chicago Slickers: 1948-1953 (102) features more classic Chicago postwar blues including Johnny Shines' classic Ramblin', and rare performances by Little Walter, Floyd Jones and Homesick James among others. These two Chicago antho-logies nicely complement Chicago Blues, The Early 50s (Blues Classics BC 8) and On the Road Again (Muskadine 100), two classic anthologies of Chicago Blues.

Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam (103) features Hot Shot Love's wild Harmonica Jam, six tunes by the great one-man band Joe Hill Louis, Walter Horton and Willie Nix (with a young James Cotton) that boogie up a storm. Detroit Ghetto Blues (104) includes Louisiana Red (as Playboy Fuller and Rocky Fuller). Baby Boy Warren (whose Hello Stranger is a remake of Sonny Boy Williamson 1's Mattie Mae and has Sonny Boy 2 on harmonica) Walter Mitchell, L. C. Green and other generally obscure names in a set of blues that reflects the influence of Sonny Boy 1 in the reworking of his songs, and in the various harmonica players who appear on these sides. Albums on the Blues Classics label incidentally complement these issues also.

Big Walter Horton-Blues Harmonica Giant Part 2

If there is a Mount Rushmore of Blues Harmonica, than the four gentlemen who would be represented would be John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson; Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II); Little Walter Jacobs; and Walter Horton. Horton was known by a variety of names including “Mumbles,” “Shakey Walter,” and most notably “Big Walter,” the latter to distinguish him from Little Walter Jacobs who may have had a more successful career but could hardly be called a more creative or expressive master of the blues harmonica that Big Walter. Walter was tall, lean and gaunt, had a delicate aspect to himself and to quote Neil Slaven, in the notes to the recently issued 3-CD set on JSP, Blues Harmonic Giant, “dedicated to the music rather than a career.” This collection contains two CDs of material from the 1950s along with a live recording from the 70s or 80s where he is joined by his most prominent disciple, Carey Bell. Today is the second part of my look at this compilation, focusing on the accompaniments included on the second disc.

The second disc also includes a number of his accompaniments to other artists. Particularly noteworthy is a session with drummer Willie Nix that also included guitarist Willie Johnson with wonderful renditions of Leroy Carr’s “Prison Bound Blues” (taken at an unusual shuffle tempo), and Robert Lockwood’s “Take a Little Walk With Me,” standing out for Nix’s infectious singing, Billy Love’s rollicking piano and Horton’s crying accompaniment very much in a Sonny Boy Williamson vein on the Carr tune, but a bit more punch on the Lockwood cover. Horton’s harp is dazzling on Joe Hill Louis’ “Hydramatic Woman,” a fresh reworking of “Rocket 88.” Also included on this second disc, are recordings from the legendary January, 1953 J.O.B. session under Shines’ name including the soaring harp over Shines’ vocals on “Evening Sun,” and “Brutal Hearted Woman,” whose four thrilling choruses from Horton on the former number, along with alternate takes of “Evening Sun,” and a couple of unissued tracks. 

In December, 1953 Horton was present on one of Tampa Red’s final Victor-Bluebird sessions with a band that included Little Johnny Jones on piano, and Odie Payne on drums. “Big Stars Are falling,” musically has echoes of some of Muddy Waters recordings and Horton’s authoritative playing along with Willie Lacey’s jazzy mix of single note runs and chords adds a nice flavor. A nice latin groove is present on “Rambler’s Blues,” with more scintillating guitar from Lacey along with Horton laying down a terrific chorus followed by his comping behind Lacey’s break. The last Horton accompaniments presented here are behind Sunnyland Slim’s coupling, “Highway 61,” and “It’s You Baby.” Some really great playing although the original recordings do leave something to be desired. This set provides a good sampling of accompaniments although it isn't exhaustive.  It does not some of his famous accompaniments behind Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers, or Horton's playing for States on a 78 behind Atlanta shouter Tommy Brown ("Southern Woman" and "Remember Me"). The selected tracks here do illustrate why Horton was so in demand for session work by Sam Phillips and later Willie Dixon.

