[Harp-L] Big Walter CD suggestions



   It's a shame that a lot of records never make it into CD form or that Big
Walter was never properly credited for his work on them.  Walter Horton is
not listed on the ABC Bluesway release "Sunnyland Slim Plays the Ragtime
Blues" but nevertheless is playing wonderfully all over the album.  I think
he's featured prominently on the Willie Dixon album "I Am the Blues" also,
if my memory serves me correctly.  Again, uncredited.
   I never much cared for the old guy as a human being; I approached him
twice for harmonica lessons, once over the phone and once years later
with Johnny Young over at Walter's apartment near Chicago's Chinatown.  I
remember being nervous, scared, and extremely humble in making my request.
Both times he gruffly brushed me off.  To add insult to injury; for years
after that I would run into harp player after harp player in Chicago who
told me they had studied with Walter.  And I believed they had, they sounded
like the old man and described the same apartment and people I had seen.
   But genius is genius and every blues harpist's collection ought
to include some Big Walter!

Mick Zaklan



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