Southern Casey Jones and other great Blues piano

Today I present five great examples of blues piano. Here is five classic recordings.

First up is Jesse James who recorded four sides in 1936. Not much is known about him, but Southern Casey Jones is a terrific piano stomp.  Great vocal too. It is available on a compilation of folk and blues train songs, Black Diamond Express to Hell

Here is Charlie Spand with Blind Blake celebrating Detroit's Hasting Street. Spand was on my list of 10 great blues pianists and I recommend the Yazoo reissue "Dreaming The Blues: The Best of Charlie Spand.

Hersal Thomas, brother of Sippie Wallace, was a blues piano pioneer. Here is his classic instrumental Suitcase Blues from 1925. This is a song that Sippie would perform later.

Despite having participated in the recording of about 200 songs in the 1930s, Black Bob is biographical enigma. While his identity may not be known, his piano playing remains memorable as this selection displays. Here he is heard with Memphis Minnie and Casey Bill Weldon on New Orleans Stop Time.

Finally, the wonderful Cripple Clarence Lofton. Here on Brown Skin Girls, Big Bill Broonzy is on guitar as Lofton lays down some tough boogie woogie, whistles and shouts the blues before instructing Broonzy to "Beat it out Bill."

There, five examples of great blues piano.

A Box Set Treasure of Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano

While it is not clear where the style of piano called Boogie Woogie originated, by 1928 it had clearly surfaced in Chicago where it was named by a recording Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie, by Clarence ‘Pinetop’ Smith. As Dan Morganstern writes in the booklet accompanying the new Mosaic Selects set, Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano, boogie woogie was a piano idiom rooted in the blues, “a rolling, romping an infectious approach to the keyboard … . Its chief characteristic is a forceful, repetitive (but by no mans unvaried) ‘walking’ bass line pitted against a blues melody line in the treble marked by cross rhythms, usually (but not always) at a fast tempo.” The Mosaic Selects 3-disc set collects 72 of the finest recordings in this idiom from the idiom’s peak period of popularity in the late thirties and early forties from recordings originally on such labels as Victor, OK, ARC, Columbia, Bluebird and Vocalion and includes such masters of the style as Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, Jimmy Yancey and Cripple Clarence Lofton along with recordings by others including Harry James, Joe Sullivan, Benny Carter, and Red Allen. 

A thunderous boogie played with ‘"A Left Hand From God” (to cite the title of Peter Silvester's history of boogie woogie), can be heard from the opening moments as we are introduced to Meade Lux Lewis’ revival of his Honky Tonk Train Blues, one of the classic piano and train instrumentals of all time. Its followed by a couple more efforts by Lewis as well as fellow Chicagoan, Albert Ammons with two takes of his dazzling tour de force, Shout For Joy. In turn this is followed by the great Kansas City pianist, Pete Johnson accompanying the great shouter Joe Turner on Roll ‘Em Pete. These recordings, along with the appearance of the trio at the legendary Carnegie Hall concert, From Spirituals to Swing, helped launch boogie woogie into a National craze. As part of this craze, the Boogie Woogie Trio (Ammons, Lohnson and Lewis) along with Turner were booked into Cafe Society, the legendary Greenwich Village Club. The trio recorded the spectacular Boogie Woogie Prayer together, and were joined by trumpeter Harry James for several recordings. The first of the three discs concludes with eight heart pounding duets between Johnson and Ammons. 

The second of the discs is a bit more varied with some focus shifted to vocalist Turner who fronts Pete Johnson and His Boogie Woogie Boys that included trumpeter Hot Lips Page and alto saxophonist Buster Smith on Cherry Red and Baby Look at You. Then Turner shouts in front of Ammons, Johnson and Lewis on Cafe Society Rag, before singing in front of combos led by pianist Joe Sullivan and Benny Carter. After this, we are presented with three distinct takes of Down The Road A-Piece by the Will Bradley Trio with pianist Freddie Slack. This became a staple of piano led combos in the post-World War II period. Selections by Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton and Red Allen illustrate the spread of boogie woogie as it became a national fad (this set limits itself to small combos and does not include examples of the big band variations).

The final disc opens with a piano solo by Mary Lou Williams before presenting us with 17 tracks by the great Jimmy Yancey, one of the greatest blues and boogie pianists of all time. 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 all 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. Five tracks by Clarence Lofton, with Big Bill Broonzy on guitar, close this collection with touches of ragtime mixed in with boogie as on Strut That Thing, which echoes Speckled Red’s classic Dirty Dozens, and lyrics that would be echoed by Little Johnny Jones a decade later, with Lofton raggy boogie bass and while beating of his right hand lines. Also included is the marvelous Brown Skin Gal, which more great piano and lyrics and a commanding singing. 

Long-time collectors have many of these recordings, but some of the reissues of this material on the have been out-of-print for a number of years. Mosaic Select has put together this strong collection of music that belongs in any credible collection of blues and boogie woogie piano. Dan Morganstern’s essay also provides the historical context mixed with insights on the recordings and performers. Available from www.mosaicrecords.com.

This review appeared originally in the February 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 301), although I have made some edits. I do not recall if I received a review copy or purchased this. If you are thinking of a gift for the blues piano lover in your Holiday Gift List, this is still available from Mosaic, http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MS-030. Now here is a video of Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson.

