The Aces

The Aces was one of the earliest and most influential of the electric Chicago blues bands in the 1950s, led by the guitarist brothers Louis and Dave Myers, natives of Byhalia, Mississippi. The brothers originally performed as the Little Boys. With the addition of the harmonica player Junior Wells, they rechristened themselves the Three Deuces and then the Three Aces. With the enlistment of the drummer Fred Below in 1950, they became the Four Aces and finally the Aces. Influenced in large part by jazz, they developed an urbane, sophisticated style well ahead of its time; in particular, Below's refined rhythms led to the rise of the blues shuffle beat and helped launch the drums to a new prominence in blues bands.
In 1952, Wells quit to join the Muddy Waters band, filling the vacancy created by the recent departure of Little Walter from that group. Walter quickly signed the remaining Aces as his new backing unit, renaming the trio the Jukes to capitalize on his current hit single, "Juke". A series of seminal recordings followed — "Mean Old World," "Sad Hours," "Off the Wall," and "Tell Me Mama" among them, until Louis Myers left the band in 1954.