By Rosalind Cummings-Yeates
REMEMBERING SUPERHARP
James Cotton
T
hey called him SuperHarp. And
like most blues nicknames, the title
plainly illustrated where his heart
was symbolically located. James Henry
Cotton (who died last month at age 81)
blew the harp so powerfully that at times,
the instrument would fall apart in his
hands, unable to contain the force of his
playing. He was born into the blues and
the music and culture defined his life.
“Twenty-four hours a day, every day,
you’ll catch me with a harmonica,” he told
the LA Times in 1990. “The highway is my
home, my Dodge van is my bed and the
blues is my companion.” A landmark
blues musician who helped meld Chicago
style blues with funk and soul, James
18 illinoisentertainer.com april 2017
Cotton represented a regal line of blues
masters with direct links to the music’s
Mississippi heritage. For most of his 81
years, he pumped Herculean energy into
his harp and into blues culture.
Born in the Mississippi Delta town of
Tunica, James learned to play harp as a
child, after hearing his mother copy the
sounds of trains and chickens on a toy
harmonica. He absorbed Sonny Boy
Williamson’s legendary King Biscuit Time
radio show with such a keen ear that he
was able to replicate the harp master’s
songs with precision. At 9-years-old,
James had studied Sonny Boy’s playing so
expertly that the musician, impressed by
the young boy’s skill, took him in after his
sharecropper parents had died. Under the
tutelage of one of history’s greatest har-
monica players, young James learned the
intricacies of the quickly disappearing
Delta blues style. A fast learner, James
incorporated pure Delta blues with his
own contemporary style, which would
soon leave a firm mark on blues history.
After he moved near Memphis and
played on Beale Street, the young musi-
cian swiftly established himself as a
standout talent. While only a teen, he
spent two years playing with another leg-
end, Howlin’ Wolf, and then recorded
with Sun Records, snagging a minor hit
with “Cotton Crop Blues” in 1954. James’
talent was so striking that when Muddy
Waters came through Memphis, he invit-
ed the young player to come to Chicago
and join his band. From his mind-altering
solo on “Got My Mojo Working,” to
“Close To You” James made his presence
heard. His animated stage performance
and singular style made his 12 years as
Muddy’s harpist unforgettable. When he
stepped out on his own with the James
Cotton Blues Band in 1966, he had per-
formed with the giants of the blues genre
and was ready to cement his own place.
And that he did. James Cotton toured
all over the world for over 60 years, mes-
merizing audiences with vibrant harp
blasts unlike anything ever heard before.
He played while turning back flips, shat-
tering harps into his hands and driving
crowds into sweaty, dancing masses. He
recorded almost 30 solo albums, including
the highlights 100% Cotton, High
Compression, Harp Attack! with Junior
Wells, Carey Bell and Billy Branch and his
last recording Cotton Mouth Man. He
earned 10 Blues Music Awards, six Living
Blues Awards, and a Grammy as well as
being inducted into the Blues Hall of
Fame.
“Although he came from very tradi-
tional roots, he helped modernize the
blues,” said Billy Branch. He created this
style that took the blues to a funk and soul
level with his band and he was pioneering
in that respect.” Looking back on the
influence that James had on his harp play-
ing, Billy acknowledges the valuable push
that the legend gave him. “I owe a lot to
him, he was very inspirational in terms of
making me want to play better.” he said.
“I would look at him play and it would
make me want to be better. You know, you
get tired of getting your head cut. He was
a phenomenal harmonica player and a
really fun guy to be around, I’m really
going to miss him.”
RIP Chuck Berry
Prolific, innovative and with a brilliant
sense of wordplay, Charles Edward
Anderson Berry was a pioneer on many
levels. But it was his melding blues with
country and spicing it up with his signa-
ture riff that bent two guitar strings
together, that positioned him as the true
king of rock n roll. Duck walking across
the stage and charming crowds with
showmanship and charisma, Chuck Berry
was the ultimate rock idol.
As the first superstar of rock, Chuck
paid a price for being a black man who
dared to help create and lay claim to the
genre. His style, his songs, his riffs were
continuously ripped off and re-claimed as
the sole creation of a newly emerging
group of white musicians who knew little
of the blues that had spawned the new
music.
See more tributes to Chuck at illinoisenter-
tainer.com and in File in this issue on page 6.