Solo Art's Prime Boogie Woogie & Blues Piano

At the tail end of 2009, I posted a review of a Delmark collection “Boogie Woogie Kings,” that was anthology collecting some vintage blues and boogie woogie piano. More recently I purchased from www.jazzology.com a variety of traditional jazz CDs along with one devoted to boogie woogie and blues piano, “The Solo Art Story -— Vol. 1 Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie 1938-1939” (Solo Art). This compilation brings together recordings that were made for the Solo Art label in the late 1930s when a Brooklyn bartender and record collector, Don Qualey, started the label devoted to piano solos. Right after John Hammond had presented the legendary “Spirituals to Swing” concert at Carnegie Hall, Qualey took the legendary Boogie Woogie Trio, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis into the studio. Furthermore, through Lewis Qualey located Jimmy Yancey and, after being located, Yancey made his initial recordings for Solo Art. Qualey would also record two other artists, Cripple Clarence Lofton, and the Russian born Art Hodes, George Buck acquired the rights to the original Solo Art label and its recordings. Buck reactivated Solo Art as a label to primarily reissue solo piano jazz and blues, as part of the labels he operates through the George H. Buck Jr. Jazz Foundation.

“The Solo Art Story - Vol. 1 Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie 1938-1939” has some overlap of artists with the Delmark release “Boogie Woogie Kings,” with performances by Johnson, Ammons, Lewis and Lofton along with performances by Hides and Yancey. It opens with five performances from Johnson with the opening “Climbin’ and Screamin’,” being a typical Johnson boogie woogie full of his driving left hand and right hand embellishments, while “Pete’s Blues,” is a marvelous late night blues followed by “B&O Blues,” a middle tempo rolling boogie. Two tracks from Hodes follow including the evocative “South Side Shuffle.” “Mecca Flat Blues” by Albert Ammons features his left hand bass and strutting right hand while “Boogie Woogie,” is a reworking of “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” with a bit less of the ragtime flavor but certainly one of the best later renditions of this boogie standard. The three selections from Lewis include a relaxed “Messin’ Around,” along with the jaunty “Deep Fives,” which exhibits some stride roots in Lewis. The two solos built upon “How Long Blues,” by Jimmy Yancey are the Mount Everest on a collection of piano blues and boogie woogie that is like visiting the Himalayan Mountainss of this form. Yancey’s blues and boogie piano is musical poetry. And this is followed by six stunning solos from Cripple Clarence Lofton including a fully instrumental rendition of “Streamline Train,” his own take on “Cow Cow Blues.”

There is a Volume 2 that contains more by these artists and a disc devoted to Jimmy Yancey that the modern Solo Art label has reissued. This is one of those boogie woogie and blues piano collections that merits being called essential. It is available from jazzology.com, and also the Louisiana Music factory (www.louisianamusicfactory.com).

Boogie Woogie Kings Is Appealing Blues Piano CD

Among new Delmark releases is “Boogie Woogie Kings”, a compilation of piano blues and boogie woogie performances that is apparently the first in a series following Delmark’s acquisition of the Euphonic Records label master recordings several years ago. Included are representative performances by the trio of Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson including a rendition of “Boogie Woogie Prayer” by the trio together. Ammons leads off with a stomping “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” although this listener misses the ragtime and vaudeville aspects of Pinetop Smith’s original. Johnson’s “G-Flat Blues,” displays why he was so influential on the likes of Jay McShann and Archibald, while Lewis on “Doll House Boogie,” switches from piano to a celeste midway (probably accounting for the song’s title). While these are solid performances, they serve more as an introduction to these three boogie woogie piano giants. The remainder of the performances are split between Cripple Clarence Lofton, Henry Brown and Speckled Red. Lofton made some commercial recordings and the six recordings issued here have been issued several times over the past four decades (I believe first by Yazoo) and are spectacular with his “raggedly-ass” driving boogie evident on the spectacular “Streamline Train,” a reworking of the classic “Cow Cow Blues,” and his rapid-fire “I Don’t Know,” which was the basis for Willie Mabon’s hit blues for the Chess Brothers. Lofton made some fine blues for Brunswick and Decca, and Delmark will be issuing a CD of his Session recordings for CD. This listener can’t wait. Henry Brown was a prominent member of the St. Louis school of pianists and recorded extensively, including as an accompanist for singers Alice Moore, Mary Johnson and Edith Johnson, is heard on three numbers including the previously unissued “Deep Morgan,” an evocative blues with Brown’s interjections describing what was the home of St. Louis’ blues scene. Finally, I would use the term barrelhouse more than boogie woogie to describe the stomp down playing of Speckled Red, who reprises his classic “The Dirty Dozens,” as well as “Right String, Wrong Yo Yo,” made famous by his much younger brother, Piano Red.” Bellowing out his blues like Roosevelt Sykes, Speckled Red’s driving piano knows no boundaries. With five previously unissued selections, piano blues lovers will enjoy this collection that brings together some solid performances, but with so many great piano blues collections out there, one cannot call this essential.

Delmark Records sent me the review copy of this CD

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Boogie Woogie Kings