American Music Research Foundation - community weblog

Remebering Muddy Waters 1915-1983

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:21:13 GMT

The Classic Studio T label and Blues Legacy would also like to take the opportunity of commemorating the life and music of the legendary Blues artist Muddy Waters who passed on this day (April 30th) 25 years ago.

As many of you know, British trombonist Chris Barber introduced Muddy Waters to UK audiences in 1958.The outcome of the tour with The Chris Barber Band was nothing short of a magnificent milestone in history.The recordings recently discovered by The Blues Legacy are now available on The Blues Lost & Found – Volume 2 album and it is possible to find out more details and purchase online via: http://www.blueslegacy.net/

If you wanted to just hear a few Muddy Waters tracks for free, simply check out our My Space page: www.myspace.com/blueslegacylabel

Muddy Waters was a huge inspiration for musicians in the British scene and is known as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Not only did the tour with Chris Barber enhance Muddy’s reputation in Europe, but in turn, reawakened an interest in the blues from the other side of the Atlantic. Arguably, it was this visit to British shores, with Muddy on electric guitar, which led to the phenomenal rise of the blues explosion. We salute you Muddy!

Remembering Humphrey Lyttelton 1921 - 2008

The Classic Studio T label would like to extend their deepest sympathy to the friends and family of the late, great musician and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton.

It was announced on the 25th April that the legendary Jazz musician died aged 86. ‘Humph’, as he became known, was a towering figure in the world of music and also a respected presenter on BBC Radio 2 and 4.

The Classic Studio T label, based at Shepperton Filmed Studios first worked with Humphrey Lyttelton when he was invited to our Classic T Stage recording studio by vocalist Elkie Brooks in 2005 for the recording of her Pearls Live DVD. You can see footage of this on You Tube:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JApXXMAwGVw

Elkie and Humph had worked with each other extensively over the years and our label was also proud to release another collaboration from the two on the ‘Trouble In Mind’ album.

Classic have also been working with another of Humph’s good friends in recent years.Jazz legend Chris Barber surprisingly found some previously unreleased material now survived on the Blues Lost & Found – Volume 3 album, which features Chris Barber, Ronny Scott and Humphrey Lyttelton performing on stage together at the Richmond Jazz & Blues Festival in 1964. This was released on the Blues Legacy imprint: http://www.blueslegacy.net/

International Boogie Woogie: Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:17:54 GMT

Coming to Public Television this Summer!
The American Music Research Foundation is proud to announce release of the fourth in our series of public television programs from the annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival.
INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE has been distributed to stations nationwide by the National Educational Telecommunications Association. Individual stations may air the program at any time at their discretion, so contact your local station and let them know you want to see INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE! For a listing of currently scheduled broadcasts click here and be sure to check back often - listings are updated daily.

Detroit Public Television channel 56 will air
INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE
Saturday June 14 at 7pm.

For a DVD containing the complete program
and an additional 45 minutes of bonus footage call toll free 866-270-5141.
$25 includes postage and handling.

A pianist with a ferocious left hand rolling through eight-beats-to-the-bar is what comes to mind when you think of boogie woogie. The four pianists in INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE provide plenty of that while approaching the music from different perspectives. Switzerland's Sylvan Zingg demonstrates that, "you can boogie anything." France's Philippe LeJeune is a jazz pianist originally inspired by boogie woogie legend Memphis Slim. Vancouver B. C.'s Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne learned boogie woogie from his church organist in Los Angeles, and Toronto's Michael Kaeshammer has been reinventing the genre ever since he heard boogie woogie as a child in Germany. The program ends with all four artists jamming in a classic eight-handed "train wreck." If you love the piano, the performances in INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE will amaze and inspire you.

WATCH A 3 MINUTE TRAILER AMRF logo does not appear in actual program

ALSO AVAILABLE

Gen2 Blues
Boogie & the Blues Diva

Contact:
boogie@amrf.net

Buddy Miles 1947-2008

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:18:27 GMT

OUR FRIENDS AT THE ILLINOIS BLUES SOCIETY PASSED ON THIS SAD NEWS:

IllinoisBlues.com is saddened by the passing of drum legend Buddy Miles. He will be missed!

