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James Cotton (born July 1 1935, Tunica
Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica is a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, Mississippi, United States, located near the Mississippi River. Historically part of an agricultural area, the town lies on the fringe of a growing gambling resort area, with major casinos attracting visitors from nearby Memphis, Tennessee and all over the Southeastern United States....
, Mississippi
Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson, Mississippi is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Anishinaabe language word misi-ziibi ....
), is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 harmonica
Harmonica

The harmonica is a free reed aerophone wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes....
 player, singer, and songwriter
Songwriter

File:Beethoven.jpgA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer....
 who is the bandleader
Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
 for the James Cotton Blues Band. He also writes songs alone, and his solo
Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer. In practice this means a number of different things, depending on the type of music and the context....
 career continues to this day. His work includes the following genres: blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
, delta blues
Delta blues

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the east....
, harmonica blues, and electric harmonica blues.

on became interested in music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II

Aleck "Rice" Miller , a.k.a. Aleck Ford, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Williamson, Willie Miller, "Little Boy Blue", "The Goat" and "Footsie," was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter....
 on the radio
Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic radiation with frequency below those of visible light.Electromagnetic radiation radio propagation by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space....
. He left home to find Williamson in West Helena
West Helena, Arkansas

West Helena is the western portion of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas, Arkansas, United States. As of the United States Census 2000, this portion of the city population was 8,689....
, Arkansas
Arkansas

Arkansas is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River....
.






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James Cotton (born July 1 1935, Tunica
Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica is a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, Mississippi, United States, located near the Mississippi River. Historically part of an agricultural area, the town lies on the fringe of a growing gambling resort area, with major casinos attracting visitors from nearby Memphis, Tennessee and all over the Southeastern United States....
, Mississippi
Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson, Mississippi is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Anishinaabe language word misi-ziibi ....
), is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 harmonica
Harmonica

The harmonica is a free reed aerophone wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes....
 player, singer, and songwriter
Songwriter

File:Beethoven.jpgA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer....
 who is the bandleader
Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
 for the James Cotton Blues Band. He also writes songs alone, and his solo
Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer. In practice this means a number of different things, depending on the type of music and the context....
 career continues to this day. His work includes the following genres: blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
, delta blues
Delta blues

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the east....
, harmonica blues, and electric harmonica blues.

Career

Cotton became interested in music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II

Aleck "Rice" Miller , a.k.a. Aleck Ford, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Willie Williamson, Willie Miller, "Little Boy Blue", "The Goat" and "Footsie," was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter....
 on the radio
Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic radiation with frequency below those of visible light.Electromagnetic radiation radio propagation by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space....
. He left home to find Williamson in West Helena
West Helena, Arkansas

West Helena is the western portion of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas, Arkansas, United States. As of the United States Census 2000, this portion of the city population was 8,689....
, Arkansas
Arkansas

Arkansas is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River....
. For many years Cotton claimed that he told Williamson that he was an orphan, and that Williamson took him in and raised him; a story he admitted in recent years is not true. Williamson did however mentor Cotton during his early years. When Williamson left the south to live with his estranged wife in Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and List of United States cities by population in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
, he left his band in Cotton's hands. Cotton was quoted as saying, "He just gave it to me. But I couldn't hold it together 'cause I was too young and crazy in those days an' everybody in the band was grown men, so much older than me."

While he played a few instruments
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica.

Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp
Blues harp

The Richter tuning harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica or blues harp , is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes in a three octave range....
 in Howling Wolf's band in the early 1950s. He made his first recordings
Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanics inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects....
 as a solo artist for the Sun Records
Sun Records

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27 1952. Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash their first recording contracts and helping to launch their careers....
 label
Record label

In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of recorded sound and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the Record producer, manufacturing, distribution , marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protec...
 in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County, Tennessee. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River ....
, Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
 in 1953. Cotton began to work with the Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues"....
 Band around 1955. He performed song
Song

A song is a musical musical composition which contains vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and feature words , commonly accompanied by musical instruments ....
s such as "Got My Mojo Working
Got My Mojo Working

"Got My Mojo Working" is a 1956 in music song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole, but popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957 in music....
" and "She's Nineteen Years Old
She's Nineteen Years Old

"She's Nineteen Years Old" is a blues song by Muddy Waters. It was released live on his 1979 album Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live.Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was known to ad-lib the lyrics to this song during early live performances....
", although he did not appear on the original recordings; long-time Muddy Waters harmonica player Little Walter
Little Walter

Little Walter was a blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist.Jacobs is generally included among blues music greats?his revolutionary harmonica technique has earned comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix in its impact....
 was utilized on most of Muddy's recording sessions in the 1950s. Cotton's first recording session with Waters took place in June 1957, and he would alternate with Little Walter on Muddy's recording sessions until the end of the decade, and thereafter until he left to form his own band. In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, utilizing Otis Spann
Otis Spann

Otis Spann was an United States blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist....
 on piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
 to record between gigs
Concert

A concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band....
 with Waters' band. Their performances were captured by producer
Record producer

In the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, Audio mixing and audio mastering processes....
 Samuel Charters
Samuel Charters

Samuel Charters is an United States music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He is a noted and widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz music, as well as a writer of fiction....
 on volume two of the Vanguard
Vanguard Records

Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 in music by brothers Maynard Solomon and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical music label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary label....
 recording Chicago/The Blues/Today!. After leaving Muddy's band in 1966, Cotton toured with Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an United States singer, songwriter, and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist....
 while pursuing a solo career. He formed the James Cotton Blues Band in 1967. They mainly performed their own arrangements of popular blues and R&B
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 material from the 1950s and 1960s. Two albums were recorded live in Montreal
Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
 that year.

