Bman's Blues Report

Muddy Waters has been associated with the brightest names in his particular hard-hitting brand of Chicago blues interpretation. In the harmonica department he boasted the talents of the late Sonny Boy Williamson and his contemporary, Little Walter, - also Junior Wells, and in recent years James Cotten has had a long stay. In mid-1966 when Cotten branched out for him self, Little George Smith came from the West Coast to fill the position. On the departure of Smith toward the end of 1966, Mojo Buford joined and traveled the route through 1967. Both Smith and Buford’s artistry were captured for recorded posterity by such firms as Bluesway and Spivey. When Muddy played the Vanguard nightery in NYC on Feb 23-24-25 he was minus a regular ‘harp’ player. He told me that Shakey Horton nearly made the roster for the trip to New York City (which would have really been quite a historic addition) but a last minute cancellation occurred. A month later Muddy and band consisting of Otis Spann, Sam La...