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Media Type: CD
Artist: LITTLE WALTER
Title: HIS BEST
Street Release Date: 06/17/1997
Domestic
Genre: BLUES

Marion "Little Walter" Jacobs is perhaps the most influential harmonica player on contemporary blues, and his collection is a great place to start. He was trained by Muddy Waters, but brought a more swinging feel to blues. Muddy and his band accompany Little Walter on many hits, as do Robert "Jr." Lockwood, the Aces, and other Chicago greats. In the 1950s, Little Walter's popularity eclipsed even Waters', his style a little more relaxed and pop-oriented. Walter's versions of many songs are the standards: "Blues with a Feeling," "You're So Fine," "Juke." Great stuff. --Robert Gordon

Customer Reviews:

• Chicago Blues at its best!!!
  Want to hear the best blues harp player ever? Then you want to hear Little Walter. On this CD Chess Records as part of their 50th anniversary celebration has put together a collection of Little Walter's work that is truly his best. This guy can wail on the harmonica like no one before or since. For Chicago Blues there's none better than Little Walter....more info
• GET THIS ONE
  EVERY SONG IN THIS ALBUM IS FANTASTIC! WALTER'S PLAYING IS AMAZING. IF YOU LISTEN TO SOME OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES, YOULL FIND OUT WHY HE WAS CONSIDRED SUCH AN INNOVATOR. THE FINEST ALBUM OF THE FINEST HARP PLAYER EVER! DONT MISS IT (FROM A TRUE BLUES FAN)...more info
• Best of the best
  Most of the really great harp players are dead and he was one of the very best. Harpers are still trying to figure out what he was doing with some of his licks!...more info
• Unsurpassed
  Marion Walter Jacobs (b. May 1, 1930 in Alexandria, Louisiana), and influenced by the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson (No. 1) and Louis Jordan and his jump saxophone arrangements, quite simply revolutionized the blues harmonica technique when he showed up at Chicago's famed Maxwell Street market in 1947.
  
  Among the hundreds of artists plying their trade in that environment he stood out to the point where he attracted the interest of the small Chicago labels Ora Nelle and Regal where he cut several sides. His big break came in 1951 when the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, hired him to back Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers, and it was as much his amplified harmonica that made hits out of Mannish Boy, I'm Ready, and Standing Around Crying [by Waters), and That's All Right and The World Is In A Tangle (Rogers).
  
  By 1952 he was assigned to the Checker subsidiary, and by that September he literally burst into prominence when the instrumental Juke streaked to # 1 R&B and remained there for eight solid weeks [the flip was Can't Hold On Much Longer and is erroneously listed in this compilation as "Can't Hold Out ..."). This single was billed to Little Walter and His Night Cats.
  
  The follow-up Sad Hours (instrumental) didn't quite repeat that success, settling for # 2 early in 1953, while the vocal flipside, Mean Old World, reached # 6 as by Little Walter and His Night Caps. Fittingly, Muddy Waters played guitar on each of these first three hits.
  
  When his next hit reached the charts later that spring (Off The Wall, # 8 as an instrumental, and Tell Me Mama, # 10 as a vocal, he was billed as Little Walter and His Jukes in order to capitalize on his debut smash hit. The Jukes consisted of Chess sessionmen Louis and David Myers on guitar and Fred Belows on drums.
  
  From there to 1959 he would add 10 more hit singles to his credit, his last coming in 1959 when Everything Gonna Be Alright (erroneously listed as "Everything's") reached # 25 (his lowest charter) as simply by Little Walter. These included the seminal My Babe, written by Willie Dixon and based upon the old spiritual This Train, which became his only other # 1 hit, staying at that position for five weeks early in 1955.
  
  It would have been nice if, in putting this tribute together, producer Andy McKaie had found room for the three hits omitted - Oh Baby which made it to # 8 in May 1954 b/w Rocker, You'd Better Watch Yourself which reached the same position that September b/w Blue Light, and Who, which reached # 7 in April 1956 b/w It Ain't Right. You can find You'd Better Watch Yourself on The Best Of Little Walter from MCA/Chess, also listed by Amazon.
  
  Adding to this CD's worth are the six pages of liner notes written by the noted music historian Billy Altman, which includes a wonderful story behind Juke, several nice photographs, and a complete discography of the contents. To quote from Mr. Altman "By 1968 he was gone, leaving behind a legacy that harmonica players everywhere regard as, quite simply, the holy grail." That much was recognized by the Blues Hall Of Fame in 1982 when they inducted him among the 20 honoured in their first year of existence. You'd think those pompous ciphers at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame would wake up and at least recognize him in their Early Influence category.
  
  Just a superb collection. ...more info
• The King of the Chicago Blues Harmonica
  As one of the fathers of the postwar Chicago urban blues harmonica style, Little Walter remains one of the greatest players of that instrument.
  His classic "Juke" is an exciting instrumental that is the first "serious" showpiece for many emerging blues harpists.
  
  In fact, every leading blues harmonica player who followed Little Walter-and even most of his contemporaries-studied him closely, and can be heard playing his songs and licks. His playing influenced George Smith, Walter Horton, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Butterfield, John Mayall, and many others too numerous to mention here.
  
  Walter Jacobs was also a fine blues singer, closely involved with the lyric, using a minimum of vocal ornamentation. He was not a "power" singer like Elmore James, but one whose vocal style embodied studied restraint. Walter sang all the typical blues motifs capably, from the down-and-out lovesick blues numbers ("Mean Old World") to the blues-shuffle storytelling songs ("Key to the Highway") to the uptempo, optimistic tunes ("Everything's Gonna Be Alright") that provide contrast to the sad blues themes.
  
  This is the real deal. The musicians on this recording grew up during hard times, many of them in the country in Mississippi; playing the blues was their outlet for expression and relaxation. No "arts funding" was needed for their learning.
  
  It's a superb collection of classic blues songs, and an amazing bargain at the offered price. Highly recommended to all blues lovers, aspiring blues musicians, and listeners who are just beginning to explore blues music. Can't say enough good things about this fine collection....more info