Little Walter sessions
Writing "Blues With A Feeling - The Little Walter Story" with Tony Glover and Ward Gaines was one of the most interesting experiences of my life, and the culmination of a twenty year obsession with Little Walter and his music. I learned a lot about researching, writing, and of course about Little Walter himself over the six or so years between the time we began working on the project and when the book was finally published. But possibly the most exciting part for me was getting a chance to listen to some of the unedited, unissued Little Walter session tapes from the Chess vaults.
The man in charge of Chess since the mid 1980s is Andy McKaie, who worked for MCA when that company acquired Chess, and has continued in that capacity in the years since MCA itself was acquired by Universal Music. Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records introduced me to Andy c. 1998 at, appropriately enough, the old Chess Studios at 2120 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago, at an event celebrating the re-opening of the old Chess building by the Blues Heaven Foundation. Work had already begun on the Little Walter biography, and I mentioned it to Andy, and hinted that I'd love to hear what was still buried 'in the vaults'. Andy didn't know me at the time, or have any idea how serious we were about the Little Walter bio, and he expressed what I'd describe as skeptical interest. Or maybe 'guarded encouragement'. At any rate, he didn’t say "No", but I got the impression he didn't think he'd be hearing from me again.
Around a year later, as the book project was beginning to pick up some serious steam - I don't remember if we'd completed the deal with our publisher yet, but we were making real progress on the manuscript - I contacted Andy at his office in Los Angeles, reintroduced myself, and brought him up to date on the project. I also told him that I'd be in Los Angeles visiting a friend soon, and asked if I might be able to stop in and listen to anything from the vaults. I explained that my main area of interest was hearing how Little Walter operated in the studio, to get a better reading on his personality and the way he conducted his business. Was he a tyrant or a team player? Did he goof around and waste a lot of time, or was he serious and efficient? Did he arrange the music and give his musicians specific directions, or let them improvise their parts? Of course, as a fan of the music and a harp player myself, I was also keenly interested in hearing any unissued songs, alternate takes, etc., but I didn’t think Andy would let me near the tapes if he thought that was all I was interested in. (I've since joked that this was the real reason I got involved with the book project in the first place - to get into those vaults! And like most jokes, there’s a kernel of truth in it.) Andy very graciously agreed to my request, said he would see what he could dig up for me in the way of session tapes, and we set a date and a time for me to meet at his office in Universal City, CA.
When the time came, I arrived at his office on one of the upper floors of the modern Universal Tower, and was ushered into Andy’s very nice, large, and cluttered office. We chatted for a few minutes, and then got down to business. He pulled out two old 7” reels of recording tape, and handed them to me...and my heart sank. Of all the rare and unissued Little Walter recordings that might be lurking in the back of the vaults, these two tapes were the only ones I had already heard - the January 1953 “Don’t Need No Horse” session, and two songs recorded with Bo Diddley’s band backing Little Walter in the mid 1960s. A few years previously these never-issued “lost” tapes had been returned to their then-rightful owners (MCA) by a former Chess employee who had ended up with the tapes in his possession when he had left the company in the late 1960s. Before the tapes were finally returned in the early 1990s, a cassette dub had been made, and copies of this cassette had been circulating among tape-trading Little Walter fans - including myself - for a few years by the time I met with Andy.
I explained to Andy that I’d already heard these, and how, and I think this as much as anything convinced him that I really was serious about my Little Walter research/fanaticism. Unfortunately he was unable to pull out any more tapes for me then, but promised that next time I was in the Los Angeles, he would do his best to help me out.
Almost as soon as I returned home to Chicago I began working on scheduling another trip to L.A. I also struck up an e-mail correspondence with Andy, and we began discussing the particulars, i.e., what I’d like to hear vs. what was actually available, and which tapes still included between-songs chatter and outtakes, and which ones had long ago had the non-essential material such as alternate takes edited out and disposed of (which unfortunately seems to be the case with a large percentage of the early blues essions.) Although Andy doesn’t have the time or inclination to be as obsessive about the particulars as I do, he does know the contents of the Chess vaults better than anyone alive, and eventually we came up with a list of tapes that were, A., available (i.e., still existed in the vaults, which is not the case with many of the original masters due to the carelessness of the various companies that had possession of the tapes over the years), B., included the between-songs chatter and outtakes I was hoping to hear, and C. could be heard in the limited time - one day - both he and I had available to devote to this undertaking.
Another consideration we had to deal with was the fact that the tapes themselves are stored - along with every other recording and film under the Universal umbrella, and that’s a very big umbrella - in a gigantic underground warehouse/bunker that had been built during the Cold War as a nuclear fallout shelter, which was later acquired by Universal and converted into a climate-controlled, super-safe storage vault for all of Universal’s valuable, historic, and irreplaceable film and recorded music assets. This warehouse is some 30 miles away from Andy’s office, and isn’t available for simply ‘browsing’ - even when Andy wants to listen to something, he has to place an order, and then wait a day or two while it’s located and then delivered to his office.
Of course as a fan I would like to listen to everything in the vaults that hadn’t been issued that had Little Walter on it, but with the limitations we had, realistically the line had to be drawn somewhere, so I concentrated my focus on Walter’s own sessions, and a few he’d done with Muddy.
