Motown Blues

VARIOUS ARTISTS | |
MOTOWN’S BLUES EVOLUTION
MOTOWN 31453-0613-2

LUTHER ALLISON
THE MOTOWN YEARS 1972-1976
MOTOWN 31453-0612-2

AMOS MILBURN :
THE MOTOWN SESSIONS 1962-1964
MOTOWN 31453-0611-2

While Motown is not remembered for its blues sessions, three releases in the label's Motown Masters Series should be warmly welcomed by blues fans. It should be noted that Motown's blues were not far removed from the rhythm and blues of the period. In fact on the compilation, "Motown’s Blue Evolution," perhaps only Luther Allison’s high energy tracks will strike some listeners as straight blues, the rest being viewed as R&B or soul-blues. However one pigeonholes this music, it certainly has a harder edge than the chart-making Motown recordings of the Temptations, the Supremes, and the Miracles that many of us loved then and still love today. While closing with three rousing Allison tracks with his high energy guitar and fever pitched singing, the highlights may be the six tracks by Sammy Ward whose gospel based soul-blues would have been at home on Stax. A couple of his early 5 sixties tracks, 'Part Time Love' and 'Someday Pretty Baby,' would be revived by Allison (and are on the Allison album). Also of great interest are three wonderful previously unissued selections of New Orleans R&B by Earl King, three rocking Amos Milburn selections, and two tracks each by another soulful singer, Arthur Adams and Little Willie John's sister, Mable John. While those having the rare Motown album, 'Switched on Blues' with have some of the tracks by Ward, Milburn and Mable John, much of the music here is previously unissued.

After his triumphs at various Ann Arbor Blues Festivals and a striking Delmark debut album, Luther Allison landed on Motown where he produced three albums, 'Bad News is Coming,' 'Luther’s Blues,' and 'Night Life.' 'The Motown Years 1972-1976' contains sixteen selections from those three albums, plus a previously unissued live 1972 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival performance of Little Walter's 'Last Night' (although erroneously credited to Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins). Four tracks are taken from 'Bad News Is Coming' including an outstanding 'The Red Rooster,' 'Cut You A-Loose,' and 'Dust My Broom,' each delivered with the vocal passion of Elmore James and high energy Freddie King styled guitar mixed with some hot slide. 'Luther’s Blues' is represented by nine selections including the slow, burning title track, and a rocking revival of Sammy Ward's 'Someday Pretty Baby. 'These two albums sported smaller bands, whereas the three songs from 'Night Life,' have a bigger studio aggregation that perhaps heighten a focus a bit more towards Luther's vocals. Luther may have aged in the two decades since these came out, but as those witnessing his three hour performances can attest, has lost no energy, enthusiasm, or passion in his music.

The release of Amos Milburn, 'The Motown Sessions 1962-1964' is another valuable reissue. Consisting of remakes of his Aladdin recordings along with some strong new material like 'My Daily Prayer' and 'Don’t Be No Fool,' co-authored by Milburn and legendary Motown producer Clarence Paul, included are seven previously unissued performances including a new alcohol blues, 'I'm Into Wine,' along with a new rendition of 'Chicken Shack Boogie' which is distinguished by the brassy horns, a harp solo by twelve-year old Stevie Wonder and Milburn’s smooth singing over a funky groove. Milburn’s piano here and elsewhere is of the highest order. While Cub Koda notes how more sophisticated Milburn sounds here, those familiar with the Mosaic box of Milburn’s Aladdin recordings will not be surprised by his comfort with ballads as witnessed by the remake of 'Bewildered.' Among the previously unissued titles is a version of 'I Wanna Go Home,' which Milburn co-wrote and recorded originally as a duet with Charles Brown for Ace, although in this case the vocal backing detracts. As Koda correctly notes, these were Milburn’s last significant recordings. Based in Cincinnati he would suffer a series of strokes at the end of the decade, and this writer visited the wheelchair-bound Milburn in the Cleveland Veterans Administration Hospital in May, 1971. He returned to his native Houston sometime after that and recovered enough to record with Johnny Otis for the Blue Spectrum label but those recordings clearly reflected the effects of the stroke. Those who have never heard the rare original Motown album are in for some real pleasures, while the unissued selections break no new ground but certainly will add to the value of this important reissue.

