Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano
Mosaic Select 30
By George W. Harris

For my money, and with pun definitely intended, jazz piano hit its stride during the Depression when Boogie Woogie became the latest craze. Exciting and attractive on many levels, it suddenly became the craze that ushered in the Swing Era, and even lead to later styles like R&B and a thing called rock and roll. Sure, it is a repetitive formula, but wasn’t also the Waltz, and it’s lasted a good 200 years. Mosaic has issued sets of this glorious music previously, but this one has a charm all it’s own, simply because of the diversity of Boogie styles and players. You’ve got the down home grit of Mead Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons, who all do a share of solos, duets and even trios that sound like you’re listening to a runaway locomotive. Johnson’s duets and small band recordings with vocalist Joe Turner feature both men at their most raw and visceral. This is the music that is the marrow of Kansas City swing; you can palpate the DNA of Count Basie’s orchestra on songs like “Roll ‘Em Pete.”

Real surprises abound on this 3 cd set. Trumpeter Harry James blisters along with Johnson and Ammons on a handful of 39 recordings. Pianist Freddie Slack teams up with drummer Ray McKinley for some infectious and swinging rhythm. Jimmy Yancy has almost a whole disc to himself on some lonesome and strutting Chicago blues, and guitarist Big Bill Broonzy teams up with Cripple Clarence Lofton for some back porch boogie blues. A few songs culled from the recently released Lionel Hampton/Mosaic 5 cd set make there way here, and fit in to the mood. The amazing thing about this music is that is one of the few types that immediately crosses all generations of listeners. I just slipped in a cd for a bunch of high schoolers while driving them out to lunch, and they quickly caught the boogie woogie bug. It’s a limited set, so grab this one quickly at www.mosaicrecords.com.