Horton’s career took received a boost during the blues revival in the sixties when his harmonica work became prominent, and after the deaths of Little Walter and Rice Miller, he was clearly the Blues Harmonica giant. On the third volume of Chicago, The Blues Today, his harmonica is prominently featured backing Johnny Shines (except on “Dynaflow Blues”) and Johnny Young (on the songs Young plays guitar and not mandolin) along with the afore-mentioned duet with Musselwhite. His playing throughout these selections are terrific. The late Pete Welding used Horton on the albums he produced in the Masters of Modern Blues series on Testament (that were issued on CD by Hightone) including recordings by Shines, J.B. Hutto, and Floyd-Jones and Eddie Taylor. He also was a prominent member of Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All Stars and featured on their Columbia album of the sixties. The first time I saw Horton was as part of this ‘super-group,’ at New York City’s Electric Circus in the late sixties.

Touring Europe with Dixon and others, he made several albums under his name. One of the CDs from the time was recorded with so much echo it was unlistenable, but other recordings were made over the years. A real good album was made for Blind Pig in the seventies under the auspices of Guitar Johnny Nicholas and the Rhythm Rockers who included pianist Ron Levy. There was also a CD by Shines on Blind Pig at the time and Nicholas’s own “Too Many Bad Habits,” on which Horton played. Nicholas had a tour featuring Horton and Shines that I saw outside of Buffalo, probably in the Summer of 1976, andit  was truly magical as Nicholas, and his band, provided wonderful accompaniment for the two legends as well as their own featured performances. Horton’s recording with Nicholas, “Fine Cuts” has been made available on CD, but neither the Shines nor Nicholas recordings have been available in this format. The best album under Horton’s name unquestionably is one on Alligator which included Carey Bell, Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell.

Tomorrow I will consider the third disc of the JSP set, that contains a live recording by Horton with Carey Bell.

Big Walter Horton-Blues Harmonica Giant Part 1

If there is a Mount Rushmore of Blues Harmonica, than the four gentlemen who would be represented would be John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson; Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II); Little Walter Jacobs; and Walter Horton. Horton was known by a variety of names including “Mumbles,” “Shakey Walter,” and most notably “Big Walter,” the latter to distinguish him from Little Walter Jacobs who may have had a more successful career but could hardly be called a more creative or expressive master of the blues harmonica that Big Walter. Walter was tall, lean and gaunt, had a delicate aspect to himself and to quote Neil Slaven, in the notes to the recently issued 3-CD set on JSP, Blues Harmonic Giant, “dedicated to the music rather than a career.” This collection contains two CDs of material from the 1950s along with a live recording from the 70s or 80s where he is joined by his most prominent disciple, Carey Bell. Today is the first look at this compilation, focusing on the recordings issued under Horton’s name or sessions for which he was a leader.

Walter Horton was born in Mississippi in 1918, but shortly thereafter moved to Memphis where his father bought Walter his first harmonica. The family later moved to Arkansas where Johnny Shines first came across him blowing into a tin can. With the family moving back to Arkansas, where he started hanging out around Handy Park with the likes of Frank Stokes, Will Shade, Buddy Doyle, Dewey Corley, Jack Kelly and Floyd Jones. It was there that he got the nickname, Shakey Walter. Walter, it is said, made his first recordings backing Little Buddy Doyle in 1939 along with Jack Kelly while playing with the members of the Memphis Jug band and others. According to Neil Slaven’s notes to, Blues Harmonic Giant, Walter could not make ends meet playing music, so he worked hauling ice, and later was a chef at the Peabody Hotel. He even traveled to Chicago and played on Maxwell Street, but never stayed there long.