Buddy Miles 9/5/1947 - 2/26/2008
Legendary Drummer Buddy Miles passed away this Tuesday, peacefully at his home in Austin, TX. He was (60) sixty years old. He suffered from congestive heart failure but the official cause of death is not known.

Buddy performed with some of the greatest names in music including Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Michael Bloomfield, Wilson Pickett, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, David Crosby, Jack Bruce, Eric Burden, Peter Torque, Billy Gibbons, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmy Vaughan, Rick James, Kool and the Gang, Jr. Brown, Ike Turner, Pinetop Perkins, Jr. Wells, Koko Taylor, Johnny Taylor, Barry White, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Carlos Santana, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Billy Cox, David Bowie and others.

Buddy Miles recorded over 70 albums and performed in numerous world tours, television commercials and videos. He is best known for his work with Jimi Hendrix and bass player Billy Cox in Band of Gypsys.

Band of Gypsys recorded one album appropriately titled “Band of GypsyS" in 1970 at Fillmore East in New York. Two of the songs on the album were written by Miles. ("We Gotta Live Together" and "Changes").

In lieu of flowers; the family has asked to please make donations to the Jazz Foundation of America specifically in Buddy Miles' name to assist with funeral, and other expenses at www.jazzfoundation.org ; The Jazz Foundation of America, at 322 West 48th Street, New York, NY, 10036, Attn.: Amy Cusma.

My First Boogie Duet by Charlie Booty

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:23:06 GMT

Our friend Charlie Booty passed away in February of 2008. In 2006 he wrote this article for us about performing his first boogie duet:

My First Boogie Duet
by
Charlie Booty

Thrills and great moments sometimes come totally unexpected and provide “Cloud 9” experiences that are just as real decades later. Don Ewell, a great jazz, stride and blues piano player, provided such an experience for me in a Memphis, Tennessee, club during a 1965 late-night after hours session. Let me digress briefly to say that Don Ewell is famous for his jazz band, his stride and blues piano but is NEVER thought of as a boogie woogie player. That is because he had to protect his source of income. A player with a reputation as a boogie woogie player (in the 40’s through the 70’s) was not welcome in many venues. Consequently, he didn’t play boogie woogie in public and became a “closet” player, visiting with Jimmie and Estelle Yancey many times during the 40’s when he was in Chicago, as well as listening to other South Side Chicago players. In later years, after Jimmie died, Don recorded an album of blues with Estelle “Mama” Yancey.

Back to the 1965 Memphis club event, Don was in town for a week, playing piano with a local pick-up band. I was already a solid fan because of his recordings and was in attendance every night but had no idea that he ever played boogie woogie. One night, after the show was over, the customers had gone and Don was at the bar talking with band members, I sat down at the piano and began playing some up-tempo boogie woogie. Suddenly, Don came over, watched me a few seconds, then sat down on the piano bench and said, “Scoot over”. I was taken aback but complied as he put his hands on the keyboard. After a few choruses, he suggested that we do a slower boogie blues tempo and, next, a moderate tempo boogie. Since this was a one-piano session, he indicated by hand motions and brief verbal directions, how to do the choreography and keep from tripping over each other’s fingers. As we played, he would tell me when we were to take breaks. At one break, he quickly said, “Move to the treble”, so I sprinted to his right side and began playing the treble keys. The band drummer, who had joined us on the first duet, kept saying, “Man, I never saw anything like that before.”

As Don and I walked back to the bar, I was bubbling over with praise and enthusiasm. At one point I said, “Don, I never knew you could play boogie woogie!” He gave me a big grin and replied, “Charlie, I don’t play boogie woogie. You know that.”

In many later recordings Don proved that , not only could he play great boogie woogie styles, he also had a strong feel for the music. He didn’t copy anybody but could play very authentic versions of the pioneer masters. Despite the evidence, Don was never acknowledged as the great boogie woogie player that he was.

I am still honored, and humbled, by that experience.

Charlie Booty 1928-2008

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:08:16 GMT

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Charlie Booty. Charlie died last week at his home in Milan, Tennessee. Charlie performed at three of our festivals: 2000, 2001 and 2002. In the years that he didn’t perform, he would make the long drive from Tennessee just to be with us for the festival weekend.

