DeepDigger

This mix takes you back to the music off the  ‘juke joints’ of the midwest and south of the USA in the 1900’s till the early 1950’s, were the poor day workers came to drink and dance. Those ‘juke joints’ were cheap bars in shacks or train wagons, often on the premises of the logging and turpentine camps and oil boomtowns of Texas, Louisiana, and the Mississippi Delta where a piano player played to dance. That music, based on the same ingredients of the  blues is called the ‘Boogie Woogie’ and often led to wild parties where black and white were united in a fog of alcohol and wild dancing. The basic is the pumping piano bass line played with the right hand of the player, while the left hand played the main melody. Sometimes the piano player was accompanied by some slack singing, a upright bass, drums, guitar, fiddle and/or horns.

In 1938 this music became a bit mainstream after an infamous festival in Carnegie hall (NY) with a lot of boogie artists performed longside other more known styles like gospel, blues, swing and country music. Around that time the ‘pop ensembles’ like the Andrew Sisters and Bing Crosby also started to use the boogie melodies in their big band swing jazz music and this provoked a breakthrough for a lot of original boogie artists and the recording and popularity of that music outside those shacks started. It also got some influence on other popular but not so mainstream music of that time like country music, western swing, New Orleans shuffle jazz, ragtime, zydeco, rhythm & blues, … and it’s with the blues and country music the main precestors of the rock’n roll of the 50’s (listen Little Richard, Fats Domino or Jerry Lee Lewis as example).

This mix focus on the available recordings, witch is only 2nd and 3th generation boogie artist because they only starter recording boog after 1924 and mainly after 1938 when the mainstream breaktrough came. Those recordings were mostly done in studio’s in Chicago, and later in Memphis and Nashville. The tracks doesn’t come straight from original vinyl because most is only released on very fragile and old 78rpm shellac (no vinyl) records, but from digital copies of those 78rpm records. Most is released on Decca, but other blues and jazz labels also got some boogie released on 78rpm shellac records in that time.
Vinyl records were only released from the mid 50’s when the boogie did have to make place for rock’n roll, rhythm & blues and soul and it took till the mid 60’s before the vinyl really replaced the shellac records. The recording quality is fit to that time, witch is rather very lo-fi for our modern standards.

Playlist:

