Piano | All About Blues Music

EDDIE BOYD

Born in Clarksdale MS, Eddie was a self-taught pianist who learned his trade around the Delta juke-joints before moving to Memphis when he was 22 years old. Eddie formed The Dixie Rhythm Boys to play in the Beale Street clubs and in 1941, he caught the train to Chicago where he played with John Lee…

DR. JOHN

Dr. John is the living embodiment of New Orleans. Talented, scary, steeped in tradition, no stranger to drugs and violence, but always entertaining; Dr. John is also the character adopted by Mac Rebennack when it’s Showtime! With roots deep in jazz and R&B, with costumes and voodoo imagery coupled with that distinctive growl and piano…

LITTLE JOHNNY JONES

Mississippi born Johnny was a stalwart of the post-War Blues scene in Chicago, as a session pianist and side-man for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Magic Sam. He was a pretty good barrelhouse pianist when he arrived in Chicago from Jackson MS, at the age of 22, and was soon taking the stage…

MOSE ALLISON

Pianist and singer/songwriter Mose Allison has suffered throughout his career from being hard to categorise. Mose has a laid-back, smoky vocal tone well suited to both jazz and Blues. He can play boogie-woogie and slow drag-out blues, but he recorded a lot of wild bebop in jazz trio form. He wrote some great songs of…

WILLIE LOVE

During the 30s and 40s, Willie played his piano around the Delta juke-joints and the clubs of Memphis and Helena, before starting on a short-lived solo career in the early 50s. He had learned to play as a youth in Duncan MS, and drifted around the region, picking up work wherever he could. He met…

WILBERT HARRISON

When Wilbert Harrison left the Navy in 1950, he played calypso guitar and his first recordings for Rockin’ Records had a decidedly country feel. His switch to the Savoy label in 1954 did not bring any hits, but that situation changed in 1959 when his version of Leiber and Stoller’s ‘Kansas City’ was a big…

WALTER DAVIS

Mississippi born Walter was a young self-taught pianist when he set out for St.Louis in the mid-20s, but he fitted right in to the scene that had Peetie Wheatstraw or Roosevelt Sykes playing most nights. Heavily influenced by Leroy Carr and possessed of a mournful vocal tone, Walter cut his first record ‘M&O Blues’ was…

IVORY JOE HUNTER

Ivory Joe Hunter (his full given name) was playing piano and developing his velvet voice around Beaumont Texas when he was recorded as a teenager for the Library of Congress in 1933. When he moved to Oakland CA. in 1942, he set up his own Ivory Records and his ‘Blues at Sunrise’ was a national…

SAMMY PRICE

Texan Sammy was a versatile pianist whose long career encompassed Blues and boogie-woogie and took in swing and jump-blues. Starting in Dallas as a singer and dancer in Alphonso Trent’s Orchestra, Sammy recorded his song ‘Blue Rhythm Stomp’ in 1929. He formed the Texas Bluesicians based in Kansas, moving the band on to Detroit and…

ALBERT AMMONS

Chicago pianist Albert performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in the 1938 ‘From Spirituals to Swing’ Concert. This event led directly to the ‘Boogie-Woogie Craze’ that lasted beyond WWII and spread this up-tempo piano Blues all over the world. Along with Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis and Pete Johnson, both of whom also played at that show,…