Search - Various Artists :: Blow'n the Blues: B.O. Great Harp Players

There's something human about a well-played harmonica, filled with life's breath. Otis Spann, Muddy Waters's great bandleader, once called the harmonica the mother of all instruments. And this collection of modern harmonica players is a mother. (Although without either of the Sonny Boy Williamsons or Little Walter, this album is decidedly not definitive.) Eighteen of the nineteen tracks are from the 1960s, and we can hear the tone baton being passed from Big Walter Horton to Charlie Musselwhite, from Junior Wells to Paul Butterfield, though set against radically different backdrops. James Cotton's 1966 tracks are a highlight, filled with the excitement of stepping into a solo career after a decade with Muddy. He is backed by his former bandmates, constrained by nothing except his wind. --Robert Gordon