By the time the big day finally arrived, Andy and Universal Music had moved from the fancy offices in Universal City to a new warehouse/loft-type building in Santa Monica. Andy’s new office was a bit smaller than his old one, and although it had a door, it didn't really have a ceiling - it was actually just a large cubicle created from movable walls in the corner of a large warehouse. The walls were eight or so feet high, but the loft ceiling of the place was probably twenty feet above us, so Andy’s office, like the rest of the many cubicles in the loft, was not a completely enclosed space. Inside the office was Andy’s desk, a couch, some bookshelves filled with books and records, and a relatively sophisticated audio playback system that included among other components a couple of reel-to-reel machines, a turntable, a powerful amplifier, and mounted high on one wall, two large monitor speakers. This was to be my ‘listening station’. On the couch was a cardboard box containing a stack of 7" and 10" reels of tape that had been pulled from the "vault". Bingo! I hadn't known until that moment exactly which tapes from the fairly long list we’d discussed I’d actually be hearing that day. But I’d hit paydirt: Andy had pulled the original session tape from Little Walter’s first session as a solo artist for Chess/Checker, which amazingly had been unedited and unspliced from the day it was recorded, along with a couple of other Little Walter sessions, plus the tapes from one late ‘50s session Walter had split with Muddy, playing on Muddy’s tracks, and having Muddy play on his.
I think Andy may have thought that he'd have to "engineer" all of the playbacks for me that day, but my background is in audio production, and once Andy was confident that I knew what I was doing with the equipment, he basically let me have at it. So I sat in Andy’s office for an entire day listening to the session tapes, transcribing every word I heard on them, and taking detailed notes, while he sat a few feet away at his desk going about his regular daily business answering and making phone calls, dealing with paperwork, etc. There were no headphones; I had to listen to everything through the big monitor speakers mounted on the wall. So I’d thread up a tape, listen to a few seconds of it, then stop it and write down what I’d heard, back the tape up a little, and proceed from there for a few seconds, stop and transcribe some more, and so on. Some of the conversations on the tapes were ‘on mic’ and relatively clear, but frequently I’d have to listen to a section of tape repeatedly, very closely, to pick up background comments which were made off-mic or quietly. So I’d rewind the tape a bit, turn up the volume on the powerful playback system as loud as it would go, and listen to a section several times before I was satisfied that I either had the correct transcription, or that the section was un-transcribable, and I'd have to give up and move on. Occasionally I’d be listening to a very quiet section turned up as loud possible, and it would be followed instantly by the band beginning to play, or a fragment of music that remained from an earlier take that had been recorded over; these loud sections would blast through with such volume that they’d echo through the entire open loft area. Worried that I was disrupting Andy’s work - not to mention annoying everyone else who worked in all the other ceiling-less offices and cubicles in the facility - I asked several times if he’d prefer I use headphones, or listen somewhere else. But he apparently had no problems with it, and encouraged me to do whatever I needed to do to get the job done.
I spent somewhere around nine hours at Andy’s office that day, with a short break for lunch (which Andy very graciously bought!) in the early afternoon. At the end of the day, as we were preparing to leave, and most of the people in the office area were already gone, one of Andy’s co-workers who had heard the fragments of music blasting out of Andy's office all day stopped by and asked curiously, “What have you been doing in here?” Andy introduced us and explained that I was working on a book about Little Walter, and was listening to Chess session tapes, “...doing basically what Nadine Cohodas, the woman writing the book about the Chess brothers, did a few months ago...only Scott’s WAY more intense about it!” I took that as a compliment.
Thanks to Andy McKaie at Universal Music, we were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at how Little Walter operated in the recording studio. Several large sections of my transcriptions were published in the book, but we had to leave a lot out, too. So for the benefit of fellow Little Walter fans who just can't get enough of this stuff, below are the complete, unedited, word-for-word transcriptions of everything I heard and wrote down that day. My strictly descriptive notes are in plain type, my own personal opinions/comments/interpretations are in [brackets], and everything I heard spoken on the tapes (or in some cases, read on the tape boxes and session log sheets) is in bold type.
The Little Walter session tapes
The "Juke" session. A 7" reel, not in the original tape box, but a photocopy of the original session log is with the tape. There’s no 'take one' on this reel, but it is a full reel, suggesting that T1 was not removed from the reel, but that the tape was rewound immediately after T1 (probably a breakdown), and it was recorded over. The first thing at the beginning of this tape is T2, which is the issued master take of "Juke", separated from the rest of the tape by white leader tape on both sides. Immediately before T3:
Jimmy Rogers: I’ll give you that boogie...
The take begins, with what sounds exactly like the issued alternate take, but instead of launching into the song after the repeated ‘stabbing’ intro, everyone just keeps on stabbing, apparently not knowing where to do the ‘stop’ where LW will then launch into the body of the song. They eventually falter, and everyone stops.
Elga: (Apologetically) I was off. [I assume this is Elga - it’s definitely not Muddy, Jimmy or LW.]
LW: (calmly) Ya see, if he’d a kicked it off right...we coulda made it, and I could given you the ‘bop bop bop bop bop ba BOP’ (describing the final hits before he launches into the body of the song.)
Muddy: When you give me the ‘bop bop bop BOP’...
Elga: Well, I’m watching your foot, when you start. Well, I’m gonna start with you this time, when YOU start.
[Walter seems to be in a good mood, speaking without any trace of irritation in his voice.]
The engineer (Putnam) calls Take 4 in the middle of the above discussion, and LW starts playing almost immediately, while Elga is still speaking, with no count in.
[My impression is that the first complete take, T2, must have been the best worked-out version - the one they were doing on the band stand - and that afterwards they decided to try and spice it up a little bit by adding in the new intro. It may have been felt that the new arrangement wasn’t tight enough or something, after trying it out a few times in the studio. At any rate, there are no further attempts at this after T4.]
After the take ends, a few seconds later you can hear what was on this reel before it was re-used for this Chess session - a commercial for “Lava” hand soap. A 1950s-style radio announcer can be heard for a few seconds saying “Lava soap gets out grease, grit from under the nails, and every other...” The next thing heard on the tape is the continuation of the LW session. Immediately before T1:
Len: (giving LW direction on how to do the song)...’Crazy About You Baby’, then WHAM!...
