Little Walter's induction into the R&R Hall of Fame

Подписаться 2,7 тыс.

Просмотров 77 тыс.

50% 1

Chicago blues icon Little Walter was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, March 10th, 2008. This is the complete induction ceremony: the 2:00 minute Tribute to Little Walter film, followed by musician Ben Harper's induction speech, then James Cotton performing both of Little Walter's #1 hits, "Juke" and "My Babe", accompanied by Paul Schaffer's Late Night Band, and featuring Ben Harper on "My Babe".
UPDATE: For those who are interested in learning more about Little Walter, including the answers to some of the questions posted in the comments section for this video, pick up the award-winning biography of Little Walter, "Blues With A Feeling - The Little Walter Story". The book won the award for "Best Research in Recorded Blues and Gospel Music" from The Association for Records Sound Collections, and was inducted into Blues Hall of Fame as a "Classic of Blues Literature" in 2007. The book is available at Amazon.com and most major book sellers.
For more information about Little Walter, including a link to buy the book, go to www.littlewalter.net.

Видеоклипы

Опубликовано:

10 мар 2008

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 117

@checker764 16 лет назад

Agreed - Clapton saying Little Walter's playing was "crude" only makes obvious the fact that he doesn't understand it, or was confusing Little Walter with someone else. Little Walter's playing was the exact opposite of "crude" - it was the most sophisticated and nuanced blues harmonica that had ever been heard up to that point, and it is those very qualities that make it so influential and still worthy of study today. It's the fact that it WASN'T "crude" that earned him a place in the R&R HOF!

@harrymills2770 3 года назад

Clapton was pretty harsh towards harp players, in general. He wanted something very specific, so he comment about "crudeness" makes total sense, given where he's coming from in general,

@sld67869801 11 лет назад

Ha, Cotton is giving them the eye and probably thinking, "These guys ain't playing this shit right" LOL

@luvtocmoon 15 лет назад

I just finished watching the movie Cadillac Records. I LOVED IT. I'm not much of a blues fan, but the story was so powerful. I admire the passion and love of music Little Walter had and I'm sorry he left so soon. The stories of these musicians should all be put on the big screen to teach us that we should all ride the blues through music and not drugs and alcohol which is killing us all. Thank you Little Walter for sharing your life even if it's 50 years later.

@chaoszen1 12 лет назад

Been playin the harmonica for 47 years. And Little Walter taught me how through his recordings. Ya truly can't get through the Blues without going through Little Walter. Thanks Little Walter for all the inspiration and Rest in Peace.

@johnnyacevedo681 Год назад

I got to see Little Water in 1959 and then I got to talk to him in 1962 in Salinas California at the Armory what memories I’m 79😎

@BryanSorensen 16 лет назад

Ben Harper is deadly awesome. Plus, Paul and the boys kick some serious ass.

@SkankinMojo 16 лет назад

Little Walter the best harmonica player in the world and theres very little video footage of him - I just can't understand that!!!

@hartzaire 11 лет назад

Little Walter was the mj of harmonica R.I.P

@diddywahdaddy 13 лет назад

Not only could he make the harp sound like nothing else (even towing the limits up to make it sound like a sax!!), but he had one hell of a honey voice as well. So much power in one sole man. Incredible. I wish he could have enjoyed the respect and wealth he truly deserved. I feel so humble.

@bluesharmonicateacher 16 лет назад

It's great that Little Walter is being remembered! The band was painful to listen to... Yes, great musicians that can play blues, but are not blues players. How could you NOT hear where cotton was! It's funny how this section of the show remembering a great blues musician has a band that totally misses the point of backing a great blues musician :-) Still... cool that Walter, and thus other blues harp players, get some recognition.

@aksourdough4890 2 года назад

Thank you Dave. With all the great Chicago guys that were still around, Ben Harper and these clowns were the best they could do?

