Brooks, Big Leon
(1933–1982)> HARMONICA PLAYER
Brooks, Big Leon 19 November 1933; Sunflower, MS – 22 January 1982; Chicago, IL Harmonica player active in Chicago from the 1950s through his death in 1982. He took up the instrument at age six. An early and abiding influence was Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck Miller). After moving from Mississippi to Chicago in the 1940s, Brooks sought and regarded “Little Walter” Jacobs as his “coach.” During the 1950s, Brooks led his own bands and worked often with Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush, Robert Nighthawk…