In the 1960s, Cotton formed a big blues band in the tradition of Bobby "Blue" Bland. Four tracks that are extremely upbeat and feature the big band horn sound and five stripped down traditional songs recorded are captured on the album Two Sides of the Blue.

In the 1970s, Cotton recorded several albums with Buddah Records
Buddah Records

Buddah Records was founded in 1967 by promotor Neil Bogart in New York City. It released a variety of music types, including bubblegum pop like the Ohio Express, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, solo performer writer-singer Melanie Safka, rhythm and blues artist Gladys Knight and the Pips, and rock and roller Captain Beefheart....
. Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Water's Grammy Award
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
 winning 1977 album Hard Again
Hard Again

Hard Again is a 1977 Chicago blues electric blues album by Muddy Waters. It was recorded by its Record producer, Johnny Winter, in a rough, bare-bones style....
, produced by Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter

John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an United States blues guitarist, Vocalist and Record producer.Johnny and Edgar Winter were nurtured at an early age by their parents in their musical pursuits....
. The James Cotton Blues Band received a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself!, and a second for his 1987 release, Take Me Back. He finally was awarded a Grammy for Deep in the Blues in 1996 for Best Traditional Blues Album.

A throat problem left Cotton unable to sing from the mid 1990s onwards, but he continues to tour, utilizing singers or his backing band members as vocalists. Cotton's latest album, Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes, was released in 2004.

On March 10 2008, Cotton and Ben Harper
Ben Harper

Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American musician....
 inducted Little Walter
Little Walter

Little Walter was a blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist.Jacobs is generally included among blues music greats?his revolutionary harmonica technique has earned comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix in its impact....
 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the music industry, particularly in the are...
. They performed "Juke
Juke

Juke can refer to:* Juke , a harmonica instrumental recorded by Little Walter Jacobs* Juke house, a form of electronic dance music originating from Chicago...
" and "My Babe
My Babe

"My Babe" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become a no....
" together at the induction ceremony, which was broadcast nationwide on VH1 Classic
VH1 Classic

VH1 Classic is an American television network started on May 8, 2000. It is operated as part of MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom. It primarily features music videos and concert footage from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, though it formerly included a wider range of genres and time periods....
. On july 19 2008, honorary award in Hondarribia blues festival, for all his career.

Musical company

Cotton has worked with a number of artists
Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
, such as:-
  • Big Mama Thornton
    Big Mama Thornton

    Willie Mae Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog " in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard charts for seven weeks....
  • Janis Joplin
    Janis Joplin

    Janis Lyn Joplin was an United States singer, songwriter, and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist....
  • Sonny Boy Williamson
    Sonny Boy Williamson

    Sonny Boy Williamson may refer to either of two 20th-century American blues harmonica players:*Sonny Boy Williamson I , John Lee Curtis Williamson, "The Original Sonny Boy Williamson", born in Tennessee and associated with Bluebird Records and pre-war blues...
  • Howlin' Wolf
    Howlin' Wolf

    Chester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular...
  • Muddy Waters
    Muddy Waters

    McKinley Morganfield , better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues"....
  • Led Zeppelin
    Led Zeppelin

    Led Zeppelin were an English rock music band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal music bands....
  • Freddie King
    Freddie King

    Freddie "The Texas Cannonball" King was an influential American blues guitarist and singer best known for his recordings from early 1960s including "Hide Away" and "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" and the album Burglar recorded in 1974....
  • Steve Miller
    Steve Miller (musician)

    Steve Miller is an United States guitarist and singer/songwriter.Beginning his career in blues and blues rock, Miller's music later changed to a softer, more pop-oriented sound which earned him success with a string of hit singles and successful albums from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s....
  • Santana
    Carlos Santana

    Carlos Augusto Santana Alves is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American Rock music musician and guitarist. He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana , which created a highly successful blend of rock music, salsa music, and jazz fusion....
  • B.B. King
  • The Grateful Dead
  • Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
  • Johnny Winter
    Johnny Winter

    John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an United States blues guitarist, Vocalist and Record producer.Johnny and Edgar Winter were nurtured at an early age by their parents in their musical pursuits....
  • Jimmie Vaughan
    Jimmie Vaughan

    James Lawrence "Jimmie Lee" Vaughan is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is the older brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan.Jimmie Vaughan's style was influenced by Freddie King who gave him personal advice....
  • Todd Rundgren
    Todd Rundgren

    Todd Harry Rundgren , is an United States musician, singer-songwriter and record producer....
  • Taj Mahal
    Taj Mahal (musician)

    Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who goes by the stage name Taj Mahal, is an internationally recognized blues musician who folds various forms of world music into his offerings....
  • Paul Butterfield
    Paul Butterfield

    Paul Butterfield was an United States blues vocalist, harmonica player who gained international recognition in part, as one of the early acts performing during the Summer of Love, in Woodstock, New York....
  • Elvin Bishop
    Elvin Bishop

    Elvin Bishop is an United States blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist....
  • William "Billy Boy" Arnold
    William Arnold

    William Arnold was an early settler in Rhode Island.The son of either Thomas or Nicholas Arnold of Malcombe Horsey & Cheselbourne, Dorset, England and his wife Alice Gully....


Selected discography

  • Chicago/The Blues/Today! vol. 2
  • Take Me Back
  • 3 Harp Boogie
  • Live from Chicago Mr. Superharp Himself
  • High Compression
  • 100% Cotton
  • Live & On the Move
  • Cut You Loose!
  • Mighty Long Time
  • Fire Down Under the Hill
  • Baby, Don't You Tear My Clothes
  • Deep in the Blues
  • Living the Blues
  • 35th Anniversary Jam
  • "Two Sides of the Blues"


See also

  • Chicago Blues Festival
    Chicago Blues Festival

    The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event that features four days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming....


External links