George "Harmonica" Smith born 22 April1924

George "Harmonica" Smith (born Allen George Smith, April 22, 1924* – October 2, 1983) was an American electric blues harmonica player. Apart from his solo recordings, Smith is best known for his work backing both Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton.

George Smith was born Allen George Washington* in Helena, Arkansas, but was raised in Cairo, Illinois. At age four, he was already taking harp lessons from his mother, a guitar player and a somewhat stern taskmaster. In his early teens, he started hoboing around towns in the South and eventually wound up playing fish fries and picnics in the Mississippi Delta with Earley Woods’ country band, with Woods on fiddle and Curtis Gould on spoons.

He also worked with a gospel group in Mississippi called the Jackson Jubilee Singers. From the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Smith travelled throughout the south. He moved to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1941 and played with a group that included Francis Clay on drums. There is evidence that he was one of the first to amplify his harp. While working at the Dixie Theatre, he took an old 16mm cinema projector, extracted the amplifier/speaker, and began using this on the streets.

He moved to Chicago and began playing professionally in 1951.His influences include Larry Adler and later, Little Walter. He played in a number of bands including one with a young guitarist named Otis Rush, and later went on the road with the Muddy Waters Band after replacing Henry Strong. In 1954, he was offered a permanent job at the Orchid Room in Kansas City where, early in 1955, Joe Bihari of Modern Records (on a scouting trip) heard Smith, and signed him to Modern. These recording sessions were released under the name Little George Smith, and included "Telephone Blues" and "Blues in the Dark." The records were a success.

                                    

Smith travelled with Little Willie John and Champion Jack Dupree on one of the Universal Attractions tours. While on the tour, he recorded with Champion Jack Dupree in November of 1955 in Cincinnati, producing "Sharp Harp" and "Overhead Blues." The tour ended in Los Angeles and Smith settled down, spending the rest of his life in that city. By then rock and roll was starting to erode sales of blues records, and Smith, now a man with a growing family, was dropped by Modern. He hustled as best he could, playing the local clubs and recording for labels such as J&M, Lapel, Melker, and Caddy. Smith also adopted Rice Miller’s old trick of identity theft by billing himself under a variety stage names to get bigger crowds at gigs, including Harmonica King, Little Walter Junior and Big Walter. It proved a short-sighted choice; establishing a reputation under his real name would now be difficult.

Smith also worked with Big Mama Thornton on many shows. In 1960, Smith met producer Nat McCoy who owned the Sotoplay and Carolyn labels, and with whom he recorded ten singles under the name of George Allen. In 1966, while Muddy Waters was on the West Coast, he asked Smith to join him and they worked together for a while, recording for Spivey Records. His first album on World Pacific, A Tribute to Little Walter, was released in 1968. In 1969, Bob Thiele produced an excellent solo album of Smith on Bluesway, and later made use of Smith as a sideman for his Blues Times label, including sets with T-Bone Walker and Harmonica Slim. Smith met Rod Piazza, a young white harp player, and they formed the Southside Blues Band. 

In 1970 British producer Mike Vernon met the band, signed them to a European tour, and changed their name to Bacon Fat. They recorded a couple of albums for Vernon, but Smith still could not import his overseas success to Los Angeles and the group continued to struggle at home. The decade also saw a decline in his health as a heart condition worsened.

George Smith & William Clarke

He was less active in the '70s, appearing with Eddie Taylor and Big Mama Thornton. Around 1977, Smith became friends with William Clarke and they began gigging together. Boogie’n With George, Smith’s final recordings, were made with Rod Piazza in 1982. Their working relationship and friendship continued until Smith died of heart failure at the LAC-USC Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California, on October 2, 1983. Partly by luck, and partly by his own doing, he was underappreciated for many years, but recent reissues of his work will hopefully gain him his rightful place in the blues harp Pantheon.

(Edited from AllMusic, Masters of the Blues Harp & Wikipedia) (* according to Wirz Blues Discographies, he was born Allen George Washington on 5th April 1921)