This Is the Blues Harmonica

by This Is The Blues Harmonica / V

Overview

You don't have to be a bluesman to be known for your harmonica playing -- Stevie Wonder has taken his share of memorable harmonica solos, and the distinctive Toots Thielemans (who is arguably the Stan Getz of the harmonica) has demonstrated that a harmonica player can handle the most sophisticated of jazz. That said, no musical idiom has given listeners more first-class harmonica players than the blues. From the Mississippi Delta and the bayous of Louisiana to Chicago's South Side, the harmonica has long been the blues' most famous wind instrument. Spanning 1950-1999, This Is the Blues Harmonica gives listeners an appealing taste of some of the harmonica soloists (many of them singers) to whom Delmark has had access over the years. At its best, this compilation is excellent -- and at its worst, it is at least decent. It's quite appropriate that the CD opens with Little Walter's 1950 recording "Red Headed Woman," for the singer's harmonica solos had a major impact on many Chicago bluesmen of the 1950s and 1960s. This collection tends to favor Chicago-based harmonica players, who range from Big Walter Horton on "Hard-Hearted Woman" (1954) and Louis Myers on "Top of the Harp" (1968) to the obscure Harmonica George on 1959's instrumental (and poorly recorded) "Sputnik Blues." But This Is the Blues Harmonica detours into acoustic country blues with Sleepy John Estes' rare 1964 recording of "New York City Blues," which features the singer's longtime partner Hammie Nixon on harmonica. There are some other rarities as well, including Carey Bell's infectious 1972 instrumental "Deep Down South" and Junior Wells' "This Is the Blues" (which is from the 1965 session that gave us his Hoodoo Man Blues album). This disc is far from the last word on blues harmonica, but it's a good-to-excellent collection that is recommended to anyone who has admired Delmark's contributions to the blues. ~ Alex Henderson

Product Details

Release Date:	05/08/2001
Label:	Delmark
UPC:	0038153074623
Rank:	133935

Tracks

1. Red Headed Woman  - Leroy Foster  -  Little Walter  -  P.D. Scots Pipe Band
2. Deep Down South  - Carey Bell
3. Ain't It Nice  - Willie Kent
4. Top of the Harp  - Louis Myers
5. New York City Blues  - Hammie Nixon  -  Traditional
6. I Got the Blues About My Baby  - Al Collins  - Bonnie Lee
7. Sputnik, Music  - George Robinson  - Harmonica George
8. Hey Little Girl  - Little Sammy Davis
9. Hard-Hearted Woman  - Leonard Allen  - Big Walter Horton
10. Hopeless  - Percy Mayfield  - Dave Specter
11. Shake Your Boogie  - Jimmy Burns  - Sonny Boy Williamson
12. This Is the Blues  - Junior Wells
13. Guilty  - Willie Mabon  - Golden "Big" Wheeler
14. Streetwise Advisor  - Billy Boy Arnold
15. "C" for Chicago  - Steve Freund

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Golden "Big" Wheeler   Primary Artist
Harmonica George   Primary Artist
Junior Wells   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica
Steve Freund   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Big Walter Horton   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica
Billy Boy Arnold   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica
Bonnie Lee   Primary Artist,Vocals
Carey Bell   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Louis Myers   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Little Sammy Davis   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica
Hammie Nixon   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica
Dave Specter   Primary Artist,Guitar
Little Walter   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Jimmy Burns   Primary Artist,Harmonica
Willie Kent   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals
Buddy Guy   Guitar
Willie Dixon   Bass
Baldhead Pete   Drums
Will Davis   Guitar
Lee Cooper   Guitar
Jacob Dawson   Guitar
Michael Sharfe   Bass
Luther "Slim" Adams   Guitar
Sho Komiya   Bass
Joe Harper   Bass
Bob Stroger   Bass
Ken Saydak   Organ
Harlan Terson   Bass
Barrelhouse Chuck   Piano
Eddie Taylor   Guitar
Lynwood Slim   Vocals,Harmonica
Leroy Foster   Drums,Vocals
James Wheeler   Guitar
Willie Johnson   Guitar
Hubert Sumlin   Guitar
Mark Fornek   Drums
Jack Myers   Bass
Kelly Littleton   Drums
Allen Batts   Piano
Kenny Barker   Piano
Kim Wilson   Harmonica
Lafayette Leake   Piano
Eddy Clearwater   Guitar
Fred Scribner   Guitar
Fred Below   Drums

Technical Credits

Willie Kent   Composer
Junior Wells   Composer
Sonny Boy Williamson I   Composer
P.D. Scots Pipe Band   Composer
Al Brandtner   Design
Al Collins   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Steve Freund   Composer
Steve Wagner   Producer
Billy Boy Arnold   Composer
Bonnie Lee   Composer
Carey Bell   Composer
Leroy Foster   Composer
Louis Myers   Composer
Leonard Allen   Composer
Scott Dirks   Compilation Producer
Percy Mayfield   Composer
George Robinson   Composer
Willie Mabon   Composer