I wrote this review in 1996 although I am not sure what publication (it may have been Cadence or Jazz & Blues Report).

Take 5 With Amos MIlburn

I was a senior in college when I went to Cleveland's VA Hospital to see the legendary Amos Milburn who was being treated for a stroke. A few years after this he was able to use one hand in playing and recorded for Johnny Otis. Milburn was one of the biggest rhythm and blues artists of the late 40s and early 50s with his suave singing style and his superb boogie-woogie piano.

One of his early recordings was a cover of "Down the Road a Piece." Here is a version he recorded for the "Showtime at the Apollo" TV show with the Paul Williams Band backing him.

His music was often simply good time music as heard here on "Let's Have a Party."

The great Maxwell Davis arranged and played on many of his recordings including a vocal version of "Flying Home," best known from Lionel Hampton's recording with Illinois Jacquet. Lieber and Stroller wrote the lyrics for this stomping boogie.

Milburn was known for drinking blues as well as hot rocking boogie jump tunes. His hits included "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," 'Bad bad whiskey," Thinking and Drinking," and "Let Me Go Home Whiskey." Here is "Thinking and Drinking."

 Finally, one of his biggest hits was "Chicken Shack Boogie,' which has been reworked by the likes of Floyd Dixon, Jimmy McCracklin and jump blues revivalists Big Joe and the Dynaflows. The original was a major #1 hit on the R&B charts. Here is Milburn's remake of the song for Imperial backed by Dave Bartholomew's Band with Lee Allen and Earl Palmer. It is hotter than a NASA rocket at lift-off.

The Legendary Maxwell Davis Was A Wailin' Daddy.

One of the unjustly forgotten giants of post-war rhythm and blues was the late Maxwell Davis. Its been about four decades since the tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger passed away and his legacy is quite substantial and those that remember him speak at times in awe of his musical genius. The late Jerry Leiber was quoted, “… Maxwell Davis … I doubt if you’ve ever heard that name — but Maxwell Davis made records, he was the quiet producer / arranger for the Mesner Brothers at Aladdin; the BIhari Brothers at Modern and Art Rupe at Specialty. Maxwell Davis must have made a hundred hits, not 12 or 17. And nobody knows who Maxwell Davis is.” The quote os from Dave Penny’s liner essay to a new three CD compilation devoted to Maxwell Davis, Wailin’ Daddy: The Best of Maxwell Davis 1945-1959. This reissue is part of The Architects of Rock’N’Roll series on Fantastic Voyage. One CD is devoted to recordings under Davis’ own name, and the other two to recordings he played on during the forties and the fifties. On the latter two there are ,mostly obscure collaborations by Davis. There is a follow-up volume planned that hopefully will include many of the greatest of the hundred hits, although with impending changes to European copyright law that may not happen.

As indicated, Disc One is devoted to recordings made under Maxwell Davis’ name and display the same authority on tenor that those familiar with his solos behind T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn, Percy Mayfield and others know. Davis had a fat tone and could have a slight bit of honk in his sound but also play with a warmth on a ballad. If he had toured and not been a hired gun for countless sessions, one suspects he could have been as big as some of the best known rhythm and blues tenor saxophonists of his time. And of course on the blues, his solos still sound timeless. Under his name he had a coupling of Lonesome Road Blues and Honey Dripper that featured vocalist Marion Nichols. Then there is the driving honk of the swinging Hung Out, or a session co-led with alto saxophonist September in the Rain, where his playing exhibits elements of the approaches of both Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. There is the 2AM mode of Belmont Special, a lively instrumental cover of Hank Williams’ Hey, Good Lookin’, and Blue Shuffle, an instrumental reconstruction of Lloyd Price’s Lawdy Miss Clawdy.

The second CD includes 28 selections of him in a sideman role, opening with an instrumental from a Helen Humes date and ending with Amos Milburn’s Pot Luck Boogie. There is shouter Jo Jo Adams singing Hard Headed Woman Blues, while Helen Humes delivers the swing-jive It’s Better To Give Than Receive. There is Davis as part of Charles Mingus Sextet, wailing behind Gene Phillips on Big Legs, and less familiar recordings from Crown Prince Waterford, Lloyd Glenn and Gatemouth Brown. Then his tenor enlivens Joe Turner (with Pete Johnson on piano) on Don’t Talk Me To Death, a reworking of the classic boogie woogie Roll ‘Em Pete, as well as Pete Johnson’s Half Tight Boogie that has the great boogie woogie and blues pianist more to the front before Davis takes a terrific solo. On on this second disc are a Jimmy Witherspoon jump blues, early Lowell Fulson, and Davis on a date led by drummer Lee Young, Lester’s brother.