@hughdunnit3188 9 лет назад

despite the obvious of how great he was.....I was checking those old posters at the beginning of this clip....just too cool...wish I could get some of them

@ricksoto1025 2 года назад

Little Walter...His music still gives me the chills! And, Mr. James Cotton who I once saw is a a great player too! Both men delivered their harp playing with full depth & range and a complexity that any jazz player would envy. RIP men.

@panther514 15 лет назад

firstclass trainwreck ...Cotton smoked...but those soul-less sheet reading lames backing him stunk to high heaven...Columbus Short should have performed also...Harper's timing and delivery of the song was good and terrible...there are genres of music that can't be faked ..Blues is at the top of the list

@Harpman99 13 лет назад

Man these cats f-ed that first song up bad big time! That was supposed to be "Juke". Notice how they never play the changes with Cotton. But as ususal with the blues, the show must go on. That was definitely not Cotton's fault.

@paulminnihan8946 3 года назад

Totally agree!

@sundownsid 4 года назад

Listened to this for the first time and I'm speachless...imagine that coming from me!

@sundownsid 4 года назад

(Refering to the musical portion)

@deeisapimp 15 лет назад

RIP LITTLE WALTER

@broncofangj 14 лет назад

I feel ya man...sounds pretty damned good to me, there is no perfecting what Little Walter did.

@Modernbluesharmonica 16 лет назад

(Part III)..and yet he chooses to let the train wreck continue. (Please note that I'm relaxed as I point all this out.) It seems to me that any bandleader charged with this sort of gig should have been prepared for the obvious challenges. We're not talking about trying to accompany a guy like Honeyboy Edwards, who makes changes whenever he feels like it. Cotton is playing straight ahead 12 bar blues. He just dropped 4 bars from the intro, in an incredibly obvious and straightforward way....

@hottdancer1 16 лет назад

I think Little Walter was truly an incredible musician. Somehow, every single time I listen to him play.... I can't help but feel him. It's like he's standing in the room. My friend wrote an amazing script about Little Walter which I read... what a life... I think they might make it his movie this year. Last I heard they were sending it over to Will Smith and Ludacris!!!!! Yeah! His story NEEDS to be told!

@checker764 16 лет назад

I think it's noteworthy that there are absolutely no references during the induction to any of Little Walter's sideman work with Muddy Waters or anyone else. And no audio or video clips of anything other than his own work as a solo artist? Even the live performance by Cotton and Harper features two of Walter's own hit records, "Juke" and "My Babe". It kind of makes one wonder if maybe the committee had second thoughts about the the notion of a "sideman" induction after it was first announced.

@yobase544 6 лет назад

Durísimas declaraciones.

@DexterChapman 13 лет назад

watched cadillac records like 3 times within the last week.. great movie

@hottdancer1 16 лет назад

I think Little Walter was truly an incredible musician. Somehow, every single time I listen to him play.... I can't help but feel him. It's like he's standing in the room. My friend wrote an amazing script about Little Walter which I read... it was amazing... I think they might make it this year! Last I heard they were sending it over to Will Smith and Ludacris!!!!! Yeah! His story NEEDS to be told!

@checker764 16 лет назад

Cotton wasn't lost, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. The band mangled this - they didn't follow the front man, one of the first rules of blues playing. Cotton played a perfect 8 bar intro, and then played the rest of the song exactly like the record, with perfect timing. If the band didn't know the song, or how to follow Cotton, it wasn't Cotton's fault. And rather than listen to Cotton to find their place, they compounded the problem by bailing out in the middle of the song. Disgraceful.

@davidday6736 Год назад

Yes

@JohnnyBurginBlues Год назад

the band was a joke.

@JJ4POPE 16 лет назад

no way i could ever watch this video again..

@Modernbluesharmonica 16 лет назад

I hate to second the complaints about the band, but my god: Cotton played the blues, jumped time, but did so in a way that any bandleader (P.S.) should easily have caught. Instead, they kept rolling and let him hang out there. A day of infamy! Not really: just a day when the blues--and the blues harmonica--show they still have the power to mess with the blues.