T1 starts with LW’s harp, heavily amplified sound, then is stopped from the control booth during the intro.
Len: You squeak on your intro on the harp, I don’t know why...
Putnam: Turn the volume down a little, I’ll pull it up in here.
Len: Turn your volume down.
LW (quietly): It’s turned down, Leonard.
Putnam: Take 2...
...and LW starts immediately, with no count in. T2 is the issued alt. - the harp is less amplified than T1.
The tape is stopped, then once again an old time radio commercial is heard bleeding through for a few seconds, this time for a live broadcast from Chicago’s Hotel Sherman on local radio station WMAQ.
When the tape starts again, LW can be heard snorting loudly, clearing his sinuses. Someone in the studio says something unintelligible in the background.
LW: Yeah! (laughing nervously...) Heh heh heh heh...
Putnam: Walter, you’re too loud...
Evans: It’s too loud, the amp.
Putnam: Take 4
LW starts again, this time playing strictly acoustic style - no amp at all, and noticeably faster than the earlier takes. Putnam almost immediately breaks in and stops the take.
Putnam: Use the hand mic...
LW: (Agreeably) No, you said it was too low, I mean, it’s... (tape stops)
Tape starts again.
Putnam: Take 5
LW starts again. It sounds exactly like the issued master take, but Putnam stops them again.
Putnam: I didn’t have a good balance...(pauses)...Take 6.
This take is leadered on the tape, and is the issued master, and the last thing on the tape.
The next reel up was a 10” reel. There were no session log sheets with it, but attached to the box was a sheet of paper that had these words written on it:
Masters
Only 19 - M. Waters 8979
Close To You - M. Waters 8980
Walkin’ Thru The Park - Muddy Waters 9140
Key To The Highway - vocal - Little Walter 8981
Inst. - Juke - In two Inst. 8982
“ “ 9141
(pulled 12/10/76 to Walter Vol. 2)
The tape starts with the leadered master to 19 Years Old - no count in. No other takes or talking. This is followed by...
Engineer (doesn’t sound like Putnam): OK, we’re rolling on take 2.
LW: Say man, take it [or “dig it”], why don’t you play with your brushes, get a better sound...
? (musician, to LW): Why don’t you let him drive it?
Muddy: Let him drive it...
LW: I want ‘em to hear me...
Muddy: Let’s make it.
LW: Go.
Muddy then counts the song in, and they play “Close To You”, with the drummer (Clay?) using sticks instead of brushes. This is the only take on the tape, and has leader tape after it separating it from the next song.
[LW was apparently complaining that the drummer was playing too loud and was drowning him out.]
Next cut begins with LW in the middle of describing the rhythm of his intro to “Walkin’ Thru The Park” to the band.
LW: (snapping fingers on accents): Bamp, Bam de Bamp!
Len: Alright, take two, watch it.
LW: (into harp mic) Alright...(then continues demonstrating his intro to the band, blowing it on harp, but off mic.)
? (probably Clay): That’s a Latin American intro...I don’t know...(pause)...one, two, one two three...
(band begins and plays complete master take)
After the leader tape at the end of this take, the next thing heard is...
Len: Take two to Key To The Highway, is that what you’re playing?
LW (loudly, emphatically into harp mic): Yeah! We’re takin’ it to it!
? (Spann or Clay?): One, two, one two three...
(band begins and plays complete master take)
After the leader tape at the end, we hear:
Len (with irritation in his voice): Awright, take 10 on the instrumental...don’t fuck with the mic, man, let’s go!
LW (into heavily reverbed harp mic): OK Len.
And the band then plays the master take of “Rock Bottom”. This take has a pretty bad edit/splice near the end, which isn’t in the issued master, so it must have broken at some later date. After the leader tape:
Len (sounding agitated, almost yelling): Let’s go! Take 9! Walter!
(LW, Muddy, and others in studio are all talking at once, unintelligible through the HEAVY echo.)
Muddy: Do that...
LW: Yeah. Aw...No. I mean, when you do THAT, I’m back around with...(verbalizes a harp lick)...
?: (laughing, apparently at LW)
Muddy: I mean, when you do THAT, I’ll be HERE (plays guitar lick)
LW (sounding irritated): (Unintelligible) is back over there, and I lay in the hole...
Len (clearly impatient): Walter, let’s go, take 9!
LW: OK...count it off, (unintelligible - sounds like “Matty”, or maybe “Smitty”)
Drummer taps off the count, and the band plays the take that was issued as the Alt. Version, which is faded out in the studio as they continue to play.
After this take, there is a fragment of some pre-take harp and guitar noodling from an earlier attempt at “Rock Bottom”, followed by a fragment of the middle of an earlier take of it, followed by a few seconds of Muddy and Walter working out their guitar and harp parts between takes, during which we hear:
Len: Hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it. Walter, you wanna (unintelligible, maybe “get...???”, or “break for supper”), or are you ready to go?
Then another fragment of another take in progress. Then a count in to yet another un-numbered take, during which someone in the studio cautions LW:
? (musician): Don’t say shit!
LW: (cracks up laughing)
The drummer then taps out the time to begin another take, but at the end of his tapping, apparently distracted by LW’s laughing, no one plays a note. After a pause...
LW: (Blows a lick on a HEAVILY reverbed harp mic)...all right man...let me know when you’re ready. (Sounds relaxed and in a good mood.)
Len: Take seven.
LW (snapping fingers in time): One, two, one two three...
The band starts a slower, lazier sounding version of “Rock Bottom”. Before the first twelve bars are through, Leonard breaks in.
