His Best

by Little Walter

Overview

As MCA reconfigures their Chess catalog, this 20-track single-disc compilation now takes the place of their original 12-track Best of Little Walter collection, a landmark blues album which had remained in print for over three decades. His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) reprises ten of those seminal tracks (leaving off the echoey "Blue Light" and "You Better Watch Yourself," the latter being available on the two-disc anthology The Essential Little Walter) and brings ten others cherry-picked from the catalog to the mix. If you've never experienced the innovative instrumental genius of Little Walter, classics like "Juke," "Off the Wall," "Mean Old World," "Sad Hours," "Blues with a Feeling," "My Babe," "Boom Out Goes the Light," "Last Night," "Mellow Down Easy" and "Roller Coaster" (written by Bo Diddley, who also guests on guitar) will come as a major revelation. These are the recordings that changed the sound and style of blues harmonica forever, and everyone who came after him was as influenced by him as jazz saxophonists were by Charlie Parker. Everyone who fancies themselves a blues harmonica player should have this one in their collection as a textbook instructional tool, while the rest of us can just bask in the glow of his genius. "Essential first purchase" doesn't even begin to describe it. ~ Cub Koda

Product Details

Release Date:	06/17/1997
Label:	Chess / Mca/Chess / Universal
UPC:	0076732938423
Rank:	66707

Tracks

1. Juke
2. Can't Hold Out Much Longer
3. Mean Old World
4. Sad Hours
5. Tell Me Mama
6. Off the Wall
7. Blues with a Feeling
8. You're So Fine
9. Too Late
10. Last Night
11. Mellow Down Easy
12. My Babe
13. Roller Coaster
14. Hate to See You Go
15. It Ain't Right
16. Boom, Boom out Goes the Lights
17. Confessin' the Blues
18. Key to the Highway
19. Everything's Gonna Be Alright
20. Just Your Fool

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Little Walter   Primary Artist,Harmonica,Vocals
Robert Lockwood, Jr.   Guitar
Jimmie Lee Robinson   Bass,Guitar
Willie Dixon   Bass
Dave Myers   Guitar
George Hunter   Drums
Billy Stepney   Drums
Fred Robinson   Guitar
Leonard Caston   Guitar
Luther Tucker   Guitar
Louis Myers   Guitar
Otis Spann   Piano
Muddy Waters   Guitar,Slide Guitar
Jimmy Rogers   Guitar
Fred Below   Drums

Technical Credits

Lightnin' Hopkins   Composer
Ron Holden   Composer
A. Walker   Composer
Willie Dixon   Composer,Producer
Geary Chansley   Photo Research
Michael Diehl   Design,Typography
Ray Flerlage   Photography
Lance Finnie   Composer
Stan Lewis   Composer,Composer
Andy McKaie   Producer,Compilation Producer
Steve Wariner   Composer
Bill LaBounty   Composer
Jimmy Reed   Composer
Billy Altman   Liner Notes,Compilation Producer
Ellas McDaniel   Composer
Walter Jacobs   Composer
Charles Segar   Composer
Erick Labson   Digital Remastering
Jay McShann   Composer
John Phillips   Composer
Leonard Chess   Producer
Walter Brown   Composer
Sammy Lewis   Composer
Mary Katherine Aldin   Photography
Phil Chess   Producer
William Lee Conley Broonzy   Composer
Willie Schofield   Composer
Muddy Waters   Composer
Big Bill Broonzy   Composer
Charles Brown   Composer
Little Walter   Composer