He taught them how to dress, how to conduct business and how to present yourself on stage. His last gig was with fellow harpman James Cotton just a month before dying of cancer in 2017 at age 81. He had a handful of albums, including last year’s “Mojo Workin’,” from 1969 sessions. He came to Minneapolis with Waters in 1962 and stayed to start his own band, becoming popular among blue-collar crowds at Mattie’s Ribs and hippie kids at the Labor Temple.
Minnesota’s strongest connection to the blues from the other end of the big river, Mississippi native George Buford blew harmonica in Muddy Waters’ band off and on from the late ’50s until 1983, when he served as pallbearer at his boss’ funeral. Jacquie Maddix, DJ for KFAI, 90.3 and 106.7 FM, and singer with Lady J Griot & Her Root Doctors But none of that folksy sugarcoating can obscure the high caliber or the hard-won quality that his musicianship displays, year after year.” He can be sophisticated high-society-wise, or he can get down home with the nitty-gritty, depending on the crowd. “He is a crowd-pleaser who knows what an audience wants. At 93, he’s still eager for his next gig. In 1955, he played piano on Minnesota’s first rock ’n’ roll hit, Augie Garcia’s “Hi Yo Silver.” Last summer, he delivered one of the first pandemic-era virtual concerts from the rubble of Lake Street, where he pleaded in a new song, “Put the world back together.” In between, the elder James Harris (Jimmy Jam is his son) has entertained generations of Minnesota music fans with his jazzy, Louis Armstrong-cool piano ballads and R&B boogie via countless supper-club shows and a handful of his own warm, soulful records.
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