A truly remarkable man, Charlie was not only an amazing piano player, he was a pilot, an Air Force Veteran a recording artist and a gifted prankster. Charlie barely survived a plane crash during the oil crisis of the 1970’s. The crash was caused by mechanical failure; it was discovered that fuel had been siphoned from his plane and replaced with water. As a result of the crash, Charlie suffered from a brain injury that left him without a memory of ever having played the piano. After his recovery, he re-learned the piano from scratch and would shy away from air travel if possible. He would come to prefer a long drive to a short flight. He would always say that he liked his travel “low and slow.”

A bout with throat cancer left Charlie without vocal chords and Charlie would struggle to speak. Nevertheless, Charlie was a gifted story-teller and loved to talk about music and life. It was through his music that Charlie really communicated best. He was expert at a now-rare form of blues piano called the “Santa-Fe style.” His playing style was best described as sweet and swinging. Charlie was also a one-man recording company. He formed his own label and recorded, mixed and distributed his own CD’s through his own website and mailing list.

Despite the many setbacks in his life, Charlie was one of the most positive souls you could ever hope to meet. Charlie seemed to love every minute of every day that he had on this planet. He leaves us with an impressive legacy of recorded music and many wonderful memories. To say that Charlie will be missed is a gross understatement.
Keith Irtenkauf

We last heard from Charlie in December 2007 and can think of no better tribute to his spirit than the words he wrote:

This year has been a year of reflection of times past and I find so much I can be very happy about, and give thanks for, especially all the people whom I love, and who have brought so much happiness into my life. Of course, I miss all those times on the Goldenrod Showboat, the Toronto Ragtime Bash and other events which have now become history. I miss all the people who have passed through my life, even if briefly, because they helped make me what I am and who I am. I am especially thankful for those who are still a part of my life.

Despite appearances to the contrary, nothing bad has happened in my life, and all things have worked for my good. I wouldn't change a thing, even if I could, because that would change the sum total of my life; who I am, what I am and where I am. It has all been a blessing, even if sometimes in disguise.

I am thankful for everyone in my life. Peace, Love, Health and Happiness to you all.

Charlie

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN COLLIER. For more of John's pictures of Charlie click here

To read a story Charlie wrote about his first boogie duet click here

Sugar Chile Robinson plays Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:16:57 GMT

In 1945 Detroit’s Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson lost a boogie woogie piano contest because he was too young to officially compete; he was six years old. By the age of eight he had performed with Lionel Hampton, played for President Truman at the White House, and appeared in the Hollywood movie “No Leave, No Love” with Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn. By the age of 12 he was one of the most famous entertainers in the country, regularly breaking box office records at theatres across the country and in Europe.

By the age of 15 Sugar Chile had all but disappeared and for the past 50 years music historians and boogie woogie affecionados have been asking, "Whatever happened to Sugar Chile?"

Thanks to the efforts of the American Music Research Foundation we now have not only the answer to that question but also Sugar Chile’s first major performance in a half century recorded on video tape. The AMRF is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and documentation of American musical forms. It produces the annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, records the performances and interviews with the artists for documentary purposes, and creates programming for public television that promotes the music and the artists. For AMRF Founder Ron Harwood and Director John Penney the footage of Sugar

Chile

is some of the most important ever captured for the AMRF’s extensive archive.

In 2003 Sugar Chile surfaced briefly for a performance at Southfield’s Millenium Theater. In 2006 his 1950 recording of “Go Boy Go!” was used in a television commercial for Dockers and the drumbeat in the boogie woogie community intensified, noting that he had been “spotted” in Detroit a couple of years earlier.

In early 2007 the Magic Bag’s Willie Wilson contacted Harwood to say that Sugar Chile had been booked for a festival in England and therefore might be willing to perform at the AMRF’s Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival. Harwood and Penney met with Frank Robinson a couple of weeks later and after a long exploratory conversation he agreed to perform and be interviewed on camera. His single condition was that he be allowed to bring his church choir. “That was then, this is now” is the way he described his set, which would begin with the boogie woogie piano he played in his youth and end with the gospel music he now plays in church.

On October 21, 2007 Frank “Sugar Chile” Robinson returned to the stage of Detroit’s Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, one of the first he had ever played on as a child. As he moved from the “then” portion of his set to “now” he answered the 50 year old question:

“I started out so young I really had no childhood...and I wanted to stop entertaining because I wanted a thorough education. I was raised in show business with a tutor. And the tutor taught school. So when he was in school teaching, all my friends were in school too...and when he came to the house they were out playing, and I was in school. I had to make a decision about whether to keep entertaining or to get an education. And that’s what I did. That’s the reason why you didn’t hear from Sugar Chile in a long time.”