The third disc opens with Calvin Boze’s bouncy jump blues Waiting and Drinking, and closes with Little Willie Littlefield’s K.C. Loving (titled here Kansas City after the later Wilbert Harrison hit). Others on this include Floyd Dixon in his Amos Milburn vein in a duet with Mari Jones, Real Lovin’ Mama; Helen Humes handling He May Be Yours with Davis and a hot big band; and Joe Liggins with Going Back To New Orleans. Davis had played on Ellis Walsh’s original. He could fit in on such different sessions as an atmospheric instrumental by Red Callendar, the relatively unsophisticated blues of Peppermint Harris and the suave, modern jazzy blues of T-Bone Walker. A session with Mabel Scott produced the blues that gives this compilation its title and then he can be heard soloing behind June Christy and Ray Anthony. Less surprising is his work behind Jimmy Nelson on Cry Hard Luck, and Percy Mayfield for Loose Lips. Dave Penny notes his close association with Davis, noting that he set Mayfield’s poetic lyrics to music. While only one B.B. King recording is included, Davis was responsible for most of King’s recordings until the late sixties. There is also Cordella De Milo’s I Ain’t Gonna Hush, an answer to Joe Turner’s Honey Hush, with slashing Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson guitar, a track from Louis Jordan, and also Young Jessie and George ‘Harmonica’ Smith.

Even though most of these selections are ‘obscure,’ there is a consistency of quality and throughout Davis leaves a strong imprint from his strong saxophone and his arrangements where heard. Certainly anyone who loves jump blues and where the blues and jazz idioms intersect will enjoy this. The only possible quibble is the lack of session personnel. Dave Penny’s perceptive liner essay adds to the value provided by the music. This is an important reissue and hopefully there will be a follow-up of his better known recordings.

This was a purchase. Here from You Tube is one of the recordings that can be found on Wailin' Daddy.

Willie Egan's Old Fashioned Rock and Roll

Willie Egan was one of the less known rhythm’n’blues/rock & roll pioneers whose recordings were reissued on European vinyl LPs in the 1970s and 1980s. The UNI distributed Empire Musicwerks label hopes to lift him from his ‘obscurity’ with the release of Wow Wow: The Complete Vita/Mambo Sessions.


Egan, who died in 2004, was a Louisiana native whose family moved to the L.A. area when he was 9 years old. The liner notes suggest that he was a rocker in the vein of New Orleans legends Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis. Egan himself referred to Amos Milburn, Hadda Brooks, Camille Howard and Nellie Lutcher as his main influences while he had a vocal style akin to Little Willie Littlefield. J.R. Fulbright recorded him in 1949 (at the age of 16) for the Elko label, but it wasn’t until he was living in Watts and playing in clubs as the House Rocker that he was noticed by the A&R man for the Pasadena based Mambo/Vita label.


Paired with guitarist Lloyd Rowe, he produced 12 sides which, with four alternate takes, produces the 16 tracks on this somewhat short (about 32 minutes) CD. There is the loping instrumental Potato Stomp, where both get to display there skills, or the title track with echoes of the New Orleans sound perhaps filtered through the West Coast Jump Blues, itself a source of inspiration for Egan. Then the hard rocking blues, I Don’t Know Where She Went, as well as Willie’s Blues and Wear Your Black Dress.


Nothing fancy about the music here as it is a healthy dose of that old-fashioned rock and roll.

This review appeared originally in the November 2005 DC Blues Calendar and then the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283). It is still available on CD as well as downloads. I likely received a review copy from Jazz & Blues Report.

Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne Lets It Loose

A few years ago I was sent a CD by West Coast pianist Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne, that was a superb disc of hot R&B and jump blues in the vein of such legends as Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon and Little Willie Littlefield. Subsequently he has started to play top festivals and clubs, and the Canadian Electro-Fi label since issued Let It Loose, Waynes second disc for that label.


