[Harp-L] Re: James Cotton favorite

[BluzeHarp@xxxxxxx]

James Cotton & Sonny Terry were the two guys that 'spoke' to me  early on.  
In his prime Cotton was an absolute BEAST.  His sound was as primal & 
powerful as anything I can think  of.  I saw him 4x during the mid/late 70's, two 
of those shows with  Matt Murphy.  As good as his recordings were, & some 
were  very good, his prowess as a performer is the stuff of  legend.  It's 
for good reason he was considered the reigning king of the  Chicago style 
players when Jr Wells, Cary Bell & others were also in  their prime.
 
One of the shows w/Matt Murphy was particularly amazing.  Big  roadhouse 
called the Rusty Nail in Amherst MA, just after they ruined the  joint (IMHO) 
with a big expansion.  Anyway, the place was rockin'  & the dance floor was 
packed.  I was cuttin' a rug with a lovely  young woman who I never saw 
again (damn), when Matt laid into the most memorable  guitar solo I've ever 
heard.  At first the half drunk/half stoned  dancers were jumpin' about with 
abondon, but then, little by little, we slowed  down, and then just stood there 
with our jaws hanging open, staring in  wordless amazement at what we were 
witnessing. The whole damn dance floor  just stopped, I've never seen 
anything like it... not even close.
 
Saw Matt maybe 15 years later at Straight Johnson's in Denver, he  didn't 
remember the gig.  I tried to engage him in a conversation about his  time 
playing with Cotton but he seemed reluctant to discuss it.  Anyone  know why 
they split?
 
Chris Richards