@aazo999 9 лет назад

He was so good Big sound

@Herve1955 13 лет назад

Incroyable! Le Rock & Roll Hall of Fame a été créé en 1986 et il a fallu 22 ans pour y faire entrer Little Walter! Au regard d'autres bluesmen qui y sont (légitimement) c'est un peu logn quand même

@harrymills2770 3 года назад

I'm still trying to figure out when he's using a chromatic and when he's using a diatonic. Apparently he played chromatic a LOT more than I ever thought.

@richardmindemann6935 Год назад

Walter is the Jimi Hendrix of the Harmonia.

@CodyCole80 Год назад

💯 I agree!

@CodyCole80 Год назад

💯 I agree!

@checker764 16 лет назад

Re: the band's backing, yes, that is a bit ironic, isn't it? All these "professional musicians" think the blues is SO easy...but those guys, skilled as they are at playing, missed the essential part of blues in general and Little Walter in particular: LISTENING. In fairness, it was *Cotton* who jumped time, but as you say, if they'd ever heard "The National Anthem of Blues Harp" before, or listened to any authentic blues guys, it would have been impossible to miss Cotton's changes.

@mauroalderete4847 3 года назад

Traducción por favor!

@EricCirca6566 16 лет назад

To me it looks like the band rehearsed it but probably without James Cotton. James threw them a curve ball that they weren't expecting. Little Walter jumps the time on the second verse but Jimmy Rodgers and Muddy catch it right away. If you count the time on the original, the second verse is eleven and a half measures and the third verse is thirteen measures. The original Chicago guys always listened to who ever they were backing up.

@checker764 11 лет назад

"Last time I checked" was more recently than 20 years ago.

@HarmonicaBoss 16 лет назад

Thanks Scott, This video proves how the most accomplished musicians, who think blues is simple and easy to play, are kidding themselves. Paul Shafer's band needs to stay away from blues and get back on the set with Dave to play pop cover tunes. And ben harper needs to leave that distorted lap slide with his guitar tech. Cotton was smoking throughout but the band's Juke rendition was a train-wreck ! Poor cotton winds up looking like it's his fault. Hey Paul put down the joint and listen to JUKE!

@callmejeffbob 13 лет назад

wow; it's incredible that the band never seemed to notice that they were not in sync with James Cotton. They should have at least listened to Juke so they knew where the turnaround is on the first verse. They also messed up My Babe. I guess they figured "hey, it's just blues. How hard can it be?". Well both those tunes have some nuances and vary from a straight 12 bar blues. If not a rehersal, please at least listen to the record once or twice.

@dunskie 15 лет назад

Reading the comments, I expected a lot worse. That was'nt bad at all. Far from a train wreck. Nice little tribute to Walter.

@shrimpdaddy 16 лет назад

i think it is a wonderfull irony that these so called professional perfect musicians couln't play what they considered simple blues... I certainly hope it makes them take a step back and look at them selves and have a listen again to what they think is so simple. walter created on stage if he wanted an unorthodoxed change the band followed if he switched from 8 to 12 bars if he hung on the one changed the grove or wanted stops or fills it was there cause the band listened.

@melvinwren 11 лет назад

? i think i understand that, the last time you checked was more recently than 20 years ago (1993). which was the year he had an album. so when you checked more recently than that year....wouldnt you still see he had a record deal with Captiol Records?

@therhythmfour 16 лет назад

Thanks man but Cotton has a bit more experience than me,(understatement of the year) having known him and played around town with the guy everything ...

@fps16 16 лет назад

I think he meant that bravery transcends fear and Little Walter transcends the blues. I am not sure if you were suggesting that Ben Harper has to fake the blues or musical talent, but I highly recommend seeing him in concert.

@charlysstore 8 лет назад

2.40 !!!!

@HarmonicaBoss 16 лет назад

testify !

@Aplustradomus 14 лет назад

@tasteycheri PREACH!

@bh8365 4 года назад

Comments from some of these Blues "purists" are no surprise. Nothing will please SOME of them if the musicians are known to play anything other than the Blues. Got to be Blues twenty four seven. R.i.P. Little Walter. Sonny Boy, too.