The importance of Sam Phillips opening the Memphis Recording Service in 1950 cannot be overstated as far as the recording of blues in the Memphis and Delta area. In addition to recording weddings and other events, Phillips began recording performers for out-of-town labels like RPM and Chess before starting his own Sun Records. Horton was among the earliest artists he recorded, when in February 1951 a session was held that would be sent to the Biharis in Los Angeles and issued on RPM. The very first track in this collection is, “Cotton Patch Hotfoot,” original unissued but a remarkable instrumental with simple echoey guitar from an unknown source and Willie Nix’s light drumming behind Horton.  Horton sounds here like Rice Miller, the second Sonny Boy Williamson, but dispalying a bit more swooping attack. Sonny Boy’s Trumpet records sounds like a model for the shuffle “What’s a Matter With You,” which has a pretty good vocal and superb harp. “Little Boy Blues,” recorded originally by Robert Lockwood a decade earlier, was actually released and coupled with “Now Tell Me Baby,” that Walter sings forcefully, but his rough voice led RPM to issue this as by Mumbles. Walter’s harp was at least every bit as good here as that of the second Sonny Boy, then holding forth on King Biscuit Time, with Walter’s  vocalized crying tone and irresistible swing.

For his second session in June, Walter was backed by the Newborn family; Phineas, Jr. on piano, Calvin on guitar and Phineas, Sr., on drums. On this session, Horton reworked a 1937 John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson’s recording as “Black Gal.” His harp playing on this is styled after that of the first Sonny Boy Williamson. It is interesting to hear the stronger accompaniment than present on the earlier session. “Hard Hearted Woman” is a song he redo later in Chicago. This earlier take is done as a shuffle, with a peppy tempo, and  terrific guitar from Calvin Newborn behind Horton’s harp. On this track, Horton’s playing is more in a Rice Miller vein. “Jumping Blues” is another shuffle with his harp playing not fazed by the breakneck tempo. “So Long Baby,” takes the tempo down a bit as he hoarsely delivers the lyric to a blues adapted from Tampa Red’s “When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too).”

Walter returned to the Sun studios as a leader a year later. September 1952 found him with Jack Kelly on piano, Joe Hill Louis on guitar and Willie Nix on drums for a reworking of Big Bill’s “I Feel So Good,” as “We All Gotta Go.” Also at this session he recorded “Little Walter’s Boogie,” (obviously modeled after Little Walter’s “Juke”). This recording displays Walter's long saxophone-like lines mixed with fluttering, warbling cries. The three different takes of this are totally different with the spectacular second take being an instrumental that he would later return to as “Walter’s Boogie,” and record several with Memphis Charlie Musselwhite on Volume 3 of “Chicago The Blues Today,” and later with Johnny young on Arhoolie. “West Winds Are Blowing,” is a slow blues with a decent vocal, but displaying Walter’s lack of suppleness as a singer. In December 1952 with Albert Williams on piano, Joe Hill Louis on guitar and likely Willie Nix on drums for two takes of “Grandmother Got Grandfather Told.” where his harp has a bit more amplified sound as he negotiates the moderate tempo. In July, 1953, Walter covered Little Walter’s “Off the Wall,” with a band that included Pinetop Perkins on piano and Earl Hooker and two takes provided show his full tone, although not as quite as sharply controlled as Little Walter, and the backing doesn’t swing as hard as the Myers brothers and Fred Below.  Later, after doing a Muddy Waters session in Chicago, and some Johnny Shine sessions for J.O.B., Horton was back in Memphis recording “Easy,” one of the great harmonica blues instrumental recordings.  This is a stunning reworking of Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lose My Mind,” with simple accompaniment from Jimmy DeBerry, that showcases his haunting tone, and judicious use of hand effects.

Within the next year, Horton would be established in Chicago and made his first recording as a leader there for the States label on a Willie Dixon produced session. “Hard Hearted Woman,” is transformed into a slow blues with one of his most expressive vocals and some of his most potent harp with the tenor sax riffing of Red Holloway and John Cameron part of the backing for Horton’s soaring solo. It and its backing side “Back Home to Mama,” are presented in issued and alternate takes. Along with the shuffle “Have a Good Time,” and “Need My Baby,” recorded for Cobra, this completes the issuance of Horton’s fifties recordings as a leader that take up the entire first disc and beginning of the second disc of this set.

For Part 2 of this tomorrow, I will examine some of Horton’s accompaniments. I purchased this collection.