Nothing earth-shattering here. Just that he is probably my favorite harp player ever. Not to start an argument about whether or not he is the very "best" (he is certainly one of them), but, man he makes you feel the blues! If I had to pick one guy to emulate it would be him. The power of his playing is awesome - and he still sounds good. I think this one is from around '95. I love this song and his playing (and singing).
This was released in 1995, but it actually comes from his very first Verve/Forecast session in 1967 that produced the LP simply entitled The James Cotton Blues Band and this was one of the previously unreleased cuts. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I saw him this summer in Maine. He didn't sing because his voice is pretty shot. In fact he had difficulty even speaking but , man, he found plenty of breath for harp! He was still fantastic. Used an SM58 vocal mic and got incredible hand effects.
His voice on your posting sounds like it could have been recorded in 1995. I listened to other cuts off the James Cotton Blues Band from 1967 and his voice sounds about 30 years younger!
Last Edited by ME.HarpDoc on Dec 11, 2015 11:51 AM
I saw Cotton in Seattle four or five years ago, and, as HarpDoc said, he was in pretty bad shape. He had to be helped onto the stage and sat in a chair the whole time. Darrel Nulisch did the singing, as well. But ... once he started playing he was awesome, and pretty much played continuously for an hour and a half or more. Seemed like he barely took a breath between songs. Super cool!