Len: Pick the tempo up a little bit.
LW: Pick up on it?
Before the take number can be announced, someone in the band counts off a faster version, and the band launches into it. About one verse in, this take is cut off, apparently recorded over beginning at that point. A few seconds later we hear a little bit of unintelligible off mic discussion, and noodling on harp and guitar, followed by Walter apparently answering someone who can’t be heard on tape...
LW: Yes, I already know.
Len: Joe...Joe...
Another un-slated take is then tapped in by the drummer, but it’s followed by leader tape, then the tape ends.
Next reel - there’s a session log sheet attached to the front of the 10” reel box, labeled:
Sheldon Recording Studios, 2120 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
Client: Chess
Job Description: Little Walter
Start: 3:00
6/20/57
2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 drum, 1 harmonica
Reel 1
The writing is VERY faint and faded on this log sheet. Written in darkly in ink is:
“My Baby Gives Me A High Temp”
...followed below by numerous take numbers, almost all of them with indications that they’re unusable. There are at least 35 takes listed here. At the very bottom, written in dark grease pencil, is:
24 - MASTER
None of the takes are leadered on this tape, it’s a straight session reel. The tape starts with faint, unintelligible off-mic conversation in the studio, followed by Willie Dixon counting the band into a take. The band plays a complete take with LW seeming tentative with the lyrics, and singing in a key that sounds unsuited to his vocal range. After it ends, the tape stops, then starts again with:
LW: Let us run over this tune in this key.
Willie Dixon: All right.
LW: OK, Robert... Dixon, we’re in “A”...OK...(practices opening figure on harp)
Len: ...last one was (?), so heat it up!
(Far off mic, a musician in the studio mutters what sounds like a complaint or wise ass comment - unintelligible, but the tone of voice is unmistakable.)
LW (angrily): Who said that??
Engineer [probably Jack Wiener, who built and ran the 2120 studio, and worked there until ‘58 per Nadine Cohodas]: Take 25.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
(band starts, and then quickly stops)
Len: Walter, I told you to wait to throw your hand with the (?)...
LW (sounding truly sorry): Uh oh! I did wrong...I’m sorry. OK.
Len: 26! Roll! Roll now.
LW: Naw, it’s all right...
Len: We’re rolling...
(possibly Jimmie Lee Robinson?): We’re going the same way as before...
The band starts a take, LW plays his harp intro, then gets to the first line and sings, “My Bab...” and stops immediately.
Len (to someone in the studio): Show him what he’s supposed to...
LW (sounding huffy): I know what it is!
(guitarist plays opening figure)
Len: That’s it, there you go...
Tape stops, starts again...
Len: 27.
Band begins playing immediately with no count in. They play a complete take, but it’s slow, tentative, doesn’t swing, and LW sounds like he’s now singing in a key too high for his range. After this take, the tape is stopped, and a fragment of an earlier take in a different key, that is now being recorded over, bleeds through. The tape starts again.
LW: (Angry, frustrated): God damn! They can’t...
Len: (calmly): You got 40 more to go, you’ll break the record.
LW (sounds caught off guard, and genuinely amused): Huh? No shit? (laughs heartily)
Dixon: Take 28. 1, 2...
(JLR?): Kick it, bro.
LW: (still chuckling...)
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts, plays intro figure twice, but then is stopped from the control room before LW sings first line.
LW: Look, that was two. Two! You said four! That was two!
Len: Listen, ya mother...
LW: Goofer, that was TWO! You said FOUR! That’s TWO!!
Tape stops, starts again.
LW: Slow it up. Slow it up a little bit drummer. Slow it up. Don’t worry about it.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
(band starts)
LW (breaking in): Hey, hey! (band stops) Hey, y’all say you’re gonna slow it up, slow it up! THAT ain’t slowing it up. Slow it up! Back it up. Back up! Slow it up if you’re gonna slow it up!
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
LW (yells): Naw!
Band continues to play anyway. LW comes in and plays REALLY slow, dragging the band back to his speed. They get to the second verse, and LW forgets the lyrics going into the stop verse [“One hundred and one when we kiss and dance”, etc.] Dixon attempts to keep the band going through an entire take by singing “Da da da da dah!” in the space where LW is supposed to be singing. The band keeps playing, and on the next stop, LW speaks the lyrics where they’re supposed to be sung: “I feel the fever get too high to beat, but...”, then the tape stops. It starts again with the entire band arguing, over which LW can be heard complaining...
LW: It’s hot! ...I’m listening to you all to get my...It don’t mess with me, but...
Len: All you can do is stay against the wall and (?) [Seems to be responding to LW’s “it’s hot” complaint]
LW: OK
(JLR?): Count it.
Dixon: One...slow?
LW (sounds resigned, beaten): Any way you wanna do it...
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
The band starts REALLY slow this time. The song drags, no momentum at all, so slow that the band can’t stay together on the beat. The band stops playing, apparently on a signal from the control room.
LW (irritated): There you go, run into everything...
Dixon (sounding angry for the first time): Walter says slow, you says fast...
LW (sounds like he’s tired of being jerked around): Up it, up it, up it like the man said, up it!
Dixon: 1, 2...
JLR: Count it off!
LW (laughs): Huh?
Band starts a take, and again stops immediately. Dixon counts in another one.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band plays, but when the band hits the break that LW is supposed to sing through, he forgets the words again and is silent, and the band stops dead. Tape stops, then starts again.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts another take. LW gets through the first half of the song this time, and plays a really beautiful solo! Very melodic and focused, full of energy and ideas, and completely different from any of the other issued takes. Then he once again forgets the lyrics coming out of the solo, and the tape is stopped, and starts again.
