Blues. Little Walter

Little Walter, born Walter Marion Jacobs on May 1, 1930 in Marksville, Louisiana, taught himself harmonica age at the age of 8. He ran away from home, formed a group and worked the streets and small clubs of New Orleans in 1942. He worked in the Helena, Arkansas area from 1943-1946, performing on 'King Biscuit Time' and with Houston Stackhouse. Jacobs moved to Chicago around 1946 and played on Maxwell Street and in clubs with Tampa Red, Bill Broonzy, and Memphis Slim. His first recordings in 1947 were for Ora Nelle, a small Maxwell Street record label. After Muddy Waters started recording for Chess in 1947 with Ernest "Big" Crawford on bass. In 1948 he added Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rodgers on second guitar, and Leroy Foster on drums to his band, and this group of musicians defined the modern blues band through their experience playing in Chicago's clubs. Their first recordings appeared on Chess in 1950, all classics of postwar blues. Walter's innovative playing and distinctive sound from his amplified harmonica contributed heavily to making Muddy's recordings of the early 1950's the magnificent achievements they still are. Walter toured with the Muddy Water's band during the years 1948-1952.

In 1952 Walter left Muddy's band to showcase his own vocal skills. Walter formed a group called The Jukes with David and Louis Myers on guitars and Fred Below on drums. This trio, known as the Aces then, had been working previously with Junior Wells. Their first recordings were for the Checker subsidiary of Chess in 1952. Walter played the amplified harmonica (often alternating standard and chromatic harmonicas) by holding a small microphone in his cupped hands. He achieved a saxophone-like sound that expressed his highly imaginative improvisations remeniscent of the bop jazz saxophonists of the day. Pete Welding has said of Walter, "As a vocalist he manifested the same incisive, resilient swing, the same passionate conviction and intensity with which he animated his harmonica playing."

From 1952 to 1968 Walter recorded about 100 titles for Chess, of which about half were issued on record as of the early 1970's. Previously unreleased material is making its way to newly released CD's. Grab 'em. Walter also recorded frequently as a sideman for Chess/Checker in the years 1952-1968 in addition to extensive touring, including a tour of England in 1964 with the Rolling Stones.

Walter died on February 15, 1968 in Chicago at the age of 37 as a result of head injuries sustained in a street fight. He is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Evergreen, Il.

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Little Walter (born Marion Walter Jacobs) (May 1, 1930 - February 15, 1968) was a blues singer and harmonica player.

Born in Marksville, Louisiana, Jacobs is generally included among blues music greats: Ry Cooder 's opinion is that Jacobs was the single greatest blues musician ever. His revolutionary harmonica technique has earned comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix in its impact: There were great musicians before and after, but Jacobs' startling virtuosity and innovations reached heights of expression never previously imagined, and fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible in blues music.

Early years
After quitting school at the age of 12, Jacobs left Louisiana and travelled wherever he chose, working odd jobs, busking and honing his musical skills with Sonny Boy Williamson and Big Bill Broonzy, among others.

Arriving in Chicago in 1945, he fell into the thriving blues scene. Jacobs grew tired of being drowned out by electric guitarists, and developed a simple, but previously unused method: He cupped a small microphone in his hand while he played harmonica, and plugged the microphone into a guitar or public address amplifier. He could thus compete with any guitarist's volume, and furthermore, he utilized amplification to explore radical new timbres. Little Walter is generally considered the first 'urban' blues musician. His sound was very modern, with a strong jazz feeling to it and he played mainly composition or modern songs. Madison Deniro wrote a small biographical piece on Little Walter stating that "He was the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion

Success
Little Walter made his first recordings in 1947 for the tiny Ora-Nelle label in Chicago. He joined Muddy Waters' band in 1948, and by 1950 he was playing on Muddy's recordings for Chess Records; Little Walter's harmonica is featured on most of Muddy's classic recordings from the 1950s. Jacobs' own career took off when he recorded as a bandleader for Chess' subsidiary label Checker Records in 1952; the first completed take of the first song attempted at his very first session spent eight weeks in the #1 position on the Billboard magazine R&B charts - the song was "Juke", and it was the first harmonica instrumental ever to become a hit on the R&B charts. He scored an impressive fourteen top-ten hits on the R&B charts between 1952 and 1958, including two #1 hits (the second being "My Babe" in 1955.) A lot of these numbers were originals which he or Chess A&R man Willie Dixon wrote.

Three other harmonica instrumentals by Little Walter reached the Billboard R&B top 10. Off the Wall reached #8, Roller Coaster achieved #6, and Sad Hours reached the #2 position while Juke was still on the charts.


Death
Jacobs suffered from alcoholism, and had a notoriously short fuse, which led to a decline in his fame and fortunes in the 1960s. He died of injuries sustained in a fight.

His legacy has been enormous: He established the standard vocabulary for blues and blues rock harmonica players for more than 50 years, from Paul Butterfield to John Popper of Blues Traveler.

His 1952 instrumental Juke was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

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Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs
(1930 - 1968)

Who's the king of all postwar blues harpists, Chicago division or otherwise? Why, the virtuosic Little Walter, without a solitary doubt. The fiery harmonica wizard took the humble mouth organ in dazzling amplified directions that were unimaginable prior to his ascendancy. His daring instrumental innovations were so fresh, startling, and ahead of their time that they sometimes sported a jazz sensibility, soaring and swooping in front of snarling guitars and swinging rhythms perfectly suited to Walter's pioneering flights of fancy.
Marion Walter Jacobs was by most accounts an unruly but vastly talented youth who abandoned his rural Louisiana home for the bright lights of New Orleans at age 12. Walter gradually journeyed north from there, pausing in Helena (where he hung out with the wizened Sonny Boy Williamson), Memphis, and St. Louis before arriving in Chicago in 1946.

