Checker Records: Juke

I teach a class in Media and Society at a small university and today before class, I was getting my computer, projector, and speakers set up for a multimedia presentation. Today, I decided to test the audio with Little Walter’s “Juke.” One of my students asked, “What’s that?” He was no doubt referring to Little Walter’s amplified harmonica. I responded, “That’s Little Walter playing the premier instrument of the blues – the harmonica.” To which he retorted, “I thought the harmonica was the premier instrument around camp fires.” We both laughed.

Yes, Virginia, the harmonica was used quite often for the blues and it’s not your pioneer great-great-grandpa’s instrument anymore. Recorded in 1952 at Universal Recorders on Chicago’s Northside, today’s Bluesday Tuesday hit, Little Walter’s “Juke,” was a number one R&B record for Checker Records. It held that position for eight consecutive weeks.

Billed as “Little Walter and his Night Cats,” the recording featured Muddy Waters and his back-up band. With Little Walter Jacobs on amplified harmonica, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers on guitar, and drummer Elga Edmunds. The song was originally titled “Your Cat Will Play,” but the title was changed to “Juke,” by the time the single was released. Only two takes were recorded with the first being issued as the release.

“Juke” has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. The song influenced several generations of blues harpists to pick up their harmonica with a handheld microphone and blast the night away.