Mosaic Select: Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano [PA]

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Infinity Entertainment Gr

Notes: While most Mosaic limited-edition boxed sets concentrate on recordings by an individual bandleader or a single record label, Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano features sessions by a number of different artists from several labels active in the 1930s and early '40s, when boogie-woogie was very popular. Fifteen different pianists are featured (if one counts Lionel Hampton playing two fingered-duo piano in a band setting), though it is the giants of the genre, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Jimmy Yancey who are given the most exposure. The first three are individually paired (Johnson and Ammons) and play together as a trio, occasionally accompanying blues vocalist Joe Turner or adding a superfluous rhythm section. Lewis is clearly the most inventive of them all, especially when performing his hit "Honky Tonk Train Blues" (revived in a big-band setting by rocker Keith Emerson during the '70s) or his lesser-known "Whistlin' Blues." Ammons has the strongest rhythmic sense, as displayed in the two takes of "Shout for Joy." Johnson is heard in several small group sessions as well, featuring Turner along with alto saxophonist Buster Smith and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. Yancey, who was recorded more sporadically than Lewis, Johnson, and Ammons, is extensively featured, playing solo, accompanying singer Faber Smith and occasionally singing himself. Yancey's slower, blues-drenched style is unmistakable for anyone else, highlighted by his own "Yancey Stomp" and the two takes of "Yancey's Bugle Call." There is a sampling of other pianists, including Joe Sullivan, Mary Lou Williams (who played nearly every style that appeared during her lifetime with authority), Teddy Wilson (who never considered himself a talented boogie-woogie player), Nat King Cole, and Sir Charles Thompson (each of whom duets with Hampton and the more commercial Freddie Slack. The blues piano sessions of Cripple Clarence Lofton wrap this enjoyable collection with a flourish. The sound restoration and Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes add to the value of this limited-edition compilation. ~ Ken Dryden

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