Let it Loose opens with a hard rocking Blackberry Wine, a tune musically derived from Milburn’s Chicken Shack Boogie. Milburn is clearly a major influence on Wayne, who plays strong jump boogie piano that would have served Milburn well in his heyday. Joogie to the Boogie is an easy rocking number with strong tenor sax from Pat Carey. A trio of songs, Bewildered; Let Me Go Home Whiskey; and Memphis Slim’s Blue and Lonesome, provide a mini-tribute to MIlburn, one of the top-selling R&B acts between 1948 and 1953.


A more modern and a funk groove mark the slow, reflective Wishing Well, while the title track is a high-stepping tune that should prove irresistible to swing dancers with its quick, but not frenzied, tempo. A more contemporary feel also characterizes the closing Carry Me Home, which is perhaps not as striking as some of the other songs here.


Russell Jackson on bass anchors a solid rhythm section that never rushes the tempo and Brandon Issak plays solid idiomatic guitar to complement Wayne. Wayne also contributed most of the songs here and his songwriting is first-rate. With all the albums that are supposedly extending the blues, its nice to find a terrific recording that is rooted in some undeservedly forgotten giants of the blues.


The above review appeared in the June 2005 DC Blues Calendar, the newsletter of the DC Blues Society that I edited from 1988 to 2007. I have made a few minor stylistic changes from the original review, but the tenor remains the same. I have resurrected the review in light of the upcoming new Stony Plain release by him, An Old Rock On a Roll that I will be posting a review of in a few days.

Amos Milburn was the Chicken Shack Boogie Man

Back in the early 1990s, EMI issued a series of blues reissues that made some important and vintage blues available for blues listeners. In the October 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 195) I reviewed a pair of reissues by Amos MIlburn and Big Joe Turner. These reissues included their important recordings for Aladdin and Imperial which in Milburn’s case was his legacy. I have noted that while the original CD sets (which had wonderful booklets) may be available from used sources, but the music is available as downloads on itunes and amazon (and I presume other sources), so my observations are worthwhile, especially since Milburn is such an important artist whose star has faded. Given that most people today associate Milburn’s big hit “Chicken Shack Boogie” with Pinetop Perkins, these recordings should be a revelation to many. What follows is the pertinent portion of my review from 1994 with a few stylistic changes. 

{Amos} Milburn’s star has been in eclipse for at least twenty years, yet, in the late forties, he was one of the biggest hit-makers in the rhythm and blues world, with most of his hits included on his collection. Despite Amos Milburn’s importance and influence, Rhino Records included no selections by Milburn on their Blues Masters Jump Blues or Texas Blues volumes. With the release of Down the Road Apiece, Milburn’s star will perhaps shine a bit brighter today. Inspired by the boogie woogie threesome of Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson, and Louis Jordan’s jumping jive, Milburn was discovered playing in Houston by Lola Anne Cullum and taken to the West Coast to record at sessions that also produced Lightnin’ Hopkins’ first sides.

His earliest recordings were strong Texas boogie woogie numbers, represented here by the title track, with Milburn’s firm piano and smooth, soulful singing, and a November 1947 session that produced his chart record, Chicken Shack Boogie, which was on the charts for 23 weeks and reached number 1. It would start a period of several years where Milburn consistently was on the Billboard R&B charts, with the boogie instrumentals and uptempo numbers Let’s Have a Party, Roomin’ House Boogie and Sax Shack Boogie (many with Maxwell Davis’ gritty tenor saxophone); Charles Brown influenced ballads and dreary blues including Hold Me Baby, Empty Arms Blues and Bewildered, (some also showing kinship to T-Bone Walker’s blues ballads); and mid-tempo blues like Walking Blues and Thinking and Drinking, the latter one of many recordings he made about booze including Bad, Bad, Whiskey, and One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer.

With the success of his songs about drinking, Milburn’s life imitated art and he started drinking heavily, including shot glasses from his his piano while performing. While he continued to chart records until mid-1954, he wasn’t able to stay on the charts with the advent of rock and roll despite efforts to update his sound. Even a pounding new version of Chicken Shack Boogie, in New Orleans with Dave Bartholomew’s studio band, that rocked with the force of a two-trailer diesel doing 75, could not restore him to his status as a chart topper. It is one of the greatest rock and roll records, and it is unfortunate that EMI did not include it in this collection.

