A rollicking, fast piano style characterized by repetitive eighth-note bass figures in the left hand, meshed with sharp, bluesy single-note runs in the right hand, boogie-woogie was an infectious form that had an immediate appeal to dancers. While the left hand remained tied to the task of covering driving bass lines in a kind of ‘automatic pilot’ ...
The original boogie man, John Lee Hooker (1917–2001) sustained a career of more than 50 years with his incessant one-chord stomp and half-spoken vocal style. But behind the captivating, hypnotic rhythm, Hooker found his own deep blues – one with dark tones and mysterious flurries of notes – as he groped to express, often with a wicked ...
is a low-down, aching chill; if you ain’t never had ’em, I hope you never will.’ Robert Johnson Styles Work Songs Delta/Country Blues Louisiana Blues Texas Blues Boogie-Woogie Chicago Blues Piedmont Blues (East Coast Blues) Jump Blues British Blues Rhythm & Blues Blues Rock Modern Electric Blues Blues Style A typical blues style has lowered ‘blue’ notes in ...
also drew inspiration from stride-piano great Fats Waller, a major star in black entertainment circles. Lewis and Smith had recorded boogie in the 1920s, and among blues pianists boogie-woogie, with its eight-beats-to-the-bar pattern in the left hand, became an adjunct to the basic style. Ammons’ Big Break Ammons worked at jobs outside music, led his own ...
, One Beer’. The success of the latter inspired a series of songs with liquor-related themes. Milburn was a superb pianist, equally at home with slow blues, rolling boogie-woogie, ballad material, novelties and jump blues. He worked frequently with Charles Brown in the late 1950s but became inactive in music after a stroke in 1970. Styles & ...
(Bârnt A-lo’-es Tsim’-mer-man) 1918–70 German composer Initially attracted to Milhaud and Stravinsky, Zimmermann studied at Darmstadt and was already integrating serialism with elements of popular music in the ballet score Metamorphose (1954), whose ‘boogie-woogie’ passage was later incorporated into the trumpet concerto Nobody Knows da Trouble I See of the same year, itself featuring the African-American spiritual of that ...
He was a direct influence on Leadbelly, Lightnin’ Hopkins and T-Bone Walker, all of whom played and travelled with him. The full range of his shifting rhythms, boogie-woogie bass runs and rippling tremolos can be heard on ‘Match Box Blues’, a song that had a major impact on the rock’n’roll scene in the 1950s after Carl Perkins recorded ...
(Vocals, piano, c. 1894–1955) Charles Davenport’s best-known recording is 1928’s ‘Cow Cow Blues’, a barrelhouse workout that kicks off with a chiming stop-time intro before plunging into a proto-boogie-woogie theme. Davenport recorded over 30 sides for various labels, and he worked in venues ranging from vaudeville theatres to house rent parties. Although slowed by a stroke in 1938 ...
former member of Papa Celestin’s band, with giving him the advice and encouragement to keep going. He practiced assiduously in his teens and was attracted to the music of boogie-woogie giants Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis and Albert Ammons, which he heard on jukeboxes, as well as the work of pianist/vocalists such as Charles Brown and Amos Milburn. Domino Signs ...
Savoy in 1953 but his on-off tenure with Ace Records from 1955–64 was his most important. His group the Clowns had two huge R&B records in ‘Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie-Woogie Flu’ and ‘Don’t You Just Know It’ in 1957–58. Smith was a fine songwriter, pianist and vocalist, and one of the bright stars of the New Orleans R&B ...
Ike Turner was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in November 1931. He displayed an early interest in music while working for a local radio station. He was taught to play boogie-woogie piano by one of his idols, blues musician Pinetop Perkins. Inspired by other bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters and Elmore James, ...
the southern Louisiana swamp-blues scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, recording for various regional labels. She spent the 1970s and early 1980s playing her unique brand of boogie-woogie piano around Louisiana – including at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival – before being ‘discovered’ by Alligator Records in 1987. She debuted in 1988 with Swamp Boogie Queen ...
Glenn became the prototype of the studio pianist-arranger for blues and R&B record dates while working on sessions for T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson and others. A fine blues and boogie-woogie pianist, Glenn recorded hit instrumentals for Swingtime (‘Old Time Shuffle Blues’ and ‘Chica Boo’) in 1950–51. Styles & Forms | Forties | Jazz & Blues Personalities | Dexter Gordon ...
Tall’ Marcia Ball was also greatly influenced by R&B divas Irma Thomas and Etta James, and zydeco king Clifton Chenier. Her infectious blend of modern Texas roadhouse blues, boogie-woogie and Louisiana swamp rock is best exemplified on a series of Rounder recordings, including 1984’s Soulful Dress, 1986’s Hot Tamale Baby and 1989’s Gator Rhythms. Ball still tours ...
(Piano, 1905–64) Born in Chicago and inspired by Jimmy Yancey, Meade Anderson ‘Lux’ Lewis recorded an early boogie-woogie masterpiece, ‘Honky Tonk Train Blues’, for Paramount in 1927 (the song was also recorded for Parlophone, 1935 and Victor, 1937). He recorded for Decca in 1936 (‘Yancey Special’) and Vocalion, Blue Note and Solo Art throughout 1941, ...
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