Frank Robinson earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan and has lived quietly in Detroit ever since. He will perform at the Rhythm Riot Festival in Cambor, England Thanksgiving weekend. The television program containing his performance and interview during the 9th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival will be released in 2008.

CONTACT: MATT LEE: MLeibow412@aol.com 248-584-3715

TOP PHOTO: FRANK "SUGAR CHILE" ROBINSON AT THE 2007 MOTOR CITY BLUES & BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL.

BOTTOM PHOTO UNATTRIBUTED: SUGAR CHILE 1947

Gen2 Blues now on DVD

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:13:07 GMT

NEW FROM THE AMERICAN MUSIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Childhood is different when your father is a famous blues musician. And when you follow in his footsteps you bring a different perspective on music and history to your own artistry. This is what unites the performers in Gen2 Blues. Recorded during the 2005 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival at the Royal Oak Music Theatre.

The complete 60 minute television program + 75 minutes of bonus footage!

$25 includes postage and handling

Call 1-866-270-5141 9am-6pm Eastern or send a check to:

American Music Research Foundation
30733 West Ten Mile Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48336

Click here to watch a sampler!

THE AMRF IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT AND PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN MUSICAL FORMS.

It's Festival Time!

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:01:09 GMT

"The best festival of the year!" Robert Jr. Whitall, Big City Blues

WE'LL SEE YOU AT MUSIC HALL!

Tickets $27, $37, and $47 from ticketmaster
and the Music Hall Box Office 313-887-8501

A Great Weekend at the Detroit International Jazzfest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:23:53 GMT

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks so much for stopping by to chat with us and sharing your e-mail address. We promise not to abuse the privilage and assure you we will not share your information with anyone else.

The American Music Research Foundation, better known as the AMRF, is a non-profit dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and documentation of American music and the artists who create it, paying particular attention to the blues and boogie woogie, jazz, R&B, stride and ragtime. Being non-profit means we're in it for the music. Nobody makes a dime off of our efforts except for the musicians, and we do our best to help them.

Watch a slideshow of images from the Detroit International Jazz Festival.

Our primary activity is production of the Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, now in its ninth year. We do professional video shoots of the performances and of extensive interviews with the artists, in which they tell their stories and talk about their music. This raw documentary footage is preserved in our archives and available to historians, film makers, and other interested parties. We are blessed to have documented such seminal artists as Jay McShann, Johnnie Johnson, Harold McKinney, Joe Hunter, Alberta Adams, Johnnie Bassett, and "Sir" Mack Rice, to name but a few among the well over 50 artists represented.

From the raw footage we produce nationally distributed programs for public television. "2003 Motor City Boogie Woogie & Blues Festival" and "Boogie & the Blues Diva: 2004 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival" have been aired over 300 times on over 140 stations around the country, accessible to over 124 million viewers.

Our newest program, "Gen2 Blues," will debut on Detroit Public Television Saturday September 29th at 7pm before being released nationally through WGVU-TV in Grand Rapdis. DVDs including over an hour of bonus material will be available for purchase at this year's festival.

The 9th Annual Motor City Blues and Boogie Woogie Fesitival promises to be bigger and better than ever at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Detroit. On Friday night October 5th it's Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine, the Tommy Castro Band, Ruthie Foster, and Ana Popovic. On Saturday October 6 Marcia Ball headlines, with The Deanna Bogart Band, Leon Blue, Matt Wigler, and Frank "Sugar Chile" Robinson. For more information follow this link.

As a non-profit we are dependant upon the support of sponsors and members. We hope you will consider making a donation to the AMRF. Basic membership costs only $15, and all donations are tax deductable as allowable by law.