@checker764 4 года назад

Do you think Paul Shaffer's band did a good job backing Cotton?

@bh8365 4 года назад

@@checker764 Seemed OK. Adequate. One factor to consider would be how much rehearsal time was had. It was their assignment for the night.

@checker764 4 года назад

That was to opposite of adequate. It absolutely sucked. The band was unable to pull off the simplest, most basic blues shuffle and stay in synch with the person they were supposed to be backing. It was an insult to Cotton, to the memory of LW, and to anyone who has any knowledge of or interest in blues.

@shrimpdaddy 16 лет назад

check canada man if you want to find it Bharath and the rythm four.

@chess1458 15 лет назад

I Like Your Screen Name

@melvinwren 11 лет назад

they had a Grammy award winning album in 1989. and a 1993 double album. both on Capitol records. did you just say you checked or did you actually do it? cause it took me like 10 seconds to look up CBS orchestra on wiki.

@RobeeMan 16 лет назад

James Cotton is one of my heroes and I love him but he can fuck up too.Legends can fuck up! In my opinion it's always the music that comes first.Cotton should have corrected the tune once he saw that Paul Schaeffer and his band don't get it, he should have followed them and Juke would have been restored.This way it's just a mess to my ears. My Babe works just fine. :-)

@TheBluesman17 13 лет назад

7:51 love it how he cuts James off eh

@bonecone 16 лет назад

Well yeah. As Muddy Waters said, Kim is the best harp player since Little Walter!

@iceman273 16 лет назад

Listening to the intro irritated me so much that I had to listen to it 3 times to be certain about what was going on. Then I read the comments here, and finally I've listened to little walter's original recording. James Cotton starts with an 8 bar intro and goes on with 12 bars. In essence, he jumps time. If it was a real blues band backing him, they would have caught it right away. Cotton is not screwing up, just throwing in one of the delicacies of the blues unintentionally.

@GrainneCarney 12 лет назад

@ChavezRey JC should DEFIANTLY be in there! as far as harp playing go JC is the greatest.

@michaelenos 16 лет назад

Ok so you have to listen to Walter's originals because a lot of the post war stuff was done on a 4-track recorder with one take. A lot of the blues purists I played with would play the "mistake" because it was a tribute to the roots of the music. They did the best with what they could....Schaeffer and his band are not "blues" guys but nice tribute. Ben Harper should have backed off on that solo...a little over the top

@bonecone 16 лет назад

But James Cotton is the right for this to play...

@sjziro 16 лет назад

Juke is a 12 bar blues progression...

@derekmtheriault 12 лет назад

UGottaListen2b4udie!!!

@Soul74 16 лет назад

I thought that speech was beautiful.

@MNessmith 16 лет назад

Is it me or did Cotton screw up the beginning? Notice how he left the head too soon?

@Darkreignxox 12 лет назад

@harataikiphilosopher No... As the entire video says Little Walters is the best.

@12gagedan 16 лет назад

Uh. Muddy played a lot of slide. Slide and harmonica go pretty well together (have for years). Further, Ben Harper is a modern-day innovator. I'd rather see innovators honoring Walter, than an imitator.

@kidcalabria 11 лет назад

If there would have been no Elvis Presley - to popularize this music, bring it to white audiences, all over the world - & beyond probably, sell millions of records, inspire 1000s of musicians (Jimi Hendrix decided to play guitar aged 13 after seeing an Elvis gig), appear as a pin-up on millions of teenagers' walls, conquered millions of women's hearts, etc.. - there would have been no Rock'n'Roll and no Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame to put Little Walter in; that might not be much but it's for sure

@backwoodsgps 15 лет назад

awesome as beethoven but with a better beat hearin' is believin'

@frankstephenson1746 2 года назад

How do you throw this guy into the hall of fame without sonnyboy Don’t make any sense other than politics. So whatever, I hope they all had a good party.

