Johnny "Big Moose" Walker
{{short description|American blues pianist and organist}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Johnny "Big Moose" Walker
| image =
| caption =
| alt =
| image_size =
| birth_name = John Mayon Walker
| alias = Big Moose, Busy Head, Moose John, J. W. Walker
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|6|27}}
| birth_place = Stoneville, Mississippi, United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|1999|11|27|1927|6|27}}
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States
| instrument = Piano, organ, bass guitar
| genre = Chicago blues, electric blues
| occupation = Pianist, organist, bassist, singer
| years_active = 1947–1991
| label =
| associated_acts =
}}
Johnny "Big Moose" Walker (June 27, 1927{{spaced ndash}} November 27, 1999) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues pianist and organist. He worked with many blues musicians, including Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Lowell Fulson, Choker Campbell, Elmore James, Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Dawkins and Son Seals.
Walker was primarily a piano player but was also proficient on the electronic organ and the bass guitar (he played the bass guitar when backing Muddy Waters). He recorded solo albums and accompanied other musicians in concert and on recordings.
Life and career
John Mayon Walker was born in the unincorporated community of Stoneville, Mississippi, partly of Native American ancestry. He acquired his best-known stage name in his childhood in Greenville, Mississippi, derived from his long, flowing hair. He learned to play several instruments, including the church organ, guitar, vibraphone and tuba.
He began his musical career as a pianist, in 1947, touring with various blues bands and backing such notable artists as Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Elmore James, Lowell Fulson and Choker Campbell. Walker served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1955, serving during the Korean War. In 1955, billed as Moose John, Ultra Records released the single, "Talkin' 'Bout Me".{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Moose-John-Talkin-Bout-Me-Wrong-Doin-Woman/release/735344 |title=Moose John, 'Talkin' 'Bout Me' / 'Wrong Doin' Woman' |publisher=Discogs.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-11}} His own recordings, released under various names, were unsuccessful, but Walker started working more consistently in the mid-1950s, notably backing Earl Hooker and Elmore James. Walker moved to Chicago in the late 1950s and over the next decade accompanied Sunnyland Slim, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters (for whom Walker played bass guitar), Ricky Allen, Little Johnny Jones, and Howlin' Wolf. In 1960, he accompanied Junior Wells on his best-known recording, "Messin' with the Kid".
{{Cite book
| last = Danchin
| first = Sebastian
| title = Earl Hooker: Blues Master
| publisher = University Press of Mississippi
| year = 2001
| location =
| pages = 132–133
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 1-57806-306-X}}
The following year Walker played on James's recordings of "Look on Yonder Wall" and "Shake Your Moneymaker". In 1962, Walker played on Waters's recording of "You Shook Me". During the 1960s, a couple of obscure Chicago-based record labels, Age and The Blues, released Walker's solo singles.
By 1969, Walker had rejoined Earl Hooker and played on the latter's album Don't Have to Worry (ABC Bluesway). After Hooker's death in 1970, Walker played backing for Jimmy Dawkins, Mighty Joe Young and Louis Myers. His debut album, Ramblin' Woman, was issued in 1970 by ABC. He provided piano accompaniment on Andrew Odom's album Farther on the Road{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/farther-on-the-road-mw0000860008/credits |title=Andrew Odom, Farther on the Road: Credits |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-11}} and on If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im, by John Lee Hooker, featuring Earl Hooker.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/if-you-miss-imi-got-im-mw0000044575/credits |title=John Lee Hooker, If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im: Credits |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-11}}
In December 1979, Willie James Lyons played guitar on Walker's album, Going Home Tomorrow.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/isabel.htm|title=Illustrated Isabel Records discography|website=Wirz.de|accessdate=December 7, 2019}}
Alligator Records used Walker's playing on their Living Chicago Blues series of recordings.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/living-chicago-blues-vol-1-mw0000675605/credits |title=Various artists, Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1: Credits |publisher=AllMusic.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-11}} He toured Europe in 1979 with the Chicago Blues Festival. His second album, Blue Love, was released in 1984.{{cite web|last=Thomas |first=Stephen |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-love-mw0000074114 |title=Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker, Blue Love: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic.com |date=1996-09-03 |accessdate=2013-03-11}} He later toured in New Zealand and Canada. He recorded with Son Seals and performed at the Burnley Blues Festival, in England, in 1991. Walker had a stroke prior to this engagement, and subsequent strokes left him unable to perform.{{cite news|author=Tony Russell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/feb/03/guardianobituaries2 |title=Big Moose Walker |newspaper=The Guardian |date= 2000-02-03|accessdate=2013-03-11 |location=London}} Evidence Music reissued Blue Love in 1996, with five bonus tracks.
Walker lived in a nursing home in Chicago before his death, at the age of 72, in November 1999.{{cite web|url=http://www.alligator.com/artists/Johnny-Big-Moose-Walker/ |title=Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker |publisher=Alligator.com |date=1927-06-27 |accessdate=2013-03-11}}
Discography
=Solo albums=
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
| Year || Title || Record label | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Ramblin Woman | style="text-align:center;"|ABC |
| 1979 | Going Home Tomorrow | style="text-align:center;"|Isabel Records |
| 1984 | Blue Love | style="text-align:center;"|JSP |
| 1994 | Swear to Tell the Truth | style="text-align:center;"|JSP |
=Collaboration albums=
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
| Year || Title || Record label | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Lefty Dizz featuring Big Moose Walker | style="text-align:center;"|Black & Blue |
=As sideman=
With Earl Hooker
- Don't Have to Worry (BluesWay, 1969)
With John Lee Hooker
- If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im (BluesWay, 1970) with Earl Hooker
With Lightnin' Hopkins
- Lightnin'! (Poppy, 1969)
- In the Key of Lightnin' (Tomato, 1969 [2002])
With Curtis Jones
- Trouble Blues (Bluesville, 1960)
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{allMusic|id=mn0000240009|label=Johnny "Big Moose" Walker}}
- [https://www.google.com/search?q=johnny+big+moose+walker&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=GfE8UfjmEsiG0AWZ7oDYAg&sqi=2&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=809 Photographs of Walker]
- [http://www.hotburrito.nl/ency/blues/bigmoosewalker.html Biography and discography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102454/http://www.hotburrito.nl/ency/blues/bigmoosewalker.html |date=2016-03-04 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Johnny Big Moose}}
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:American blues pianists
Category:American male pianists
Category:American male organists
Category:American blues guitarists
Category:American male bass guitarists
Category:American blues singers
Category:Blues bass guitarists
Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi
Category:Chicago blues musicians
Category:Electric blues musicians
Category:Organ blues musicians
Category:People from Washington County, Mississippi
Category:20th-century American bass guitarists
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:Guitarists from Illinois
Category:Guitarists from Mississippi
Category:20th-century American organists
Category:20th-century American male singers