Dixon (apparently making a joke about the take number, but sounding angry): 94!
Len: Do the whole thing there, Jim.
JLR (a little irritated, like he’s talking down to someone who doesn’t understand what’s going on): Yeah, well he actually LAID IT OUT, talking ‘bout that thing...
Len: What, that...I’m talking ‘bout the...that, after-beat.
[They’re apparently talking about the figure that JLR plays on the bass strings of his guitar that leads LW into his vocal verses, the “duh, da da da DUH”]
LW (quietly disgusted): You know, when things get like this, it’s terrible...
Len: What?
LW: OK
Dixon: 1...let it roll...1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts playing a decent sounding, faster take. LW sings the first half of the song, and going into the solo, yells out “Hah!”, and then really attacks the harp. He plays a GREAT 12 bar solo, intense, wild, swinging. Then coming out of his solo he AGAIN forgets the lyrics. He realizes he’s screwed up, and the band grinds to a halt.
LW (yells angrily): Mamalooked! [?]
[I’m writing this out phonetically. It’s sounds like “mama look” or “mama looked”, or sort of like “marma luke”. Creole? Whatever it is, it’s obviously uttered as an expletive, like “God damn it!”]
Tape stops, then starts again.
LW (irritated): Motherfucker done dis-encouraged me here with all this ‘yak yak yak yak’!
Len: Let’s go, Walter.
LW (Yelling angrily): All right, what?!? COUNT IT!
Dixon: Roll it. 1, 2...
Len (interrupting): Watch that riff.
Dixon: Leonard, come on. 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band plays a complete, very good take. LW sings forcefully, almost angrily, and remembers all the lyrics this time. The band is in the key of “A”, and LW starts out playing amplified second position harp. When he comes to his solo, he puts down his harp mic, and switches to an “A” harp, and plays it acoustically into the vocal mic. He plays the entire solo on the top four holes of the harp, Jimmy Reed style, but really swinging. It’s excellent! It’s a complete, very strong take. Afterwards, the tape is stopped, and started again.
LW: (unintelligible, in a quiet, sing-song voice, he’s singing what sounds like a nursery rhyme under his breath and far off-mic.)
Everyone in the band is talking in the background.
Dixon: 1, 2...
(Everyone continues talking.)
Dixon (louder, trying to get their attention): 1, 2...1, 2,...1, 2, 3...
(No one pays attention, and the tape is stopped. It starts again.)
Len: We’re rolling on 35, are you ready? Drummer, don’t forget, kick it hard. Take 35, count it, Walter.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts playing, then stops during the intro. This is the one that was issued on the box set, where LW says to Len, “Well, I got time to go on and come back”, and they go back and forth, and eventually Len says, “I’ll let you get away with it...”. The band starts and stops again, and LW says, “Motherfucker had a blaze for me, Jim!” I didn’t transcribe this section because we already have it. The tape stops, then starts again, and the band plays a complete take. However the take on this tape is NOT the one issued attached to this dialogue on the box set - it’s a good take I haven’t heard before. Tape stops, then starts again.
LW: Don’t stop...don’t try to...
Dixon: 1, 2...
Len (interrupting): The regular intro...
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts, plays a slower take, with an interesting twist on the arrangement: the drummer plays through all the breaks. When LW says “My baby gives me a high temperature”, everyone drops out except for the drummer, who keeps hitting the beat straight through. LW plays a very cool solo, lots of big chords, unusual bends used in riffs, and unusual turnarounds. But when LW comes back after the solo, the tape stops abruptly in the middle of his singing. At this point in the tape, the next take is separated by leader tape. There’s no count in or take number, just a good solid take which sounds like the issued alt. This is the last thing on this reel.
Up next, reel two of the “Temperature” session, another 10” reel, with the same type of Sheldon Recording Studio log sheet attached to front of reel box. This log sheet says:
Temp (I Got It High) T2 - 2 T3 - 3 T4 - 4 (hold) T5 - 5
1st half of Reel
It’s a Shame [then written in later] Ah’w Baby - retitled
T1 - T2 [T2 is circled]
2 Hold
“I Had My Fun”
T1 - T2 - T3 [T3 is circled]
Tape starts.
Dixon: High enough!
LW: A hundred and twelve.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts a take, but LW steps off mic while singing first verse, and the band stops.
LW (sounding amused): Shit! This motherfucker’s HOT, Jim. Start again. Blue! Blaze! Me no like! (laughing) No shit!
[This is a pretty funny little monologue to hear - he’s obviously fooling around and enjoying himself, there’s real humor in his voice, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. The “Me no like!” is said as if he is speaking broken English. My only guess is that he reached down (pulling him off mic) to either pick up or put down a harp on top of his amp, touched it, it was hot or gave him a shock, and it made him jump, and he’s now goofing around with the band about it.]
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts another take, but LW stops after playing intro, and the band stops.
LW: (Easily, calmly): Don’t rush it so fast, take it easy...
Dixon: [apparently referring to Len): That’s the way he want it.
LW: (Unintelligible). Crank it up again.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band starts another take, LW tries a new melodic twist on the first vocal verse where he songs “One hundred and one...”, but drifts out of tune and stops singing.
Dixon: ‘One hundred and one’...he said you didn’t say it right.
LW (sounding resigned, a little frustrated): All right, all right. Good. Crank up again.
Band starts again, tape is stopped during first verse.
Jimmie Lee Robinson: You get it too soft, and then...
LW (irritated): Tell it to this motherfucker. That’s all right.
Dixon (impatiently): Well let’s get it started, see what happens. 1, 2, 1 2 3...