After his tenure with Aladdin ended, Milburn continued performing and he recorded for a variety of labels, including some duets with Charles Brown for Ace. He even did an album for Motown, now a collector’s item. He suffered the first stroke in 1969 while working in Cincinnati. He suffered a second stroke shortly thereafter, and in April, 1971, this writer spent an afternoon with Milburn, then in a wheelchair, at the Cleveland VA Hospital. Somehow Milburn recovered enough use of one hand so that in 1976, with Johnny Otis playing the left hand parts, Milburn recorded for Otis’ Blues Spectrum label, although these cuts were not memorable. He died in 1980.

Down the Road Apiece collects his hit records and a few other choice items, although obviously ignoring a substantial part of his 160 or so sides for Aladdin (for instance, there is also a great version of Flying Home). Fans of boogie woogie, club blues and jump blues will find plenty to enjoy here, and, if it meets with your approval, you might watch for a rumored Mosaic box set. {The Mosaic Box was a joy, but has been long out-of-print}.

This collection includes liner notes and lists all of the pertinent Aladdin and Imperial recordings. Lacking is personnel and other complete discographical information, although the notes do highlight the important sidemen. Given the absence of available Amos Milburn, Down the Road Apiece, is a particularly important reissue.

As a footnote to my review I should mention that Milburn’s guitarist, Texas Johnny Brown, is still on the scene, laying down his sophisticated, urban blues.

Rick Coleman's Blue Monday-Fats Domino Bio

I briefly blogged about Rick Coleman’s biography of Fats Domino back in May, 2006 which I would subsequently review in Jazz & Blues Report (August 2006, issue 285). That was one of my earliest blog entries here, but since this excellent biography is available in paperback, it is worth bringing to folks attention once more. I note that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honored Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew's contributions this past fall. This book should not be hard to locate.

BLUE MONDAY: FATS DOMINO AND THE LOST DAWN OF ROCK’N’ROLL
by Rick Coleman

(DA CAPO 2006)

Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino is one of the most significant performers of the last half of the twentieth century, yet because of his easy-going persona and his rather quiet life outside of performing, his contributions to blues and rock’n’roll have not been given their due. This biography by Rick Coleman, who authored the booklet for the Bear Family box set of Domino’s Complete Imperial Recordings, is twenty years in the making and hopefully will result in Domino being recognized as the pillar of modern American music that he is. The fact that Fats is unappreciated perhaps reflects a certain Eurocentrism that marks much of pop music writing and rock media that inflates the importance of popular, but derivative rock artists at the expense of true music innovators. After all Lynard Skynard is in the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame, but the much more original Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson is not.

Domino is a private man and somewhat shy, despite his ability to thrill audiences when performing. Coleman traces his biography and development as a musician in the context of the times including his father’s move to the Ninth Ward area, then a relatively rural area near the Industrial Canal, to the horrible events around Hurricane Katrina which devastated Domino’s home that was still on the same tract of land his father had purchased decades before.

Domino grew up in one of the most remarkable musical cities this country has ever had. Coleman traces its history, including the infamous history relating to segregation of the races which is invaluable in understanding Domino’s impact, not simply on music but in bringing people of different backgrounds together. Given the general easy going image of Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino, one is likely to be surprised when reading this about the riots his live performances often engendered. These riots were most often the result of those who objected to whites and blacks attending an event together, and even worse in the racist eyes of many, dancing and socializing together.

Influenced by Amos Milburn especially, Fats Domino was one of the greats in a long-standing New Orleans piano tradition. Roy Brown’s Recording of Good Rockin’ Tonight, is the earliest shot in the musical revolution of modern rhythm and blues that generated rock and roll. From when he went in the studio and cut his speeded reworking of the traditional New Orleans song Junker’s Blues as The Fat Man, Domino had a recording career that for about a decade and a half outsold anybody except for Elvis, and his music inspired performers including Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Lennon and countless others.

