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His Best: 1953-1960 (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection)

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This is the best available single-disc overview of Little Walter Jacobs' career.

The highly renowned blues harmonica player was not a singer of the caliber of Muddy Waters, or a songwriter to rival Sonny Boy Williamson (II), but his recording career spanned some 20 years, and there are more than enough gems in his catalogue to fill this disc to the point of overflowing.

"His Best" has the best sound currently available, and excellent liner notes, and while the double-disc "The Essential Little Walter" is more thorough, this is all that most listeners will need. A couple of great songs are missing, most notably Walter's gritty rendition of Willie Dixon's "Dead Presidents", but that's a minor quibble...almost all of Walter's best is here.

1997's "His Best" takes the place of MCA/Chess' original 12-track LP "The Best Of Little Walter", a landmark blues album which had remained in print for over three decades. Here is his first hit single, the instrumental hit "Juke", as well as Walter's versions of Big Bill Broonzy's "Key To The Highway", Dixon's "My Babe", and T-Bone Walker's "Mean Old World" (shamelessly credited to Jacobs himself). And virtually all of Walter's best self-penned songs are here..."Blues With A Feeling", "Boom Boom, Out Goes The Light", "Tell Me Mama", and numerous often masterful instrumentals.

This is certainly the place to start, the finest single-disc Little Walter-compilation on the market.

Beginning his career performing his masterful harmonica playing in Muddy Waters' band, Little Walter broke out on his own with his 1952 hit "Juke." From there Walter's amplified sound (which he originated) became a common entity of Chicago blues. This best-of collection selects the cream of the crop from mostly Walters 1950's sessions recorded for the Chess label; revealing him not only as a divine harmonica player, but as a skilled songwriter as well.

Included on the album are classic numbers such as the bouncing rhythm of the aforementioned "Juke", the wailing harmonica of "Blues With A Feeling", and the hopping "My Babe", a song penned by the great Willie Dixon, becoming the biggest hit of Walter's career in early 1955.

In addition, three photographs and six pages of insightful,well written notes by Billy Altman are included. Although a few noteworthy numbers are absent, this collection remains a fine testament of one of the founding fathers of Chicago Blues.

...don't forget the singing - little walter is one of the greatest singers ever. and also the unique, immediately recognizable band concept, with a two-guitar sound that is a world unto itself, clearly distinct from the muddy/jimmy and wolf/hubert two-guitar deals. but really; come for the singing too - it is otherworldly sweet.

If you're into blues harp there's no better.

Marion Walter Jacobs (b. May 1, 1930 in Alexandria, Louisiana), and influenced by the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson (No. 1) and Louis Jordan and his jump saxophone arrangements, quite simply revolutionized the blues harmonica technique when he showed up at Chicago's famed Maxwell Street market in 1947.

Among the hundreds of artists plying their trade in that environment he stood out to the point where he attracted the interest of the small Chicago labels Ora Nelle and Regal where he cut several sides. His big break came in 1951 when the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, hired him to back Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers, and it was as much his amplified harmonica that made hits out of Mannish Boy, I'm Ready, and Standing Around Crying [by Waters), and That's All Right and The World Is In A Tangle (Rogers).

By 1952 he was assigned to the Checker subsidiary, and by that September he literally burst into prominence when the instrumental Juke streaked to # 1 R&B and remained there for eight solid weeks [the flip was Can't Hold On Much Longer and is erroneously listed in this compilation as "Can't Hold Out ..."). This single was billed to Little Walter and His Night Cats.

The follow-up Sad Hours (instrumental) didn't quite repeat that success, settling for # 2 early in 1953, while the vocal flipside, Mean Old World, reached # 6 as by Little Walter and His Night Caps. Fittingly, Muddy Waters played guitar on each of these first three hits.

When his next hit reached the charts later that spring (Off The Wall, # 8 as an instrumental, and Tell Me Mama, # 10 as a vocal, he was billed as Little Walter and His Jukes in order to capitalize on his debut smash hit. The Jukes consisted of Chess sessionmen Louis and David Myers on guitar and Fred Belows on drums.

From there to 1959 he would add 10 more hit singles to his credit, his last coming in 1959 when Everything Gonna Be Alright (erroneously listed as "Everything's") reached # 25 (his lowest charter) as simply by Little Walter. These included the seminal My Babe, written by Willie Dixon and based upon the old spiritual This Train, which became his only other # 1 hit, staying at that position for five weeks early in 1955.

It would have been nice if, in putting this tribute together, producer Andy McKaie had found room for the three hits omitted - Oh Baby which made it to # 8 in May 1954 b/w Rocker, You'd Better Watch Yourself which reached the same position that September b/w Blue Light, and Who, which reached # 7 in April 1956 b/w It Ain't Right. You can find You'd Better Watch Yourself on The Best Of Little Walter from MCA/Chess, also listed by Amazon.

Adding to this CD's worth are the six pages of liner notes written by Billy Altman, which includes a wonderful story behind Juke, several nice photographs, and a complete discography of the contents. To quote from Mr. Altman "By 1968 he was gone, leaving behind a legacy that harmonica players everywhere regard as, quite simply, the holy grail."

Just a superb collection.

I'm new to the blues and especially the harmonica, but I know one thing about this CD. Two words can described it "Bad ...!" It is everything that I see the blues to be. This is true blues!

if you dont know who little Walter is this is the place you need to start the first cut is Juke it shows off Walter at his best doing swing/jump on a Chrom.four cuts later it breaks you down with the pain he is able to express in Sad hours .the cuts are all clean no pops no hisses Enjoy

This is it! THE collection of Little Walter's tunes that has entered the very soul of harmonica blues. You will listen to this album again and again, from start to finish. Personally, I am a big fan of all the great bluesharp masters; i.e. Junior Wells, James Cotton, both Sonny Boys, etc., but this album is my favorite. Also the quality of the recordings are great for its time. You will not be disappointed. If you like harmonica blues, get this album!

Despite being just 18 years old, harmonica wizard Little Walter was already a veteran of the music when he joined forces with Muddy Waters in 1948. He stayed with Muddy's band until 1952, the year in which his own breakthrough instrumental 'Juke' reached nr. 1 on the R&B charts. Eager to be a leader himself, he quickly assembled a band and in the 6 years that followed he scored a total of 14 R&B top 10 hits. Most of which are considered to be blues classics today. Fame didn't do him much good though, He didn't share Muddy's balanced personality, and he slowly slipped and started loosing grip on his career and his life. By the time he got messed up in a streetfight in 1967 and died from the after-effects, his body and soul were already destroyed by alcohol. He was only 37.

Trying to understand music, is like trying to understand the universe, something so big that it would take forever to measure while it still fits easily into a single moment. It's a miracle really. Little Walter's profound knowledge of this miracle led him to places previously uncharted. Despite the blues being only twelve bars long and three chords wide, he discovered secrets between the notes that weren't even there before he found them. He is without doubt the greatest blues harmonica player that ever lived. At times sounding more like a tenor-sax, in his hands, it became an instrument capable of roaring power without losing any subtle nuances. He effortlessly combined delta blues with shades of jazz and bebop, creating a body of work that still sounds as vital and fascinating today as it must have done when it was first released all those years ago.

This album is the real deal- blues at it's best . Great harp playing & a tight band . Many different grooves , if you dig bluse harp you got to hear this. AWESOME CD