The impact that Little Walter has had on the musical world is
phenomenal. Alongside Muddy Waters and a fluctuating group of
musical cronies, he took the 'old' blues from down South and amped
it up into the fresh 'Chicago Blues' sound, ultimately creating a
sensation that spawned record studios like mushrooms in September
and led directly to the appearance of pop music and teen culture.
Walter is arguably the most important factor in this equation;
before Marion Walter Jacobs picked up a harp (harmonica) and blew
it into a pair of microphones run through a guitar amp, the
instrument had been a pipsqueak novelty warbling in the background
of down-home 'old time' music. In Walter's hands the harmonica
became a beast, growling and honking like a trumpet, played with
the technical mastery of a jazzman and the guts of a bluesman.
'Blues with a Feeling' tells his story as well as it can be told -
there is not a lot of background information to go on, and the text
of the book is limited to remembrances of Walter's peers and
detailed descriptions of surviving recording sessions, some of
which form staples of any well-prescribed blues diet. It paints a
fascinating picture of the fluid music scene in 1950s Chicago and
creates, through its jumping pattern of hearsay, legend, preciously
unearthed fact and imperfectly remembered stories, an image of the
greatest harmonica player who ever lived, strutting his rooster
walk through the vicissitudes of the musical life, his attendant
loves, friendships, outrageous egocentricities and moments of
sudden tenderness. The one conclusion clearly drawn is that Little
Walter deserves a wider recognition as the musical genius he surely
was. This book achieves that recognition with enthusiasm, honesty
and intelligence, and, as such, should be required reading for all
musicians and any fan of the blues. (Kirkus UK)
Whenever you hear the prevalent wailing blues harmonica in commercials, film soundtracks or at a blues club, you are experiencing the legacy of the master harmonica player, Little Walter. Immensely popular in his lifetime, Little Walter had fourteen Top 10 hits on the R&B charts, and he was also the first Chicago blues musician to play at the Apollo. Ray Charles and B.B. King, great blues artists in their own right, were honored to sit with his band. However, at the age of 37, he was buried in a pauper's grave in Chicago. This book tells the story of a man whose music, life and struggles continue to resonate to this day.
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