From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Aug 13, 2002  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jimmy McCracklin
 
JIMMY McCRACKLIN

Born James David Walker, 13 August 1921, St. Louis, Missouri

Singer / pianist / harmonica player / songwriter.
Fifty-seven years from when he started out in the blues business, Jimmy
McCracklin is still touring, recording, and acting like a much younger man.
He started out as a promising pugilist, winning the title of Navy All-American
Light-Heavyweight Champion. A car accident left him with permanent shoulder
and eye damage, bringing his boxing career to an abrupt end.
After a move to the West Coast, he made his recording debut for the Globe
logo with "Miss Mattie Left Me" in 1945. McCracklin recorded for a daunting
array of tiny labels in Los Angeles and Oakland prior to touching down with
Modern in 1949-50, Swing Time the next year, and Peacock in 1952-54.
By 1954, Jimmy was back with the Bihari brothers' Modern logo and
really coming into his own with a sax-driven sound. "Couldn't Be a Dream"
was hilariously surreal, McCracklin detailing his night out with a woman
sent straight from hell. A series of sessions for Bay Area producer Bob
Geddins's Irma label in 1956 (many of which later turned up on Imperial)
preceded McCracklin's long-awaited first major hit. Seldom had he written
a simpler song than "The Walk," a rudimentary dance number with a good
groove that Checker Records put on the market in 1958. It went Top Ten on
both the R&B and pop charts, and McCracklin was suddenly rubbing elbows
with Dick Clark on network TV.
The nomadic pianist left Chess after a few more 45s, pausing at Mercury
(where he cut a torrid "Georgia Slop" in 1959, later revived by Big Al
Downing) before returning to the hit parade with the tough R&B workout
"Just Got to Know" (# 2 R&B) in 1961 for Art-Tone Records. A similar
follow-up, "Shame, Shame, Shame," also did well for him the next year.
Those sides eventually resurfaced on Imperial, where he hit twice in 1965
with "Every Night, Every Day" (later covered by Magic Sam) and "Think"
and with "My Answer" in 1966.
McCracklin's songwriting skills shouldn't be overlooked as an integral
factor in his enduring success. He penned the funky "Tramp" for guitarist
Lowell Fulson and watched his old pal take it to the rarified end of the R&B
lists in 1967, only to be eclipsed by a sassy duet cover by Stax stalwarts
Otis Redding and Carla Thomas a scant few months later. Ever the survivor,
McCracklin made a string of LPs for Imperial, even covering "These Boots Are
Made for Walkin'" in 1966, and segued into the soul era totally painlessly.

The level of his professional recognition reached a new high in 1991, when
he was selected to receive the Pioneer Award For Lifetime Achievement from
the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in Washington D.C. When McCracklin was
presented with the award, Bonnie Raitt responded by calling him "the
greatest blues singer-songwriter continuing to work."
Simply put, McCracklin is a master at portraying inner conflict and
psychodrama within the confines of a four-minute song. Constantly touring
and songwriting, McCracklin has played every major blues and jazz festival
around the world, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, mainly because he
presents one of the most exciting acts in the history of blues and rock music.

Recommended listening:
The Walk : Jimmy McCracklin At His Best (Razor and Tie)
Mercury Recordings (Bear Family 15558). Deleted.
The Modern Recordings, 1948-1950 (Ace 720).