Personnel: Little Walter (harmonica, vocals, guitar), Muddy Waters (guitar), Jimmy Rogers (guitar), Robert Jr. Lockwood (guitar), J.B. Lenoir (guitar, vocals), Sunnyland Slim (piano), Oliver Alcorn (tenor saxophone), Ernest "Big" Crawford (bass), Baby Face Leroy Foster (drums, vocals), Alfred "Fat Man" Wallace (drums).
Recorded between January 1950 and October 1951 in Chicago, Illinois for the Parkway, J.O.B. and Regal labels.
Original sessions produced by Monroe Passis, Fred Mendelsohn and Joe Brown.
Personnel: Little Walter (vocals, guitar, harmonica); J.B. Lenoir (vocals, guitar); Sunnyland Slim (vocals, piano); Leroy Foster (vocals, drums); Jimmy Rogers , Muddy Waters, Robert Lockwood, Jr. (guitar); Oliver Alcorn (tenor saxophone); Alfred Wallace (drums).
If you really want to hear what Little Walter sounded like in his pre-amplified days and early stages of development with the Muddy Waters band, this is the one to get. The title is a bit of a misnomer as Walter is featured more as a sideman to Baby Face Leroy, Muddy Waters and others on early Parkway, Regal and Savoy sides, but it's clear that Walter at this stage of the game should have been paying royalties to both Sonny Boys and Walter Horton in particular. One of the high points features explosive slide work from Waters on a pre-Chess version of "Rollin' & Tumblin'," as crude as a version as you'll ever hear and certainly not to be missed. Although many of these sides have appeared on other compilations (usually taped up off of old scratchy 78s), this one features superior sound taken from the original lacquer masters. ~ Cub Koda