The thriving Maxwell Street strip offered a spot for the still-teenaged phenom to hawk his wares. He fell in with local royalty -- Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy -- and debuted on wax that same year for the tiny Ora-Nelle logo ("I Just Keep Loving Her") in the company of Jimmy Rogers and guitarist Othum Brown. Walter joined forces with Muddy Waters in 1948; the resulting stylistic tremors of that coupling are still being felt today. Along with Rogers and Baby Face Leroy Foster, this super-confident young aggregation became informally known as the Headhunters. They would saunter into South side clubs, mount the stage, and proceed to calmly "cut the heads" of whomever was booked there that evening.

By 1950, Walter was firmly entrenched as Waters's studio harpist at Chess as well (long after Walter had split the Muddy Waters band, Leonard Chess insisted on his participation on waxings -- why split up an unbeatable combination?). That's how Walter came to record his breakthrough 1952 R chart-topper "Juke" -- the romping instrumental was laid down at the tail end of a Waters session. Suddenly Walter was a star on his own, combining his stunning talents with those of the Aces (guitarists Louis and David Myers and drummer Fred Below) and advancing the conception of blues harmonica another few light years with every session he made for Checker Records.

From 1952 to 1958, Walter notched 14 Top Ten hits, including "Sad Hours," "Mean Old World," "Tell Me Mama," "Off the Wall," "Blues with a Feeling," "You're So Fine," a threatening "You Better Watch Yourself," the mournful "Last Night," and a rocking "My Babe" that was Willie Dixon's secularized treatment of the traditional gospel lament "This Train." Throughout his Checker tenure, Walter alternated spine-chilling instrumentals with gritty vocals (he's always been underrated in that department; he wasn't Muddy Waters or the Wolf, but who was?).

Walter utilized the chromatic harp in ways never before envisioned (check out his 1956 free-form instrumental "Teenage Beat," with Robert Jr. Lockwood and Luther Tucker manning the guitars, for proof positive). 1959's determined "Everything Gonna Be Alright" was Walter's last trip to the hit lists; Chicago blues had faded to a commercial non-entity by then unless your name was Jimmy Reed.

Tragically, the '60s saw the harp genius slide steadily into an alcohol-hastened state of unreliability, his once-handsome face becoming a roadmap of scars. In 1964, he toured Great Britain with the Rolling Stones, who clearly had their priorities in order, but his once-prodigious skills were faltering badly. That sad fact was never more obvious than on 1967's disastrous summit meeting of Waters, Bo Diddley, and Walter for Chess as the Super Blues Band; there was nothing super whatsoever about Walter's lame remakes of "My Babe" and "You Don't Love Me."

Walter's eternally vicious temper led to his violent undoing in 1968. He was involved in a street fight (apparently on the losing end, judging from the outcome) and died from the incident's after-effects at age 37. His influence remains inescapable to this day -- it's unlikely that a blues harpist exists on the face of this earth who doesn't worship Little Walter. ~ Bill Dahl

Additional Biographical Info:

It would be safe to say that the Rolling Stones learned a lot from Muddy Waters. One could be tempted to take that statement one step further and say that Mick Jagger learned a lot from Muddy Waters harp player Little Walter. As to who was the greater influence, that ís an argument for some other time. What is presented here is a short bio of a very important Blues original.

Little Walter is considered by many the king of blues harmonica and was probably the first to amplify the instrument. He was the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion (later Jimi Hendrix would use distortion to change rock'n'roll forever). Little Walter could make his harp sound like a tenor sax. He defined the sound known as Chicago blues harp. As a singer, composer and harmonica genius, Little Walter was arguably the best blues artist produced by the post war Chicago blues movement.

Walter arrived in Chicago from rural Louisiana at the end of WWII, and recorded his first record in 1947 at the age of 17. From the very start Walter paid homage to no tradition other than his own. You night say he did things his way. If there had been influences on the development of his talent, his talent surpassed them by the time he started to record. Right from the beginning Muddy Waters encouraged Walter to develop his talent and he soon became an integral part of Muddy's band. Walterís harp playing is distinctive and instinctive, a perfect compliment to Muddyís powerful vocals and strong beats.

In 1952 Walter left Muddy's band to record on his own. He was backed by guitarists David and Louis Myers and drummer Fred. His first records were for the Checker records. "Juke" was a Number one hit and established Walter and marked him as a performer to be watched. The record launched a string of hits that would last fifteen years starting with the instrumental "Juke" and continuing with songs like "Last Night," "Blues With a Feeling," "Mean Old World," and "Quarter to Twelve."

Between 1952 and 1968, Walter recorded approximately 100 titles for Chess, of which slightly more than half were issued on record. From his very first to his very last record, Little Walter was unique. His place in history is assured for his being one of the first musicians to try electrically amplified blues. No had thought to hold a microphone up to a harp before but it was a lesson no one would ever forget.

Little Walter died in 1968 after sustaining head injuries in a street fight.

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Hound Dog Taylor & Little Walter - Wild about you baby


Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle ( featuring Little Walter)

MUSIC

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