| The Best of Little Walter | |
| Type: | greatest |
| Artist: | Little Walter |
| Cover: | Best of Little Walter.jpg |
| Released: | 1958 |
| Recorded: | May 12, 1952 – January 25, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois[1] [2] |
| Genre: | Chicago blues |
| Label: | Checker LP 1428[3] |
| Producer: | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon |
| Next Title: | Hate to See You Go |
| Next Year: | 1969 |
The Best of Little Walter is the first LP record by American blues performer Little Walter. First released in 1958, the compilation album contains ten Little Walter songs that appeared in the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B chart from 1952 to 1955,[4] plus two B-sides. The album was first released by Checker Records as LP-1428, which was the first LP record released by Checker, and then released on Chess Records with the same catalog number.[3]
The album has been reissued numerous times, although it has been largely superseded by the twenty-song collection Little Walter His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary Collection.
The album cover features a black-and-white photo portrait shot by Grammy award winning photographer Don Bronstein of Little Walter holding/playing a Hohner 64 Chromatic harmonica and liner notes by Studs Terkel, who had written Giants of Jazz. The original LP featured a black label.
In 1991, The Best of Little Walter was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings - Album" category.[3] In 2003, the album was ranked #198 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[5]
The following people contributed to the Best of Little Walter:
The songs "Juke" and "My Babe" peaked at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. "Sad Hours", "You're So Fine", and "Blues with a Feeling" made it to #2 on the same chart. "Last Night" and "Mean Old World" peaked at #6, "Off the Wall" and "You Better Watch Yourself" reached #8, and "Tell Me Mama" made it to #10.
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1958 | Checker/Chess Records | LP | 1428 |
| United States | 1967 | Checker Records | LP | 3004 |
| United States | 1988 | MCA Records/Chess Records | LP | CH-9192 |
| Cassette | CHC-9192 | |||
| CD | CHD-9192 | |||