January/February 2001

Big Walter Horton/Alfred Harris
Harmonica Blues Kings
Delmark Records

By Bill Milkowski

Chicago harmonica greats Big Walter Horton and Alfred Harris are showcased on Harmonica Blues Kings. While Horton-generally regarded as one of the pioneers of amplified harmonica, along with Little Walter Jacobs-is the more famous of the two players here, Harris has a lively rough-hewn style that should also register with Chicago blues fans. These raw recordings from 1954 also feature such notable Windy City sidemen as Willie Dixon on bass, Lafayette Leake and Memphis Slim on piano, Fred Below on drums and Red Holloway on tenor sax.