James Cotton

The music featured here is actually all right, but the set suffers due to its odd patchwork assembly. Five of the tracks come from a 1963 acoustic session recorded at an apartment on the South Side, featuring Elvin Bishop on guitar, Cotton on vocals and harmonica, Paul Butterfield on harmonica, and Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica (hence the title 3 Harp Boogie). The other four selections are taken from his 1967 Verve album James Cotton Blues Band.

Four Chicago harmonica greats, one eminently solid album. Teamed with Junior Wells, Billy Branch, and Carey Bell, Cotton sings Willie Love's Delta classic "Little Car Blues" and Charles Brown's "Black Night." Wells trades harp solos and vocals, standing front and center on a fine rendition of Sonny Boy II's "Keep Your Hands Out of My Pockets" and the tailor-made "Somebody Changed the Lock" and "Broke and Hungry," obviously relishing the camaraderie between himself and his fellow harmonica giants. Meanwhile, Branch's showcases are the apt original "New Kid on the Block" and a deft cover of Little Walter's "Who."

This is the best contemporary James Cotton album gracing the shelves, thanks to its ingenious formatting: half the set places Cotton in a traditional setting beside guitarist Magic Slim, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and a solid rhythm section; the other half pairs him with a contemporary combo featuring guitarist Michael Coleman's swift licks and a three-piece horn section. Both combinations click on all burners. High Compression includes the scorching theme song "Superharp."

James is called a young man on this CD, but he'd already played with Muddy Waters for a time. Recorded in 1967, it showcases his vocals and harp well. The recording, done at Montreal's Penelope Cafe, is a pretty accurate depiction of James Cotton's raw power and force. The sound quality is OK for the time and really captures the feel of a live performance. Cotton has long been one of the greatest of the Chicago blues harp stylists, and his energy, enthusiasm and sincere love for the blues jumps right out at you from start to finish. The idea of a blues musician doing a recording in a static and heavily controlled atmosphere like a studio seems odd; amplified electric Chicago blues really should be both played AND heard in a loud, raucous, dark, smoky bar-type environment. You can smell the smoke and feel the beer being spilled on you while listening to this CD.

Recorded at The New Penelope Cafe in Montreal, Canada, September 28, 1967.
Insatiable showman, blues singer, and ace harp man kept his high-energy act alive for over a half century.
At his high-energy, 1970s peak as a bandleader, James Cotton was a bouncing, sweaty, whirling dervish of a bluesman, roaring his vocals and all but sucking the reeds right out of his defenseless little harmonicas with his prodigious lung power. Due to throat problems during his latter years, Cotton's vocals were no longer what they used to be, but he remained a masterful instrumentalist for decades. Cotton had some gargantuan shoes to fill when he stepped into Little Walter's slot as Muddy Waters' harp ace in 1954, but for the next dozen years, the young Mississippian filled the integral role beside Chicago's blues king with power and precision…

Originally released on two vinyl platters in 1976 by Buddah, this set was digitally unleashed anew by the British Sequel label. It faithfully captures the boogie-burning capabilities of the mid-'70s Cotton outfit, fired by its leader's incendiary harp wizardry and Murphy's scintillating licks.

Cotton has played for many labels over his career, Vanguard being but one of those labels. This CD is basically a compilation of two excellent Vanguard recordings. Tracks 1 though 5 are from the album "Chicago/The Blues/Today Volume 2", which was recorded in 1966. Tracks 6 through 15 are from the album "Cut You Loose" which was recorded two years later in 1968. The bonus track, "Next Time You See Me" was previously unreleased. When listening to the CD you will notice two distinct styles. The first five tracks, Cotton performs with a stripped down band consisting only of James Madison on guitar, Otis Span on piano and S.P. Leary on drums.