Coleman traces Domino’s recording and performing career as well as the major events of his personal life, but without focusing on scandals and then continues when Domino had ceased to be a major recording artist but remained a powerful live attraction on the oldies circuit and in Las Vegas. From when he first traveled to Europe in the mid-sixties, the adulation he received overseas led to regular tours there. And furthermore the level of his music remained consistently high. There is plenty of material here that was unfamiliar to me. I was not aware that of the many Domino-Bartholomew compositions, Domino’s chief contributions were the lyrics and the basic music, which Bartholomew worked and elaborated on. Also, I was not aware that Bartholomew generally played a very limited role in Domino’s live touring as we are given the details of the various persons who were members of the band and some of their foibles as well as musical contributions. But names like Earl Palmer, Roy Montrell, Herb Hardesty, Lee Allen and other names familiar to rock’n’roll and R&B collectors are part of this story as is label mate Rick Nelson.

Coleman has put together an impressive work that is long overdue. There is a factual quality of much of this, but again that is partly the result of Domino’s own private nature. He is best when describing some of the recordings and performances and there is a thorough list of sources although a list of recordings would have been very welcome here, or at least a listing of available recordings. But this is simply a small quibble on a most impressive work about a true Giant and Legend.

I must confess that I do not remember if I purchased this or received a review copy from the publisher.

A personal list of Ten Great Blues Pianists

I will not claim this is an exhaustive list but any collection of blues piano (and blues) should have something by all these acts.

Cow Cow Davenport - One could have selected his contemporaries like that tragic Pinetop Smith or the pioneering brothers of Sippie Wallace, George Washington Thomas and Hersal Thomas, but Charles Davenport came out of vaudeville (like Smith) and fortunately recorded extensively including his signature piece, “Cow Cow Blues” as well as such other gems as “Texas Shout” and “Atlanta Rag.” Document issued his complete recordings which included some strong accompaniments.

Eurreal ‘Little Brother’ Montgomery’s career spanned several decades and included his definitive reading of the “Forty Four Blues Theme, “Vicksburg Blues” along with “No Special Rider Blues, that in 1930 started a lengthy recording career that included him playing in territory bands and continuing his distinctive style that included elements of ragtime and stride. Other early classics he recorded include the virtuoso “Farish Street Jive.”

Roosevelt Sykes gets my nod as the greatest of all blues pianists. Lee Green taught Sykes a lot and he began a lengthy recording career that continued until his passing while holding down a regular gig in New Orleans. With his boisterous vocal style one can imagine how he jumped the crowds at the barrelhouses, juke joints and other clubs. He is associated with “Honey Dripper Blues,” “Mistake in Life,” Driving Wheel,” “Sunny Road,” and his “Sweet Old Chicago,” derived as much from “Original Kokomo Blues” as “Sweet Home Chicago,” inspired Junior Parker and Magic Sam to revive “Sweet Home Chicago.” Of course he did his own definitive rendition of “Forty Four Blues.” He was equally superb solo and in small jump blues combos. One of my favorite Delmark albums is his “Feel Like Blowing My Horn,” with his friend Robert Lockwood Junior and others.

Charlie Spand. I select him in lieu of Leroy Carr because Spand is less well known but such a marvelous pianist. Francis Smith in his definitive series on Piano Blues on Magpie devoted an entire volume to Spand whose “Soon This Morning,” is every bit a blues standard (Junior Wells and Sonny Boy do it as “Early in the Morning”). Other classics include some stomping piano with Blind Blake on guitar for “Hastings St,” while “Mississippi Blues" displays his fluent style.

Pete Johnson. I limit myself to only one of the Boogie Woogie Trio. I won’t argue that Johnson is better than Meade Lux Lewis or Albert Ammons. Perhaps it is his association with Joe Turner (who did record with the other two). Johnson can be heard on many of Turner’s tracks including his early “Roll ‘Em Pete,” and the Atlantic “Boss of the Blues” album.

