Little Walter’s UK Tour

In the early sixties, there were many black American R&B artists who found their careers declining and jumped at the chance to tour Europe and the UK when offered the opportunity. Some of these tours were put together under the banner of the American Folk Blues Festivals and were multi-artist tours, but certain musicians such as Little Walter came on individual tours. Although I was not old enough to go to these shows, a lot of them gave birth to many UK musicians trying to emulate these visitors, and helped grow the burgeoning blues scene in the UK . I am very aware that, although I am now in my late sixties, these facts may have been forgotten and hopefully LITTLE WALTER’S make interesting reading and perhaps stir the memories of some of our readers who may UK TOUR 1964 have gone to these shows. For this issue, I will concentrate on Little Keith Parker Editorial Team Walter’s UK tour in 1964. Walter arrived in the UK on 15 September on a tour put together by Willie Dixon of Chess records and Frank Weston of the Londonbased Malcolm Nixon agency, with a series of shows all over the UK, including radio and TV appearances. Audiences had been expecting him, following articles in Blues Unlimited and Melody Maker magazines and also with the release of a best of LP and foursong EP released on the Pye Records R&B label. He was met at the airport by Weston and Memphis Slim, who was also performing in the UK, and allegedly after checking into his hotel, he paid a visit to the legendary 100 Club and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the musicians playing on stage. Walter’s first gig was to a sold-out audience of 400 at The Marquee Club backed by the Hoochie Coochie men. There followed numerous gigs all around the UK. Walter told lots of stories about good and bad performances and alleged incidents, one being that he pulled a knife on ‘Rod the Mod’ Stewart, although that might have been hype. He always used local bands as backing. I will focus on one show which happened in Cambridge at the Alley club in October - it was told to me by my friend Dave Luxton, who was there with his friend Al Thompson that night. Dave and Al were record collectors and had a good collection of imported blues and R&B records from all the leading labels, and they had persuaded the owner of the club to let them play the records for two nights a week when they did not have acts booked. Dave reports that Walter arrived early, had no rehearsal, and just told the band (The Worrying Kind) to play a Jimmy Reed riff. He was in fine form, and it was a blast, with many instrumentals.

After the show, we took him to a local pub, the Still & Sugar Loaf, and once we had told him we knew the music of Jimmy Rogers, Muddy, and ‘Baby Face’ Leroy, he said, “You know, Baby Face, we got on fine.” The pictures were taken that night. Walter has had a huge impact on my music and style, and his light still shines on countless players of the past and continues today. I just wish I had been there that night - I did visit his grave on one of my trips to Chicago, but that is another story. Next issue I will have a look at Sonny Boy Williamson 2’s UK tours.