Re: Isaac Washington?

[tom ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

Ryan asked,

The topic of Isaac Washington was briefly brought up on CTBlues-l, 
Connectcut's answer to Blues-l, after area writer Mary Lou Sullivan 
bought a book with the picture of Muddy and Isaac from the around the 
time of the 59 Carnegie Hall show.  Where did he come from?  Where 
did he go?  I would say he he is the most obscure and ephemeral of 
Muddy's harp players.  Scott Dirks? Anyone?
Ryan Hartt
ps Please try, hard as it might be, to refrain from "Love Boat" references.
______________________

It's probably a bit of a stretch to mention Isaac Washington as one 
of Muddy's harp players -- Evidently Washington was hired by Alan 
Lomax for the Carnegie Hall concert, and may or may not have played 
on the two Muddy cuts on the resultant release.

According to the Tooze bio of Muddy, the Carnegie show was titled 
'Folksong '59', and was a multi-artist (and multi-genre) show made up 
of, among others, Mamphis Slim, Muddy, Jimmy Driftwood, the Stoney 
Mountain Boys, Mike & Pete Seeger, the Selah Jubilee Singers, Isaac 
Washington, and Bobby Darin (who didn't show up.)

No idea who Washington was, and cannot find any records by him as a 
folk artist...  In the Phil Wight & Fred Rothwell discography of 
Muddy (in the Tooze bio,) it says, "some sources list James Cotton as 
the harp player on this session."

So the questions are (a) is it Cotton or Washington?; and (b) who was 
Washington, anyway?  Anybody got the United Artists LP?  Any comments 
on the playing?  (I've never heard it...)

cheers,

Tom Ball
Santa Babs