Happy Birthday Pete Johnson! Part 2

The Robert Johnson Pete Johnson connection
is a brief but sad one. John Hammond
had wanted Robert Johnson to perform
at Carnegie Hall for his Spirituals to Swing
Concert in 1938. Unfortunately, Robert
Johnson had passed away a few months
earlier, so Big Bill Broonzy performed in
his place.

Pete Johnson and his trio had also
performed that night, helping to
create a Boogie-Woogie craze. I
just caught this funny short created
in the early 40's on TCM.
It's a little parody of
instructional dance movies
with people dancing the jitterbug
to boogie-woogie music.
As one might expect, it's
pretty square!

Happy Birthday Pete Johnson

More exhaustive research yields these

conclusive results-

drummers make excellent boogie-woogie

piano players!

Pete Johnson was one of those rare guys

that could swing with a piano trio-

"The Boogie Woogie Trio" with Albert Ammons

and Meade Lux Lewis. Johnson would

go on to work often with Big Joe Turner.

Born March 25th 1904 in Kansas City,

Johnson switched to piano and found his

calling. One can only imagine how great

his drumming must have been.

I hate that AllMusic.com lists him as a

"Jazz" artist, but here's his song page

and Amazon has plenty of downloads

available.

Here's a link to a performance on

Youtube

Supposedly, his "Rocket 88 Boogie"

influenced Ike Turner on his

"Rocket 88". When these cats play

boogie-woogie, they make a commitment

to the rhythm. It's fierce.

Happy Birthday Otis Spann!

One of the reasons Muddy Waters is just so amazing,
is his insistance on having a great backing band, and among
those that went thru Muddy's school was Otis Spann, his
pianist during the early years.

Otis was born March 21, 1930 in Jackson, Mississippi. Coming
from a music family made it easy for Otis to start playing
the piano at the age of 8. Spann moved to Chicago in the late 40's
where he had the help of Big Maceo Merriweather.

Otis provided the steady engine for Muddy's playing on tracks
like "Hoochie Coochie Man," "I'm Ready," and "Just Make Love
To Me."

Although he was to go on to a solo career, his parting with Muddy
was friendly enough that Muddy would produce and perform on
several of his albums.

One of my favorites is "The Blues Never Die!" Maybe not as
dynamic a performer as his bandleader, Otis had that relaxed
playing style where he could provide a smooth melody, and
just as quickly bite back. It was an effortless style that provided
just the right backbone for the blues. Muddy and most of his
band played on this great cd.

Otis passed away at the very young age of forty April 24, 1970.

J.B. Lenoir

J.B. Lenoir- A Unique Voice in Blues

Born in 1929 in Monticello, Mississippi,

March 5th would have been J.B.'s birthday.

Spurred on by a love of Blind Lemon Jefferson,

he moved to Chicago, and hooked up with Big

Bill Broonzy where he met alot of other

blues artists. Lenoir would go on

to record for Chess and other local labels.

Willie Dixon rediscovered Lenoir, and

produced two of his albums,

where Lenoir became quite political.

Although Lenoir might not have made it as

big as Muddy Waters, he could count many

musicians such as John Mayall as a fan.

Unlike most of the gruff, deep-voiced blues

singers, he had a unique high-pitched voice.

Very rock'n'roll. Somehow I could hear

somebody like Johnny Thunders

enjoying his singing style, not to mention

his zebra jackets. J.B. Lenoir had a great

guitar style as well, with occasional support

by one of my favorite keyboard players,

Sunnyland Slim, 2 saxes and really basic

percussion, that backed up his boogie-woogie

guitar. There's definitely a modern sound to Lenoir's

vocals that doesn't date him. With less emphasis

on guitar solos than usual for

a blues song, it makes his singing

sound urbane and the sax along with piano give

the recordings a cosmopolitan city feel.

He passed away at the age of 47, April 29th 19767

after not fully recuperating after a car accident.