LW: (chuckles)
Dixon: Keep your eyes on me.
LW: All right.
Dixon (apparently to Len): You’re always pointing at the one you want up and down...
(LW is ignoring this exchange and playing around on his harp off mic during it.)
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band plays a few seconds of the intro sloppily, then stops as LW speaks.
LW: Hold it, hold it now.
? (musician in studio): You got to get it right in the groove.
LW: Go ahead.
Dixon (impatient): Ready? 66! Got it? (unintelligible)...around the door? Ready? 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Bands starts, and plays a good, complete take - it’s one of the issued alts. As soon as it ends, Dixon speaks.
Dixon: One more while we’re in the groove! Hold it right there...
LW (pissed): Oh, your dick! Shit!
Dixon (quickly): 1, 2, 1 2 3...
[Sounds like LW thought they’d finally finished with this song, and was angered at Dixon’s suggestion they try another.]
Band starts another take. LW this time sings much more softly, but it gives a nice effect to this song, and really seems to work well compared to the earlier takes, and the band seems to respond. Going into the harp solo, LW yells “Yeah!, and then plays an inspired, powerful solo, sounds angry and is all over the harp. He comes back singing more forcefully, and finishes out another complete take nicely. [I haven’t listed to all of the issued takes back to back, but I’m pretty sure this is one that’s never been issued yet.] Tape stops after take ends, then starts again as the band starts another take, with a somewhat different arrangement than they’d working on up to this point - the guitar parts are a little different, and there are now complete stops as LW sings his verses like “One hundred and one when we kiss and dance”. The band stops playing [maybe signaled by LW, since nobody is making any mistakes], and LW speaks.
LW: Dixon. This thing done run another way man, it ain’t, no, it ain’t nothin’ like it...
Dixon: What, you just not happy?
LW: No. That ain’t the way it was sounding when we first played it, was it? Hell no...
Tape stops, starts again.
? (musician in studio): I thought it was...
LW: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
Band plays another take with this new arrangement. LW forgets the lyrics in the first ‘break’, and the band stops. Band starts again immediately with no count, LW once again forgets the lyrics in the first ‘break’, and the band stumbles to a stop.
Len: Back to the old riff.
LW: Same riff.
Len: Blow the same thing he plays, as an intro.
? (musician): (whistles the main guitar figure from the intro, and the band noodles along.)
LW: “A”, right where they’re at. Wait a minute Dixon. Wait a minute. Robert, hit that string, that “D” string.
Robert [Lockwood?] hits his D string a few times and tunes it up, then the band attempts intro together slowly to make sure they’re all together on it.
Len: We’re rolling.
The band starts, plays solidly. On the solo, LW picks up his “A” harp and plays the first part of the solo the high end, first position, then going into the turnaround smoothly switches harp to a “D” and plays the turnaround in second position, then plays a GREAT second 12 bars in second position, using lots of cool licks and melodies and phrases not tried on any other versions. The band and LW play solidly through this complete take. [I have a nagging feeling that I’ve heard this take before - does the description sound familiar? I can’t find it on the box set, the rarities set, or any of the other discs right now.] As soon as the take ends, Dixon speaks.
Dixon: That’s too high.
JLR: Well, that’s Walter’s sound.
The next thing on the tape is “Ah’w Baby”, which begins with no slate, take number, or talk. It’s a pretty cool, slower take, but the band breaks down after the intro riff.
LW: I got to come back off the mic a little bit, haven’t I?
?: (Unintelligible)
LW: Yeah, no I didn’t, that’s the way you want it, on two. I ain’t come in too slow, you want it on two, you make that ‘dah, dah’ twice, then I come in, go right back into ‘dah’. You understand?
Dixon: Understand.
LW: Good, good.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
Band plays, and this is the issued alt, although LW almost ruins it by talking immediately at the end of the song.
LW: Is that clear enough?
Tape stops, then starts again with Dixon talking.
Dixon: Is your throat clear?
LW: (Sniffs loudly) Yeah...(sniffs), my throat’s clear. Yeah, it’s clear.
LW turns away from the vocal mic and speaks very softly.
LW: You’re looking good.
(unidentified woman, very softly and off mic, but definitely in the studio with LW): (unintelligible)
At this point the master take begins after a short piece of leader tape. After it ends, the tape is heard to start again, as LW speaks.
LW: Naw.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3...
LW: Wait a minute now, hold it. (Gulping, obviously taking a couple of swigs of something.) Mmm-hmmmm.
Dixon: Had My Fun, yeah. 1, 2, 1 2 3...
The band kicks into a pounding, uptempo version. The drummer is really pounding the snare, and LW plays nice harp fills in between his vocal lines and verses. Guitarists are really smoking too, with more prominent fills, and nice swinging, sliding 9th chords. LW takes a really powerful, aggressive 24 bar harp solo. An excellent take, marred only by a really bad splice in the middle of the last verse, where the tape broke at some point and was repaired poorly, with a second or two missing. After take, tape stops, then starts.
LW (mumbling): One more in “F”, I’m Going Down Slow. Where you at, Jimmie Lee? “E”? What are you, in “E”?
JLR: Yeah. “E”.
Dixon: 1, ready, Jack? If I Don’t Get Well No More, one more time, 2, 1 2 3...
Band plays a complete take, the issued alt. As soon as it ends, someone in the studio speaks.
?: You didn’t make those breaks on it.
Tape then stops. Starts again.
Dixon: Feedback!
LW: Can’t hear me?
Dixon: Don’t Get Well No More.
? (Tucker?): Bass.
Dixon: Three times, Don’t Get Well No More.
Tape stops, then starts again.
LW: Goin’ Down Slow.
