James Cotton (born July 1, 1935) is an American
blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band. Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. 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 Waters' band. Cotton became Muddy's band leader and stayed with Waters' group until 1965. In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with
Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band and eventually left Waters to form his own full-time touring group. His first full album, on the
Verve label, was produced by guitarist
Mike Bloomfield and vocalist/songwriter
Nick Gravenites, both of whom were later members of the band
Electric Flag. In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters'
Grammy Award winning 1977 album
Hard Again, produced by
Johnny Winter.