1. Pinetops boogie woogie - Cleo Brown (Decca 1924)
   Cleo Brown (1909-1995) is a jazz-blues-boogie pianiste and singer from Meridian, Mississippi who was very popular between the early 20’s till the early 50’s and made a lot of records for Decca records in Chicago.This is one of the first boogie recordings ever made.
2. St. Louis blues - Albert Ammons (Blue Note BN2  1939 )
   Albert Ammons (1907-1949) was a boogie and jazz pianist and percussionist from Chicago who was heavy influenced by the early boogie pianists like Jimmy Yancey who played in clubs in Chicago during winter season. This tune is the second release of the now infamous Blue Note records and set his reputation as one of the best boogie players which he established by playing for years as resident of the famous boogie club ‘Café Society’ in New York.
3. Six wheel chaser - Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis (Blue Note BN1 1939)
   Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis (1905-1964) was an other boogie and jazz pianist from Chicago and was a close friend of Albert Ammons. He did his first recordings for Paramount, Victor and Parlophone records but it’s until he did appear as first release of the infamous Blue Note records with this song that he made a breakthrough. Later on he made a few jazz records where he plays Celeste and harpsichord for Blue Note and was also resident in the infamous boogie club  ‘Café Society’ in New York.
4. Tatum boogie - Art Tatum (Decca 1939)
   Art Tatum (1909-1956) was a nearly blind jazz and boogie pianist from Toledo in Ohio. He was a child prodigy and played on his mothers piano since he was 3 years old and has an incredible fast and unique playing style witch incorporated a lot of blues, boogie and bebop influences. He did start with playing on a local radio station, but after outclassing all competition in a contest, he started to tour the whole USA in 1933 and started to record for Decca and Capitol.
5. Tonky boogie - Forrest Sykes (Aristocrat  1947)
   Forrest Sykes (1918-1989) was a jazz pianist from Missouri  who was also very infamous for playing the blues  and boogie on top level. Very little is known about him. He made a few recordings on Aristocrat records witch was renamed Chess records in 1950 and did perform in the late 40’ early 50’s trough the US but he did disappear from the music scene after that and died anonymously in the Blue Mound Township in Illinois in 1989.
6. Death ray boogie - Pete Johnson (Decca 1940)Pete Johnson (1904-1967) is a boogie/jazz/blues pianist from Kansas City, Missouri. He did first start in 1922 as jazz drummer, but in 1926 he switched to piano and started to play with singer Big Joe Turner in local bars. After teaming up with Meade Lewis and Albert Ammons in the Café Society in NY he got worldwide recognition. In 1938 he did write and record the first official rock’n roll song called ‘roll’m Pete’ with Big Joe Turner on vocals. In the 50’s he got health problems and did disappear from the scene to die in poverty in Buffalo, New York in 1967.
7. Yancey stomp - Jimmy Yancey (Atlantic 1939)Jimmy Yancey (1898-1951) was a child from a family of traveling boogie musicians and was born in Chicago. He was a professional and famous travelling boogie pianist from about 1913 but only started recording in 1939 as the first released artist of Atlantic records, mostly solo, sometimes with his wife on vocals.  He kept playing till he died of a stroke in 1951 in Chicago. He was a heavy influence on all boogie pianists since the 1920’s and many claim that they’ve learned the boogie from him.
8. Hold ‘em hootie - Jay McShann (Decca 1949)
   Jay McShann (1919-2006) was a blues/jazz/swing bandleader, pianist and singer. In his early years he had a swing/blues big band witch featured Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, Walter Brown & Bernard Anderson witch toured around in the US with big success. During WOII it was hard to survive, surely when McShann had to join the army in 1944. After the war he formed a smaller band with Jimmy Winterspoon as singer also feat Ben Webster. This is a boogie recording from that time. He kept touring till the 1990’s.
9. Boogin’ with Big Sid - Sammy Price (Decca 1940)Sammy Price (1908-1992) was a jazz, boogie and blues pianist from Honey Grove in Texas. He did start with his own band, the ‘Texas Bluesicians’ and played a lot in Dallas, Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago before he started to record for Decca in 1938 and feat as session piano player for other artist of the label. Since the late 60’s he started to play in hotels and restaurant as bar pianist witch he did till his death.
10. Rosco’s boogie - Rosco Gordon (Sun 1952)
    Rosco Gorden (1928-2002) was a blues and boogie pianist and singer from Memphis, Tennessee and one of the originators of the typical Memphis sound and the offbeat tempo that now is the basic of reggae and ska. In His early years he did record some boogie for Sun Records of witch this is the classic. Later on he did record for Chess and RPM records but the lack of success did him quit the music business in 1962 and he started a business in laundry washing in New York  witch he did till the death of his wife in 1984. Then he started to perform again till his death in New York in 2002
11. Sex shack boogie - Amos Milburn (Alladin 1949)
    Amos Milburn (1927-1980) was a blues and boogie pianist and singer from Houston, Texas. He was musician from young age, but only started performing after WOII were he was a marine. He had a big 16 piece band witch played jazz, blues, boogie and rhythm and blues in Houston. In 1949 he started recording for the Alladin label in LA where he moved to. He is famous for drinking and explicit sexual songs and was one of the leading forces of the LA Watt music scene. His success started to fall around 1957 when rock’n roll and soul took over and his label went bankrupt. In his late days he did also record for Ace records and Motown, but without success
12. Central Avenue breakdown - Lionel Hampton & The Nat King Cole Trio (Decca 1945)
    Lionel Hampton (1908-2002) was an American jazz/blues/boogie  vibraphonist,  pianist,  percussionist,  drummer, bandleader  and  actor from Louisville, Kentucky. He started of as drummer for the Chicago Defender Newsboy’s Band as teenager, but soon played as pianist, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist or singer in a various of orchestra’s like the ones from Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman. Dixieland Blues-Blowers, The Quality Serenaders, Les Hives band, Nat Shilkrer and his orchestra and his own Hampton Orchestra. He featured in a lot of movies as actor also.
13. We wanna boogie - Sonny Burgess & the Pacers (Sun 1956)
    Sonny Burgess (1931-now) is a boogie and rock’n roll guitarist who started mainly with boogie in the early 50’s but soon merged to rock’n roll witch was more popular then. He did perform till 71 and then disbanded the group. Around 2000 he did form a new group, the ‘Legendaric Pacers and still performs. This is his first recording.
14. Diggin the boogie - Roy Hall and His Cohutta Mountain Boys (Fortune 1949)
    Roy Hall (1922-1984) was a boogie, country and rock’n roll pianist from Big Stone Gap, Virginia who started as a boogie pianist but also soon merged to rock’n roll and Hillbilly swing (a form of country music). He did record for Fortune, Bullet, Tennessee Records and Chess but bad business decisions kept him always down although he kept playing in Nashville and environment till his death. He had a club in Nashville called ‘the Music Box’ where musician like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis,  Johnny Cash and others did their first concerts.
15. Boogie woogie blues - Clarence Samuels (Aristocrat 1947)
    Clarence Samuels is a blues and boogie artist of the Aristocrat/Chess stable but little till nothing is known about him. He made a few records between 1947 and 1950 for Aristocrat of witch this one is the most famous but that’s it.

Selector Waxx

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