(unidentified woman, softly but close to mic): Please make one more...the next one (unintelligible.)
LW: (Burps loudly)
Dixon: Don’t Get Well No More.
Len: Who plays the bass guitar on that?
Tape stops, starts again.
Dixon: Ready, Jack? Let’s hit one right quick while he’s gone. 1, 2, 1 2 3...
LW: (chuckles)
At this point there’s leader tape, followed by the issued master of “Had My Fun”. After the leader at the end of the tape, Dixon speaks.
Dixon: That was good and fast.
Tape ends.
The next 10” reel does not have a session log sheet attached to it. Written on the box is:
Little Walter 7/21/59
9619 Master
9620
9621 Master
According to the discography, those numbers refer to “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, “Mean Old Frisco”, and “Backtrack”, in that order, however on this tape the first song is “Mean Old Frisco”.
Tape starts
LW (VERY loud and distorted, through harp mic): Can you hear me real good? Now wait a minute. Couldn’t you hear me if I was singing through this here? This is good?
Phil Chess: There’s a spinning sound that comes out, and I can’t make you understand that, Walter!
LW (resigned): Aw, yeah, OK.
Dixon (?): You gonna do that back in G?
LW: Yeah.
Everyone then tunes to LW’s amplified harp as he blows a note. The harp is loud, and right at the edge of feed back.
Phil: Whenever you’re ready.
LW: I’m ready...turn it up.
Phil: Let’s go.
Len: Try to cool it. Play it soft. Go.
LW: Go ahead.
[Per Andy McKaie, who has talked to Phil many times, it’s definitely Phil talking to LW at first, before Len finally appears at the end of this exchange. Phil sounds like a less forceful, more laid back and diplomatic version of Len.]
Band starts into “Mean Old Frisco”, and plays a version with a similar arrangement to the issued take, but LW’s vocals are very distorted. He sings well and plays a really nice harp solo, but the sound is terribly distorted - it’s an unacceptable mix, even by the standards of the day. After the take, LW speaks.
LW (still distorted and heavy echo): You wrecked the sound. [or possibly: “You got that bathroom sound.”?]
(Everyone talking at once for a few seconds...)
Len: You guys are rushing it. Walter, stay away from the mic, don’t forget baby, when you’re blowin’...
LW (irritated, raising his voice as he speaks): I wanna know one thing man. Why did you all used to let me record with my mic, now you done CHANGED this shit???
Phil (?): Your voice got high, it sounds like a bitch, you gotta be in here to believe it, you got all them...
Len: Walter, when you’re blowin’, open your hands so I can get more harp in there...
? (musician in studio): ...you know, around it.
LW (Yelling) Damn! (Muttering) This is such a nauseating situation...now it done got to be nineteen sixt...(tape is stopped)
[The entire tape so far seems to be LW rebelling against being told he can’t use his harp mic and amp. At the beginning he’s obviously got it there and set up. At the very beginning, he seems to be responding to an unheard comment that his voice and harp can’t be heard clearly, so he purposely cranks up the amp and starts yelling into it to make his point - ‘Can you hear me now?’, etc. When they rolled the take, he obviously was right on top of the vocal mic - you can practically hear him spitting into it - and really shouts the lyrics. My immediate impression when listening was, He’s fucking this up on purpose to make his point. There’s no way he didn’t know better than to be right on top of the mic and shouting by this point in his recording career.]
Tape starts again, and we hear the section issued on the LW Box set as “Mean Old Frisco Take 1 / 2”, with the rap about “Ahmad Jamal”, etc. The difference is that at the VERY end, right after LW says, “he’s a gobala goo, don’t get nothin’”, he giggles like a little kid who knows he got away with something - “he he he he he!” The band then launches into another take in D, with LW on the chromatic harp, and an arrangement that’s a cross between the ‘doot, doot, doot’ version that LW described, and the issued take. LW plays a VERY slick, full verse intro on the chromatic, really excellent. Spann’s piano is more prominent in the mix. LW’s vocals are once again badly distorted throughout, but he sings with intensity - it’s a strong, heartfelt vocal. He plays a good chromatic solo with lots of riffing on the high notes, but as he’s singing the last vocal verse, the tape is stopped.
(Tape starts)
Len: Walter, go, from the top. Don’t let the intro go on so long.
LW (frustrated): All right, all right, OK, I’ll stop that shit...
The band starts another take in D, this time with NO harp intro, LW starts the song with his vocals right at the top, and now his vocals are even more distorted than before - he’s right on the mic, shouting. When it comes time for him to solo, he doesn’t play at all - although the band seems to expect him to play, he just stands there, and no one solos at first. After a second or two, Spann picks it up and plays a really nice piano solo instead. [It seems pretty clear that LW’s fucking with Chess because he’s being told to do things he doesn’t want to do, so he’s purposely going too far with whatever Len is telling him.] LW comes back singing after Spann’s solo, and then after singing another verse, he finally picks up his chromatic harp and plays a somewhat half hearted solo, consisting mostly of warbles. It’s a complete take, but aside from Spann’s solo, not very good. After the song ends, the tape stops.
Tape starts, and band immediately launches into another take, more like the issued master, with LW on his Marine Band harp this time and the band in B (?). The band plays a complete take, OK but not great, which remains unissued - this is NOT the alt on the rarities set. Tape stops.
Tape starts, and we hear Take 1 of “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”, as issued on the LW Box set with all of the surrounding dialogue. Take is stopped before a take is completed, and tape stops.
Tape starts again.
LW: You ready? Go on, hit the man.
Band begins another take - it’s the take that was issued on the rarities set, with LW doing the “we can make, we can make, we can make...” ending, which throws the band off, and he then says, “What the hell is wrong with you all?” [This line appears to have been lifted from this take and inserted after Take 1 on the LW box set.