@checker764 15 лет назад

Last time I checked, Paul Shaffer and his band of talented but generic studio musicians didn't have a record deal either.

@Ledvolta 16 лет назад

hardly kick-ass... but thanks for posting. :) Cotton still rules. It wasn't a complete disaster; they tried.

@benwhite4815 7 лет назад

Boy, they sure fucked up Juke

@rgahrens 16 лет назад

If Little Walter himself were playing with this band, they STILL wouldn't consider dynamics. Sad really....

@shrimpdaddy 16 лет назад

Bharath and the rhythm four would have been the choice for this occasion not taking anything away from cotton.

@blackdragonbaron 15 лет назад

why not have the whole james cotton band up there with super harp instead . with slam allen on vocals!. ......(no offense to ben harper .)

@MNessmith 16 лет назад

As a speaker/presenter, I'd rank Ben up there with Andy Kaufman on valium. What a painful yawn.

@iceman273 16 лет назад

The band had 2 leaders. It was obvious James Cotton was the front man, but Paul Schaeffer was telling the band where to change the chords. The band might have caught on with Cotton's change if it wasn't for Schaeffer. His presence was totally useless. I'm not going to defend Cotton, it was lame that he jumped time. But he's probably used to his band following him when he does that. What really surprizes me is that it seems like these guys did not rehearse before the show.

@Modernbluesharmonica 16 лет назад

...predictable edit. It's nothing fancy. Cotton hasn't "screwed up." That's an idiot's comment. And when Cotton follows his V/IV riff with the cadence (2 d, 34d, 14b....) leading to the turnaround, there isn't a blues musician in the world who doesn't know exactly where Cotton is. So where is Paul Schaefer? Assuming he can hear Cotton--and he surely can--then he surely knows what is going on. Eight bars into this song, he knows that Cotton is four bars ahead of the band....

@scatteredfrog 16 лет назад

At first I thought everybody was just being whiny because it wasn't exact...but I listened to it a second time, and "Juke," at least, was kind of a train wreck...seems Mr. Cotton got totally lost, and completely blew the last verse he performed. It sounds like the band just wanted to jump straight to the end to put everybody out of their misery.

@jeanise10 15 лет назад

i cannot believe this guy did not prepare himself better he was so tied, he sang the song okay but his reading was awfull dig

@Odin029 15 лет назад

Personally I thought My Babe worked ok. Ben Harper did a good job, and the band was ok I guess. That first number was jumbled after the first couple of bars, and Cotton was sitting out front so he couldn't have corrected it. He's probably used to the band following him and going whereever he goes while Paul and his group were just sticking to the script. Can't play blues by a script.

@TheSKULLPOP 11 лет назад

英語が分からないからインタビューもなんて言ってんのか分からん・・・悔しい(-"-)　

@checker764 16 лет назад

No, you have a technical argument on your side. If blues was about technical perfection, you'd have a case, but Little Walter's music wasn't, James Cotton's music isn't, and the blues has never been about technical perfection. If Cotton was playing from of sheet music and got it wrong, then he'd be wrong. But that's not what he does, and whoever hired him for this gig knows it, so saddling him with a bunch of studio musicians who ONLY play "technically accurate" music was the REAL mistake.

@Modernbluesharmonica 16 лет назад

(Part 4)...Let's restate the obvious: 1) Cotton, the headliner, did nothing wrong; nothing that a competent blues band couldn't have followed; 2) Had Kim Wilson and the band, or Pinetop Perkins's band, or Jimmy Thackery and his band, or Darrell Nulisch & friends, or any of a hundred different working blues bands, been backing Cotton, the train wreck would have been averted. This is all painfully obvious to anybody who plays and knows this music.

@12nites 15 лет назад

worst speech ever (it reminds me of primary school speechs), worst accompanying band ever ( by the way, what where they thinkin when they decided to use that sound for a blues guitar???): WORST ceremony ever, for the BEST ever. The word shame is not enough. Kim Wilson should 've done the speech and singin, he's the only one who really understands Little Walter. PD:I did like the video!

