Amos MilburnTexas pianist Amos Milburn was a link between boogie woogie and rock 'n' roll piano styles. He improved upon the traditional left hand boogie woogie pattern of a walking bass--the eight-note bass pattern repeating every two bars--and did a faster 4-note pattern, with lightning fast figures on the right hand. You can hear the same thing on Fats Domino's early recordings, and Domino has often said that Amos Milburn was a main inspiration for him.
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Fats DominoIn the Fifties with a rockin' piano Fats Domino came out of New Orleans to become one of rock-and-roll's earliest and best stars. With 65 million record sales to his credit, Fats out sold every Fifties rock and and roll pioneer except Elvis Presley.
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Charles BrownDespite learning piano while a child, Brown became a teacher of chemistry. In 1943, living in Los Angeles, he realized that he could earn more money working as a pianist-singer. At that time, the top small group in Los Angeles was the Nat King Cole Trio, but when Cole moved on, the Three Blazers, led by Johnny Moore (guitarist brother of Oscar Moore ) and whom Brown had just joined, moved into the top spot.
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Big Joe TurnerBig Joe Turner was one of the best blues shouters and a critical link between rhythm & blues and rock & roll. With a big, husky voice that he projected with amazing power and clarity, and a blues sensibility with which he sank into most every song he sang, Turner was a major figure in black music from the late 1930s until his death in 1985. He sang with some of the greatest bandleaders of the swing and R&B eras and made successful transitions from boogie-woogie to rhythm & blues to early rock & roll with remarkable ease.
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Pete JohnsonJohnson's first instrument was the drums. Between 1922 and 1926, he worked with Louis "Good Bootie" Johnson. He learned to play the piano from his uncle Charles "Smash" Johnson. While in Kansas City, Pete was featured with Clarence Love's band and with Herman Walder's Rocket Swing Unit at the Spinning Wheel at 12th and Troost.
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Charles MingusCharles Mingus was born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 although he spent his formative childhood years in Watts, California. His early influences were classical and gospel music. The gospel influence grew out of his religious home life and the fact that his stepmother only allowed gospel music in her home. Mingus, along with his sisters, were formally trained in classical music at very young ages.
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Jimmy ReedJimmy Reed was one of the most influential bluesmen of the post-World War II period. With a blues style that was rhythmically relaxed and uncommonly accessible, Reed sold more records in the 1950s and early 1960s than any other blues artist save B.B. King. His "sweet" style of blues, rooted in traditional Delta groundwork, made its mark on listeners, both black and white, and had a profound effect on rock groups such as the Rolling Stones and solo artists like Bob Dylan.
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Sonny RhodesLegendary Bluesman Sonny Rhodes, has been a master of the Lap Steel Guitar for many years. He got his first guitar at 8, and has been playing seriously since the age of twelve. He has 9 Albums to his credit, and has appearances on many others. His CD "Blue Diamond" has a "hidden" bonus track, past two minutes of silence after the last song, that is a very nice 20 minute interview with Sonny Rhodes. After 40 years of recording, Sonny is still an active, touring, highly sought-after personality.
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Joe Louis WalkerAlthough born in the city and raised during the era of "flower power", Joe Louis had a strong and realized sense of the blues tradition. He was also a guitarist of considerable accomplishment. His albums are superior examples of modern blues, generally consisting of songs that are fluent and witty and sacrifice none of their "bluesiness" in their awareness of contemporary trends.
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Jeff HealyRendered blind from eye cancer since the age of one, Healey picked up his first guitar at three, and - by playing the instrument flat on his lap - patented a revolutionary technique that went on to become a trademark of his performance. By the age of six, Healey was playing and singing in public.
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Shuggie OtisA guitar virtuoso, master arranger and an original funk soul brother, Otis had a groove vision that defined the idea of "forward thinking," which is why his music seems so much more at home now than it ever could have in the '70s.
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Otis SpannBest known as the pianist in the legendary Muddy Waters Band, Otis Spann was also a noted solo artist in the 1960s. His blend of traditional boogie-woogie bass figures and slow blues chord structures gave his piano style its emotional depth. In a band format, Spann was the ideal accompanist. He could melt into the rhythm section with full-bodied, but unobtrusive, riffs or could break out into the open with a powerful solo. Spann was also a convincing vocalist. His hazy voice seemed dulled by years of abuse, yet it contained the kind of blue tones that often took a song to a higher emotional plane.
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Johnny FerreiraAlthough born in Portugal, John is an East-Ender through and through, having attended Templeton High School and experienced first hand the pressures of being expected to conform to a particular way of life.
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