After Len says “Stay right in the mic baby when you sing it”, the tape stops.
Tape starts, and the band starts another take which sounds almost exactly like the issued master, but Len breaks in and stops it, and then they start again.
Len: Cool it guys, we’ll bring you up in here. We’re rollin’, take 5.
The band then plays the master version, followed by the leadered master takes of “Mean Old Frisco” and “Backtrack”. There are no other takes of “Backtrack” on the reel. Tape ends.
The final reel I listened to (although not the last one chronologically):
The 10” reel did not have a log sheet attached to the box, but it did have this written on it in grease pencil:
L.W.
2/25/59
Baby 9243
Your Baby Is Not As Sweet 9244
Crazy Mixed Up World 9245
Worried Life 9246
Tape starts. There’s no leader, no slate, no audible count in, the band just starts playing. They do a complete take of “Baby”, an unissued alt as far as I can tell. Cool harp, plays around on the low end on the solo. Good guitar. After the take ends, the tape is stopped, and then there are a few seconds of bleed through from an earlier take in a lower key which they’ve now recorded over. There’s very little talking going on between takes here, and the tone of the talking that is taking place is subdued. When they start recording again, LW speaks.
LW (quietly): Lemme get this thing straight here...all right.
The next thing on the tape is the leadered master of “My Baby Is Sweeter”. Afterward the tape stops, and starts again as LW rehearses the lyrics to the song, trying different pitches, apparently trying to find his key to sing in. Len interrupts.
Len: Take one.
Band starts, and LW comes in singing off key. Len stops them immediately.
Len: Hold it. Lighten up on the drums, lighten up on the drums. All right, take two.
LW: (speaking to the band) I’m gonna take the two, then a solo, take one, then I’m going out.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
Band begins a take, but LW jumps time on his lyrics throughout, getting out of sync with the band. He plays a good acoustic harp solo with good wah-wah effects, and nice, laid back but effective phrasing. When LW comes back after the solo with his lyrics still out of sync with the band, the tape is stopped. Tape starts.
Len: All right, we’re rolling. Take 10, watch it, hold still.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
Band plays a take that sounds like an unissued alt. When the get to the end after the last verse, the band ‘vamps’ on the I chord for what seems like a very long time, which is eventually faded out. The tape stops, and starts again with the leadered master take. The tape stops, and when it starts again, Len is speaking.
Len: OK, we’ll take it straight, all you have to do is blow the solo when you’re supposed to, Walter.
LW (Sounding disgusted): Awwwww...
[The tone of LW’s “Awwww...” sounds like he means, “Oh no, not this again...” or something like that - he’s definitely not looking forward to doing it.]
Len: We’re rolling.
LW: Wha...? I ain’t gonna sing?
Len: No singing.
Engineer or Phil (?): Just play the harp and move your lips like you’re blowing...you know what I’m talking about, Walter?
Dixon: I’ll move ‘em.
Len: Don’t forget to play the intro you do by yourself, the intro, the band does, you don’t do the intro, Walter.
Engineer or Phil (?): Watch Willie’s lips, Walter.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
The band then plays a complete, solid take without LW’s vocals. LW comes in right on time and plays a good acoustic solo, similar to the issued take but a little busier. Tape is stopped after the end. A second later the middle of an earlier take of this song bleeds through, with LW playing a GREAT, wild solo, but the tape then stops, and is started again with Len: speaking.
Len: Crazy Mixed Up World, take one.
LW: Hey. Keep up with the bass and guitar. Drums, bass and guitar.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
The band plays a good, solid, complete take, with LW playing a Marine Band harp acoustically, 2nd position. He takes a really nice 12 bar solo. The take is slower than the issued take, with a different feel; it doesn’t have the swing feel of the master, but it really works. The band picks up the tempo a little bit after the solo, and then after the last vocal verse LW plays some nice harp as the band hangs on the I chord as the song fades. Tape is stopped, then starts again.
Len: Take two on Crazy...
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
The band starts another take, with LW now playing his chromatic harp on the intro. Intro is a little loose [sounds like the band may have switched to “D” from another key], and now the vocals sound distorted. LW screws up the lyrics in the first ‘stop’ in the first verse, and the band stops playing.
LW (sounding slightly embarrassed): OK, OK...
The band starts again immediately with no count in. [This take sounds like the issued master, but I’m not sure - my head was starting to spin by this point. I wrote down a note at the time that I thought this was the issued master, but I also have another note that a later take is the issued master. I’m pretty sure that one is, and the other is an unreleased alt., but I don’t know which is which.] Afterwards, the tape stops, then starts again.
Len: Take...A good take on Crazy Mixed Up World, come on now, watch it. Open up the harp when you’re blowing in the mic.
LW (dejected, quiet): All right.
The band starts another take, not a great intro, kind of sloppy. It doesn’t swing, and sounds rather clumsy throughout. LW plays a solo similar to the one on the issued take, and in the middle of it, the band stops playing [possibly on a signal from the booth], and then the tape stops. Tape starts again.
Len: OK we’re rolling, take...take 69!
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
Band starts another version, a little better than the last but still not swinging much. Tape stops in the middle of the take. Starts again.
Len: We’re rolling, watch it.
Dixon: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4...
At this point there’s leader tape, followed by the master take. After the leader tape at the end, we hear Dixon count off into “Worried Life Blues” - it sounds like the take on the LeRoi Du Blues LP. Afterwards, Dixon counts into another take, with a different harp intro, vocals sound identical, and LW starts playing an interesting, cool solo, but the tape stops in the middle of the solo, and then that’s the end of this tape.