@valois89 16 лет назад

It is his fault - he tries to play Walter's solo but he misses 4 bars at the beginning and doesn't even notice it.

@checker764 16 лет назад

"...the band were told it was a twelve bar." Are you in the band? That would certainly explain your reluctance to admit they screwed up. I think the real problem, as originally stated near the beginning of these comments, is that the band probably ASSUMED that the song would be played as 'just 12 bar blues', and didn't bother to rehearse it. If they had, they'd have known that Cotton plays it with an 8 bar intro. Or at least understood that they might have to listen to and follow him.

@Soul74 16 лет назад

I agree that the band should have been following Cotton and not Shaeffer, but come on. There is no sheet music there. And Will Lee (bass) and Anton Figg (drums) are some of the most badass players out there.

@scatteredfrog 16 лет назад

At the same time, however, can you really take an induction tribute seriously? As for Paul Shaffer...the guy is in high demand, and he has impeccable taste in music...not worthy of playing Little Walter? Well, they gotta play what they're told to play. And who says that James Cotton was their first choice, anyway??

@texwales 13 лет назад

First time I've seen this. I have to agree with the comments about the band. Pretty appalling by any standard. No respect is the phrase that comes to mind. I suspect there was at least one in the band who looked back at the tape and was mortified.

@kylewhitehead1684 7 лет назад

Does that band just have no idea how to play with musicians? It's like they just learned the song and then stuck strictly to it, ignoring all the shit that Cotton was doing and creating an absolute clusterfuck sound. And that guitar solo? Jesus. I have a strong feeling that if Little Walter's band was performing like that in his day, he would have stopped the show and made them start again.

@ChrisArmourMusic 12 лет назад

When you're honouring a great player such as Little Walter atleast have the decency to get a REAL blues band. Cotton's the only one there who is legit. Jeeeesus. embarrasing

@cohoa1 3 года назад

Little Walter deserved better than that sorry sounding band, Mr Cotton would have done better by himself. after hearing that train wreck I gotta go listen to some real Little Walter, an inspirational , artistic genius. and Clapton calling his playing crude is so wrong and sad.

@HarmonicaBoss 16 лет назад

you don't know what you're talking about.

@dianeroblinmusic 16 лет назад

This is hard to watch. The jam is such a bust. Sometimes these sessions work, but this is an ill prepared headache. No synergy or distinction. What's with Anton's shuffle? The audience isn't fooled. Come on Paul...this ones for Walter.

@cliffworks748 7 лет назад

to me harper's always sounded like a white man trying to sound like a black man

@BlueRevival 13 лет назад

He fucked up the vocals. Did he even listen to the vocals?

@bluesdrummer715 16 лет назад

Best band in NYC? We opened up for Cotton 2 weeks ago and he definitely should have had his own band. I never liked that Letterman Band. they're like White American Cheese, on white bread. They groove like a 3 legged cat on a pond of ice! They have no respect for the legend!! Knowing Cotton, backstage he let'em have it! Anton needs to listen to Francis Clay, Fred Below, and Wille big Eye's Smith! Will Lee needs a long lesson of Willie Dixon. And clown boy needs some Otis Span records! DISTUSTING

@sconbone12 15 лет назад

The ceremony performance is a shame. who are these shitty musicians accompanying James C.? They can´t even play a traditional blues sceme. He and LW have deserved something much much better for this occasion. It´s embarassing. shame on them. Little Walter would have shot at them. RIP Little Walter

@Aplustradomus 14 лет назад

I wasnt impressed with the band...

@HarmonicaBoss 16 лет назад

no it isn't - that band CAN'T play blues - the drummer is playing the wrong beat - cotton is the only one playing blues. go back to school kiddo !

@diddywahdaddy 13 лет назад

Not only could he make the harp sound like nothing else (even towing the limits up to make it sound like a sax!!), but he had one hell of a honey voice as well. So much power in one sole man. Incredible. I wish he could have lived much longer and be able to enjoy the respect and wealth he truly deserved. I feel so humble.