by Bill Dahl
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 lungpower. Due to throat problems, Cottons vocals are no longer what they used to be, but he remains a masterful instrumentalist.
Cotton had some gargantuan shoes to fill when he stepped into Little Walters slot as Muddy Waterss harp ace in 1954, but for the next dozen years, the young Mississippian filled the integral role beside Chicagos blues king with power and precision. Of course, Cotton prepared for such a career move for a long time, having learned how to wail on harp from none other than Sonny Boy Williamson himself.
Cotton was only a child when he first heard Williamsons fabled radio broadcasts for King Biscuit Time over KFFA out of Helena, AR. So sure was Cotton of his future that he ended up moving into Williamsons home at age nine, soaking up the intricacies of blues harpdom from one of its reigning masters. Six years later, Cotton was ready to unleash a sound of his own.
Gigging with area notables Joe Willie Wilkins and Willie Nix, Cotton built a sterling reputation around West Memphis, following in his mentors footsteps by landing his own radio show in 1952 over KWEM. Sam Phillips, whose Sun label was still a fledgling operation, invited Cotton to record for him, and two singles commenced: Straighten Up Baby in 1953 and Cotton Crop Blues the next year. Legend has it Cotton played drums instead of harp on the first platter.
When Waters rolled through Memphis minus his latest harpist (Junior Wells), Cotton hired on with the legend and came to Chicago. Unfortunately for the youngster, Chess Records insisted on using Little Walter on the great majority of Waterss waxings until 1958, when Cotton blew behind Waters on Shes Nineteen Years Old and Close to You. At Cottons instigation, Waters had added an Ann Cole tune called Got My Mojo Working to his repertoire. Walter played on Muddy Waterss first studio crack at it, but thats Cotton wailing on the definitive 1960 reading (cut live at the Newport Jazz Festival).
By 1966, Cotton was primed to make it on his own. Waxings for Vanguard, Prestige, and Loma preceded his official full-length album debut for Verve Records in 1967. His own unit then included fleet-fingered guitarist Luther Tucker and hard-hitting drummer Sam Lay. Throwing a touch of soul into his eponymous debut set, Cotton ventured into the burgeoning blues-rock field as he remained with Verve through the end of the decade.
In 1974, Cotton signed with Buddah and released 100% Cotton, one of his most relentless LPs, with Matt Guitar Murphy sizzlingly backing him up. A decade later, Alligator issued another standout Cotton LP, High Compression, that was split evenly between traditional-style Chicago blues and funkier, horn-driven material. Harp Attack!, a 1990 summit meeting on Alligator, paired Cotton with three exalted peers: Wells, Carey Bell, and comparative newcomer Billy Branch. Antones Records was responsible for a pair of gems: a live 1988 set reuniting the harpist with Murphy and Tucker and a stellar 1991 studio project, Mighty Long Time.
Cotton still commands a huge following, even though serious throat problems (he sometimes sounds as though hes been gargling Drano) have tragically robbed him of his once-ferocious roar. That malady ruined parts of his Grammy-nominated album for Verve, Living the Blues; only when he stuck to playing harp was the customary Cotton energy still evident.