Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Little Walter - Best of Little Walter
Mission Control - Entry Number 006
Artist: Little Walter
Title: The Best of Little Walter
Release Date: 1958 (material recorded between 1952 and 1955; all material presumably previously released)
Length: 35 min
Relevance: RS #198 (2003) / #196 (2005)
My Favorites: "Tell Me Mama" & "You Better Watch Yourself"
TLDR: These aren't your great-grandparents' Blues. Album could be called "While My Harmonica Gently Weeps." Rock is imminent.
So the first thing I learned about Little Walter--the first thing that fans seem to want newcomers to learn about him--is summed up (as these things always are) in the top paragraph of his Wikipedia entry:
Little Walter ... (1930-1968), was an American blues harmonica player whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica.That's a pretty impressive league to be put in.
Little Walter is allegedly a blues artist, but since I haven’t listened to any blues recorded since 1937 and since those 15 years have shown a marked increase in recording quality, it’s not quite obvious that I’m supposed to group this in with Robert Johnson or Skip James. I guess it's more accurate to say it's not obvious that this is still the same genre. Maybe The Blues has evolved far enough that this and James & Johnson aren't in the same category. But since I know they're supposed to be, I can make that connection.
On the subject of sound quality, there's a noticeable variance in what these recordings sound like, as if some of these songs were recorded live in venues rather than in studios. Echoing, amplifier squeaks and other sound anomalies, particularly on some of the instrumental songs, makes me wonder if they’re actually improvisations that have been captured.
One main difference between this type of blues and the blues from the 1930s I’ve already heard is that here, I’m listening to three or four musicians, while before I was listening to individuals. In addition to giving Little Walter a more well-rounded sound and the opportunity for multiple things to be happening at once with the music, this music doesn’t sound as lonely or hopeless as Robert Johnson and Skip James. Obviously Little Walter has at least two friends, and they’re obviously in close synchronicity. Back in the 30s, Skip James often couldn’t even get his own instrument and voice to align (now that shows some troubles, amirite?).
About one-third of these songs are instrumental, but still definitely qualify as blue-sy. This is especially impressive because Little Walter is able to use a harmonica as a stand-in for the pained vocals that are typical of blues singers (which he can’t really pull off as well as other artists anyway). If I remember correctly, the harmonica started out classified as a toy rather than a musical instrument, so Little Walter's expressive playing probably went a long way toward it being taken seriously, in addition to giving him his reputation as an amazing player. The harmonica here also sounds very playful at times, which is interesting because out of everything I’ve heard so far, the lyrics (in the songs that have lyrics) have less humor or joy than anything previously heard... including the Harry Smith Anthology where all the songs are about death. Bummer.
But not so much of a bummer that it's not enjoyable. The playfulness makes these songs as exciting as Hank Williams' fun songs, and we're getting so close to inventing rock & roll that I can taste it. It's almost rowdy enough and it almost has enough swagger, and if it were a little more upbeat and sexually-charged this would be a great collection of rock songs.
Up Next: The first actual album on the list, and the first concept album ever.
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