James Cotton interview from 200

[PL500@xxxxxxx]

Saw this on BMG, thought you guys might dig it. 

Andrew 

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James Cotton: Born to Play the Blues
Bob Gulla
BMG Contributing Writer

 James Cotton ranks as one of the blues' top harmonica players. Though his 
style grew out of his apprenticeship with the very best, a guy named Sonny Boy 
Williamson, Cotton learned his lessons well enough to develop a technique of 
his own in the mid-'50s, soon after becoming a full-fledged member of Muddy 
Waters' epic ensemble. Cotton had been building up to that defining moment since 
he was a young boy. Born in Mississippi in 1935, Cotton first fell in love with 
the harmonica as played by Williamson on an Arkansas radio station. At the 
time, he was working as a farm hand and, every day on a 12:15 p.m. radio 
program, he'd hear the sweet strains of Williamson's blues harp wafting across the 
fields. For two years, he listened to that radio program until he could bear it 
no longer. Not yet a teen, he dropped his job and traveled to find the source 
of that sound, tracking Williamson down and asking the master to teach him the 
basics on the instrument. Flattered, Williamson complied. In fact, he enjoyed 
the company of the ambitious young Cotton so much that for the next six 
years, they lived, worked, and traveled together. Before he was 20 years old, 
Cotton, by then based in Memphis, had made a significant name for himself in the 
blues world. His reputation reached as far north as Chicago, where Muddy Waters, 
looking to replace his own harp player, extended Cotton an invitation to play 
in his band. Cotton accepted and moved to Chicago. He played with Waters 
until 1966 and appeared on some of electric blues' landmark recordings. Since 
then, Cotton has succeeded in holding onto his prestigious pedigree right up until 
the present day. He spent some time with such classic Chicago musicians as 
pianist Otis Spann and Johnny Young. He formed his own band in the late '60s and 
continued with it through the '70s and '80s, earning several Grammy? 
nominations and recording some classic blues and blues-rock albums with the likes of 
Johnny Winter and Magic Slim. Recently, Cotton released an album to commemorate 
his 35th anniversary as a bandleader. The 35th Anniversary Jam of the James 
Cotton Blues Band features a passel of terrific guests, from Tab Benoit and 
Ronnie Hawkins to Koko Taylor and Kim Wilson. "I've always listened to a lot of 
horns through the years. Guys like Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody. A 
lot of the lines I play today were patterned after horn lines, solos that 
artists like that played."

BMG: How did you feel about getting all of these people together to help you 
celebrate your 35th anniversary? James Cotton: I was really excited. Wouldn't 
you be? I had all my friends around, and we were playing great music. It made 
me feel good, and it was a good way to mark 35 years. This here is something 
special for me; it's very special. This one kind of got to me. Now I'm looking 
forward. I don't know where I'm going right now, or what we'll be doing. I 
guess it all depends on how the record does. 

How did the idea to bring all these people together come about? My manager 
was discussing how long I had my own band together, and he counted back starting 
with 1966. That's how we got 35 years. He said, "We've got to do something 
about this, call attention to it somehow." So he called a few of my friends, and 
they all told him they were willing to come aboard. I was thrilled. 
Did it make you look at your career differently, to have all these great 
people in the studio with you? I know this. Having done this for the last 50 
years, and having these people come with me to celebrate this occasion, it makes me 
feel like I have given something to the people, that I have actually done 
something worthwhile for all that time. And, with this record, it feels like they 
have given something back to me. 
Talk about some of the highlights of your career. I remember the good times 
and bad times equally, don't you know. I remember first starting to play the 
harp. My mother played the harp, and I was just playing it to have fun with her. 
I remember learning to play like Sonny Boy and having a terrific time with 
him traveling around, playing the blues. I also remember joining on with Muddy 
Waters. That was a 12-year good time. But then, on the bad side, when I got to 
the business end of the blues, when I began leading my own band, it was 
difficult. Very difficult. 
What happened to your playing when you traveled to Chicago? When I got to 
Chicago from the South, it was a whole different thing. I had to relearn my way 
of playing. I had to learn harp the way the Chicago guys were playing it. Not 
only that, I had to learn it the way they were playing it on their records. As 
a kid, I learned to play like Sonny Boy, and then, when I joined Waters, I had 
to play like Little Walter. It finally came to me that I would never be quite 
like either one of those people. So I started to play different things. Every 
time I played a song like Little Walter, I'd throw in some Sonny Boy. Every 
time I played something like Sonny Boy, there would be some Little Walter in 
it. Eventually, I developed a style all my own that combined the two. 
Beyond those two greats, what is your playing patterned after? I've always 
listened to a lot of horns through the years. Guys like Coltrane, Dizzy 
Gillespie, James Moody. I listened to them all the time. So I would have to say that a 
lot of the lines I play today were patterned after horn lines, solos that 
artists like that played. "The blues is still out there, only it's wearing 
different clothes in 2002."

What do you make of the blues in this day and age? It's like anything else. 
The blues is still out there, only it's wearing different clothes in 2002. It's 
played by new machines. We didn't have those good amps. Today, people know 
more about putting a record together, and there are experts in dealing with 
making a new sound. Plus, the talent is different. The kids out there are younger, 
and they're putting the blues across differently, a whole lot differently. 
But the blues chords and the blues changes are still there. My writing hasn't 
changed much either. I'll always stand by the blues. I don't fool myself. I was 
born to be a blues musician.