Jimmy Yancey - In a review of the superb Mosaic Select box set, “Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano,” that appeared in the March 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 301) I wrote the following about him, "A former baseball player in the Negro Leagues, he was a groundskeeper at Comiskey Park as well as a pianist of great emotional depth and rhythmic vitality. His music eschewed flash for a lyrical, almost poetic quality with what Morganstern notes idiosyncratic harmonies although every of his numbers ends in the key of E. His boogies are not played at quite a breakneck as Ammons, Johnson or Lewis were capable of but his treble lines are perhaps more interesting and while his bass work is varied and propulsive if not as powerful as the others as can be heard on ‘Yancey’s Stomp.’ Slow blues like ‘Five O'clock Blues’ were his forte as his subtle touch and treble embellishments lend a melancholy flavor to his performances. His poetic piano perhaps is stronger than his unmannered vocals, but his earnest delivery compensates for any vocal limitations, and one will not find any better examples of blues piano than his work here.” I see no reason to change anything I wrote there. I do note that his slow blues “Yancey Shuffle,” was adopted by countless other pianists including Lloyd Glenn who retitled it “Old Time Shuffle.”

Amos Milburn. If one wants a bridge from the great boogie woogie pianists like Pete Johnson to the rock and roll giants like Archibald, Fats Domino one could do no better than this Texas born blues and boogie master who dominated the charts during the late forties and early fifties. The original “Chicken Shack Boogie,” a take on “Down a Road a Piece,” “Walking Blues,” and such drinking blues as “Bad Bad Whiskey,” “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer,” and “Let Me Go Home Whiskey.” He inspired Floyd Dixon and there are his contemporaries like Ivory Joe Hunter, Charles Brown, and Little Willie Littlefield (still with us) that made many wonderful recordings, but Milburn’s piano had more impact at the time.

Whistling Alex Moore. Texas spawned too many great pianists from Texas Bill Day, Joe Pullum, Rob Cooper, Andy Boy and others so picking Moore because of his stately playing as well as his folk poetry. He did benefit from the blues revival in the sixties which allowed him to show he was still a marvelous blues pianist, lyricist and singer.

Camille Howard. There are other great piano playing blues women such as Georgia While, Julia Lee, Devonia Williams, but Howard’s piano with Roy Milton was as seminal as Mary Lou Williams with Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy a decade earlier. She was also a really solid singer and there was a fine reissue featuring her as a leader that was issued as part of the Specialty reissues that is worth seeking out.

Otis Spann. Its hard to leave out Memphis Slim, Little Johnny Jones, Sunnyland Slim, Black Bob, Henry Gray, and especially Big Maceo when one thinks of other great Chicago blues pianists, but Spann had something magical about his playing when heard at his best. It is unfortunate that production spoiled some of his recordings as a leader with a band (the Bluesway albums were marred by how the harmonica was recorded) but his solo and duo recordings for Candid and Storyville are classic as was his backing behind Buddy Guy on Guy's classic album,“A Man & the Blues.”

Blues Boss Strong Boogie Woogie Disc

Here is a two year old review of a wonderful disc by a fine musician and gentleman, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne. This disc won the 2006 Juno Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Award

A few years ago I was sent a cd by a West Coast pianist, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne which was a superb disc of hot R&B and jump blues in the vein of such legends as Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon and Little Willie Littlefield. Subsequently he has started to tour at top festivals and clubs and the Canadian Electro-Fi label has issued Let It Loose, his second disc for the label and I believe fourth overall. The cd opens with a hard rocking Blackberry Wine, yet another tune of many derived musically from Amos Milburn's Chicken Shack Boogie. Milburn is clearly the main influence on Wayne who plays strong jump boogie piano that would have served Milburn proud. Joogie to the Boogie is a nice easy rocking number with some strong tenor from Pat Carey. A trio of songs, Bewildered, Let Me Go Home Whiskey, Memphis Slim's Blue and Lonesome, are a mini-tribute to Milburn who was one of the top selling R&B acts between 1948 and 1953. A more modern tone and a funk groove mark the slow reflective Wishing Well, while the title track is a high-stepping number that should prove irresistible for the swing dancers with its quick but not frenzied tempo. A more contemporary feel also characterizes the closing, Blues Carry Me Home, which is perhaps not as striking as some of the other numbers. Russell Jackson on bass anchors a solid rhythm section that never rushes the tempo and Brandon Isaak plays solid idiomatic guitar to complement Wayne. Wayne also contributed most of the songs here, and his songwriting is like his piano and vocals, first-rate. With all the albums that are supposedly extending the blues, its nice to find a disc whose playing and vocals is rooted in some undeservedly forgotten giants of the music that makes for a generally terrific recording.