Juke is a harmonica instrumental by Chicago bluesman Little Walter Jacobs, released in 1952 as the A-side of a Checker Records single with the B-side Cant Hold on Much Longer. Recorded May 12, 1952 at Universal Recording in Chicago with Muddy Waters and his band, it became Walter’s first big hit and a blues harmonica standard. The tune is a swinging eight-bar blues in the key of E, played in cross-harp, featuring deep, saxophone-like harmonica lines and a boogie-woogie guitar pattern. It popularized amplified harmonica and the Chicago blues harmonica technique, staying at number one on the Billboard R&B chart for eight weeks and launching Walter’s solo career. Juke has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (2008) and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame (1986). It was originally logged as Your Pat Will Play and later renamed Juke by Leonard Chess; the track was released as a single and did not appear on an initial album, though it has since appeared on various Little Walter compilations.
