James Cotton
(Blind Pig)
When the definitive history of the post World War II electric blues is written, the chapter dealing with harp players will have two names at the top of the list: Sonny Boy Willimason II aka Aleck "Rice" Miller and Little Walter Jacobs. Then will come the second tier with names like Junior Wells, Big Walter Horton and James Cotton. Only the latter is still with us at the age of 74. Take Me Back is a 180 gram vinyl reissue of an album Cotton did for Blind Pig in 1987. The 52 year Cotton on this LP is at his full high energy strength as a singer and blower. This album was nominated for a Grammy Award when it came out.
James Cotton's career has spanned the history of the blues from the Mississippi Delta to the mean streets of Chicago. At 9, he ran away from his home in Tunica, Mississippi, looked up Sonny Boy II and convinced him that he was an orphan. He got Sonny Boy to take him in and started his apprenticeship with the master. By 1953, Cotton was cutting sides at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis, a year before a white kid by the name of Elvis ever entered the building. His big break came in 1954 when Muddy Waters came through town and needed a harp player for his touring band. While still a teenager, Cotton hit the road with Waters, occupying the chair recently held by Junior Wells and, most significantly, Little Walter before him. Waters' band was crucial in that he set the foundation and lineup for every rock band that would follow.
Waters was a tough and demanding band leader; in his early days he would play in competitions with other bands for prize money. He didn't like to lose. His band was not called "the headhunters" for nothing. Cotton would spend 12 year on the road with Muddy. Take Me Back is a bit of a reunion album of sorts in that three of the six players were Muddy alumni, including Sam Lawhorn, who played second guitar for Waters, and excels here, and the legendary piano player, Pinetop Perkins. Perkins is also still with us at 97 years young. The songs here are all covers of blues standards with Cotton paying tribute to Little Walter and Jimmy Reed and Howlin' Wolf, as well as his old boss. And from a high pitched cry to full bodied wail, Cotton displays both his lungpower and mastery of the reeds. Also he also gets to show off his voice, which has been silenced to a large extent in recent years due to throat problems. Cotton in his prime had the perfect blues voice: half growl and the rest deep soul. Cotton is especially effective on the Waters song, "Clouds in My Heart." This is the deep blues at its finest.
This LP is also another example of how the Chicago blues in its golden age was really tight ensemble music. Yes, there was a star or headliner, but each member of the band was almost as important. This is perfectly on display on the second side of Take Me Home when the band swings from Howlin' Wolf's classic "Killing Floor" to Elmore James's "Dust My Broom." There is the duel on the latter song between Cotton's harp and Lawhorn's guitar. Then Pinetop Perkins takes a solo and second guitarist John Primer eventually follows him into the spotlight. Meanwhile the time is kept by another legendary Chicago player, Sam Lay, a veteran of Wolf's band. And when Cotton sings the classic lines, his voice is the blues: "I believe my time ain't long. I got to leave my baby and break up my happy home." On "Killing Floor" he growl/ sings: "I should have quit you a long time ago. I should have quit you, baby, a long time ago... I wouldn't be here tonight down on the killing floor. God knows I should have been gone."
That is the blues: eternal music about the human condition and overcoming that condition through song. It is a treat to have this album reissued on vinyl. It is as great today as it was the day these nine songs were cut.
Standout Tracks: "My Babe" "Clouds In My Heart" "Killing Floor" "Dust My Broom" TOM CALLAHAN
