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James Cotton's 35th Anniversary Jam |
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Saturday, 31 December 2005 09:51 |
James Cotton's 35th Anniversary Jam
By John Sinclair
James Cotton is one of the best loved bluesmen alive, and to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the formation of the legendary James Cotton Blues Band organized when the rising young harmonica star finally left his post in the great Muddy Waters outfit of the mid- 60s a whole gang of the veteran harpist's musician friends (and fans!) joined their hero to pay homage to his greatness.
For this hearty celebration James and producer Randy Labbe augmented the Cotton band's working line-up guitarist Mike Williams, pianist Dave Maxwell, bassist Noel Neal and drummer Per Hansen with a whole galaxy of top-flight blues singers, from Koko Taylor, Bobby Rush, Syl Johnson, Ronnie Hawkins and Lucky Peterson to Maria Muldaur, Kim Wilson, Shemekia Copeland and Kenny Neal. Guitarists Tab Benoit, G.E. Smith and Jimmie Vaughan also join in the festivities, with Vaughan paying his respects more than once.
While Cotton's once-lusty voice has suffered in recent years from the ravages of time, tobacco, and other destructive forces, he's got so many singers on board for these sessions that he doesn t even have to worry about exercising his battered vocal cords. But it's important to note and immediately apparent that James harmonica chops are stronger and more expressive than ever, and his many fans will be delighted to hear him blast and moan his way through the program of Cotton classics and blues standards presented on this disc.
What a harmonica Cotton continues to wield! What enormous surges of power, what swelling billows of emotive sound issue forth from his humble little instrument of choice! Ever since Cotton came of musical age as a hotshot player on the West Helena and Memphis blues scenes in the early 1950s, his personal sound, inventive solos and sensitive obbligati have gained the harpist his well-deserved reputation as one of the most important American musicians ever to put his mouth to the Mississippi saxophone.
A native of Tunica, in the upper Delta, Cotton like his contemporaries Little Walter and Junior Wells drew the inspiration for his brilliant harmonica style from the pioneering modern harp work of Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Snooky Pryor and Big Walter Horton. One of Sam Phillips early Sun Records artists ( Cotton Crop Blues ), Cotton burst into national prominence in 1955 when Muddy Waters called him up to the bigs to fill the harmonica seat in his band previously held by Little Walter, Junior Wells, Big Walter and Henry Pot Strong.
Cotton fit into Muddy's band like fingers into a glove on a brisk winter day, and he remained with Muddy for most of the next 10 years. Carefully tailored to the needs of the modern electric blues band and ever attentive to the nuances of delivery by whoever might be singing the lead, Cotton's harmonica lifted Muddy's vocals above the band and blew hot and blazing or deep and nasty in his allotted solo spots.
Starting with their crowd-leveling set at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival, released as a popular Chess LP, the Muddy Waters band began to reach out from their base in the blues ghetto to penetrate the consciousness of music lovers of the Caucasian persuasion all over America and England. Cotton's own reputation as Muddy's front-line foil and spectacular harmonica soloist mounted until he was signed by the pop label Buddha Records in 1966 and encouraged to form his own ensemble, a fiery outfit known simply as the James Cotton Blues Band.
Cotton came out of the box with a bang to begin his solo career, enjoying widespread FM airplay and a full touring schedule which frequently found him sharing bills in major venues with hit rock bands. He was a favorite at the Fillmores and at rock ballrooms all across the country, and he was able to lay down a solid foundation during this period for a successful lifetime in music.
Ensuing Cotton Blues Band.albums for Buddha, Verve and a succession of labels helped keep the harpist at the forefront of the contemporary blues scene as it waxed and waned and began to wax brightly again in the 1990s. Now he's more popular than ever, riding a new crest of listener interest and basking in the adulation of the generations of contemporary harmonica players he has helped spawn.
There are a lot of James many musical admirers on hand right here to help him make this album, but let's say it right out: This is a James Cotton record first of all, and he's right on top of everything that's happening, attacking his instrument with the energy of a man just starting out and the wisdom and taste of a wily survivor, a fully accomplished master player who can say anything he wants to on the harmonica and does.
Happy anniversary, James, and may you enjoy as many years at the top of your game as you may wish to savor on this Earth.
Amsterdam
November 21, 2001
(c) 2001, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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