Details on Spand's early history and later life is scant. What is known is that he recorded in excess of 20 tracks for the Paramount label between 1929 and 1931 and a further eight for OKeh Records in 1940. He was a friend and working partner of Blin…

b. James Founty. Pickett was a singer and guitarist, whose August 1949 recordings prompted years of speculation. Many noted his stylistic links with the blues of the east coast, and it was through company files that critics discovered his real name. …

b. Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. c.1970. Although a somewhat obscure character, Walter Roland saw something like 40 recordings issued under his own name during the period 1933-35. He is also justly famous for the work he did accompanying Lucille Bogan…

b. Charles Edward Davenport, 23 April 1894, Anniston, Alabama, USA, d. 3 December 1955, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. One of the most distinctive themes utilized in boogie-woogie is the train imitation "Cow Cow Blues" from which this consummate performer der…

b. July 1932, Moreauville, Louisiana, USA, d. 18 July 1986, Houston, Texas, USA. Having already had some musical training at home, Wilkerson began playing alto saxophone while in high school in Houston. He started playing professionally in his mid-te…

b. 25 March 1904, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 23 March 1967, Buffalo, New York, USA. After playing drums when a teenager, Johnson switched to piano in 1926 and swiftly became a leading exponent of the blues. He was also an excellent accompanist to…

Highly underrated as a soul-jazz organist due in large part to a scanty discography Baby Face Willette remains a somewhat mysterious figure a quiet reserved man who disappeared from the jazz scene after the first half of the 60s Born Roosevelt Willet…

One of the three great practioners of boogie woogie piano (along with Pete Johnson and Meade "Lux" Lewis), Albert Ammons was also one of the outstanding blues players of the '30s and '40s. His influence extends not just to jazz musicians but to R&B a…

b. Albert Luandrew, 5 September 1907, Vance, Mississippi, USA, d. 17 March 1995, Chicago, Illinois, USA. A seminal figure in the development of the post-war Chicago blues, Sunnyland Slim taught himself piano and organ as a child in Mississippi and sp…

b. Robert McCollum, 30 November 1909, Helena, Arkansas, USA, d. 5 November 1967. Having left home in his early teens, McCollum initially supported himself financially by playing harmonica, but by the 30s had switched to guitar under the tutelage of H…

Ike Quebec was a talented tenor sax player who recorded some beautiful sides for the Blue Note label in the 1940s and '50s; however, he remains underrated and little-known for his playing. His lasting influence came from his behind-the-scenes work as…

b. Meade Anderson Lewis, 4 September 1905, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 7 June 1964, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Although he was popular in Chicago bars in the 20s, Lewis was little known elsewhere and made his living running a taxicab firm with fello…

b. 12 January 1909, Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA. After playing in many territory bands in the south-west and Midwest, pianist McShann settled in Kansas City in the mid-30s, playing in Buster Smith's band, which also included Charlie Parker, in 1937. The …

b. Hudson Woodbridge aka Whittaker, 8 January 1904, Smithville, Georgia, USA, d. 19 March 1981, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Tampa Red was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother Whittaker's family, hence his nickname. By the time of his 1928 recordi…

Delta bluesman Johnny Shines is most famous for having traveled and performed with Robert Johnson in the '30s, but his career extended several decades beyond Johnson's. He eventually wound up in Chicago, where he recorded for Job Records, but like ma…

Next time someone voices the goofball opinion that blues is simply too depressing to embrace sit em down and expose em to a heady dose of Roosevelt Sykes If he doesnt change their minds nothing will There was absolutely nothing downbeat about this ro…

Illinois Jacquet, known as the foremost of the "Texas tenor titans," is one of the most influential figures in both jazz and R&B saxophone. He started out playing in "territory bands" for the likes of Milt Larkins, but first came to fame in the early…

b. 8 February 1929, Marshall, Texas, USA. Dixon, aka J. Riggins Jnr., began playing piano and singing as a child, absorbing every influence from gospel and blues to jazz, and even hillbilly. In 1942 his family moved to Los Angeles and he came into co…