The piano has played a vital role in the evolution of blues and rock ’n’ roll. While the instrument is often overshadowed by the guitar, the tinkling ivories weave their way throughout the history of the blues. With this issue I want to pay tribute to some of the great blues piano players of the last 40 years as well as remind everyone that the tradition is still a vibrant and active part of the blues world.
The piano was on many of the earliest recorded blues. Most of the first classic blues recordings by women like Victoria Spivey, Mamie Smith, and Bessie Smith feature a piano, but few of the backing bands had a guitar. On the earliest blues recording, Crazy Blues by Mamie Smith, Perry Bradford plays piano. As the blues evolved piano players began to step out of the band and into the forefront. The popularity of the instrument continued to grow as the boogie-woogie craze of the 1930s and ’40s swept the nation. By the late 1940s and early 1950s hard driving boogie-woogie-rooted songs by Jimmy McCracklin, Amos Milburn, Roy Brown, Floyd Dixon, and many others were the dance hits of the day. These recordings had a profound influence on early rock ’n’ roll.
As the decades wore on, the blues (and most other forms of popular music) became more and more guitar-centric. The pianist was often once again relegated to the sideman roll. Over the last 40 years, hit recordings by pianists were rare, but the piano still played a vital role in the sound of the blues. Today most of the legendary piano players of the heyday are gone, but the 88s still roll on, weaving their sounds into the music we love.
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The blues world lost two of its most important figures from the West Coast over the last week. Bandleader, trendsetter, barrier-breaker, talent scout, DJ, drummer, vibes-player, singer, and painter Johnny Otis, known as the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues, died on January 17, 2012, in Altadena, California. Born on December 28, 1921, to Greek immigrant parents, Alexandres Veliotes decided as a child that if society dictated that he live as either white or black, he would be black. Otis began playing drums professionally in 1941 and by 1945 he was fronting his own band. The Johnny Otis Show was an amazingly progressive band that featured numerous young talents through the years. Otis wrote many hit songs and recorded several hits as well. As a friend told me the other day, when you identify Johnny Otis as Caucasian, you need an asterisk.
One of Johnny Otis’ greatest talents was discovering new talent—perhaps most notably the great Etta James. James died on January 20, 2012, at the age of 73. Fourteen-year-old Jamesetta Hawkins met bandleader Otis in 1952 and he took her under his wing, guiding her in her first recordings. James was a powerhouse singer who could rattle the windows at one moment with songs like Something’s Got a Hold on Me and then purr into your ears on love ballads like Sunday Kind of Love and her signature tune At Last.
Full obituaries for both artists will appear in the next issue
Brett J. Bonner
Editor