James Cotton

Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin\' Wolf\'s band in the early 1950s. He made his first recordings in Memphis for Sun Records, under the direction of Sam Phillips. In 1955, he was recruited by Muddy Waters to come to Chicago and join his band. Cotton became Waters\'s bandleader and stayed with the group until 1965. In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann on piano, to record between gigs with the Muddy Waters band. He eventually left to form his own full-time touring group. His first full album, on Verve Records, was produced by the guitarist Mike Bloomfield and the singer and songwriter Nick Gravenites, who later were members of the band Electric Flag.\n', '

In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters\' Grammy Award–winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter.\n', '

Cotton was born in Tunica, Mississipp…