Jimmy McCracklin RIP

Yet another music death, this time of the great jump blues pianist, singer and songwriter, Jimmy McCracklin, at the age of 91.
Born in St Louis,  he made his name in the San Francisco area and recorded his first release Miss Mattie Left Me in 1945 and played in the house band at the Club Savoy, before joining Modern in the late 1940s. His big break came in 1957 with The Walk, released on Checker, and a huge hit. In 1962 he recorded Just Got To Know for his own Art-Tone label in Oakland and had his own club in San Francisco in the 1970s. Other well known tracks included the self-written Tramp and Think. He recorded dozens of high quality singles and LPs from the 60s onwards on a variety of labels, including Mercury, Imperial, Minit, Stax and Rounder, and performed regularly at blues, soul and rock and roll festivals.
Among these, memorably, was an appearance at the Porretta Soul Festival in 2007 (see photo above) at the age of nearly 86 backed by the female group Sweet Nectar, which included his daughter. The photo below shows Jimmy with me and Austin Delone.
Here's his big hit The Walk  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjhOyYT0yTQ