Gen2 Blues comes to Public Television

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:49:43 GMT

WATCH FOR IT ON PUBLIC TELEVISION
BUY THE DVD WITH 75 MINUTES OF BONUS FOOTAGE

Childhood is different when your father is a famous blues musician; if you follow in his footsteps you bring a different perspective on music and history to your own artistry. This is what unites the performers in Gen2 Blues: Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival. Kenny Neal is the oldest son of Raful Neal, Tasha Taylor grew up on the road with her father, Johnnie “The Wailer” Taylor, and Bernard Allison learned his first guitar licks by copying father Luther’s records. Special guest Tito Jackson broke father Joe’s rule to not touch the guitar but if he hadn't it might not have been the Jackson 5.

Backed by the Phantom Blues Band these stellar performers create a joyous celebration of the blues. This program was recorded at the Royal Oak Music Theatre during the 7th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Festival in October 2005.

Click here for rough-cut 3-minute sampler

9th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival moves to Music Hall in Downtown Detroit

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:17:03 GMT

The American Music Research Foundation is pleased to announce that the 9th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival will take place in downtown Detroit at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on Friday October 5th and Saturday October 6th. The performances will be recorded for public television.

Headlining on Friday night are Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine. With two Grammies, eight Grammy nominations, and a record 24 W.C. Handy Awards, Koko Taylor is one of the most celebrated blues performers alive today. She got her big break from Willie Dixon, who produced her first hit, “Wang Dang Doodle” in 1966.

The Tommy Castro Band is simply one of the most exciting live blues bands on the circuit today. Guitarist/vocalist Castro was voted 2006 Blues Artist of the Year by readers of BluesWax, the largest subscribed blues publication in the country. Texas’ Ruthie Foster has been compared to Aretha, Ella and a young Tina Turner. The Austin Chronicle writes, “Foster’s deeply soulful vocals dip into gospel and swing towards contemporary folk with R&B panache. When she sings a cappella, the heavens part.” Finally, Ana Popovic was born and raised in Belgrade, but her soul resides in Memphis, where she has recorded three critically acclaimed albums. In 2003 she received a W.C. Handy nomination for “Best New Artist,” and in 2006 was nominated for six Living Blues Awards.

Saturday night’s performance celebrates boogie woogie and blues piano. Headlining is the bayou queen of southern boogie, long, tall, Marcia Ball. Her performances never fail to raise the roof and bring down the house. Deanna Bogart is as proficient on the saxophone as she is on the piano, and The Deanna Bogart Band serves up the energy of 30’s style boogie woogie with the contemporary blues of places like Memphis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Leon Blue may just be the finest blues piano man you’ve never heard, but only because he has spent most of his career as a sideman, including lengthy spells with The Ike & Tina Turner Review, Lowell Fulsom, and Albert Collins to name but a few. In the early 50’s, Frank “Sugar Chile’” Robinson was a child star, playing boogie woogie on record, on television, in movies, and on tour with Count Basie among others. He gave up the big time as a teenager to pursue other interests, which included earning a PhD, but he continues to play piano in the church, where the music is the same but you have to call it something different. Rounding out the bill is today’s teenage boogie woogie sensation, Maryland’s Matt Wigler. Matt has appeared on stage with Buckwheat Zydeco, Bobby Rush, Tab Benoit, Sir Mack Rice, and many others. His debut album, “Matt Wigler XIII” was produced by Deanna Bogart.

Tickets are $27, $37, and $47, available at the Music Hall box office and Tickemaster.

Blues Diva Maria Muldaur releases Naughty, Bawdy & Blue

Tue, 08 May 2007 20:54:35 GMT

"Naughty, Bawdy & Blue" in stores Now!

When most people think of the blues they think of a man with a guitar at the crossroads or on a back porch in the Mississippi Delta. But America's fascination with the blues began with a recording by a woman, a Vaudeville singer in New York City backed by a jazz band. The year was 1921, the singer was Mamie Smith, and the record was, "Crazy Blues." It sold over a million copies and demonstrated that there was a huge market for records by and for African-Americans. Record companies went into a feeding frenzy, signing women to sing what has come to be known as the "Classic Blues."

Over the next decade the likes of Mamie, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, and Victoria Spivey would sell millions of records, travel the country in their own Pullman railroad cars, and play to sold out houses wherever they went. As Maria Muldaur says in Boogie & the Blues Diva, "These women were America's first Pop Stars."

At the 2004 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival Maria and James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band recreated the look, the feel, and the sound of this seminal period in American musical history. But the concert and television program represent but two of three parts of the project. During the week before the performance Maria and the band recorded over a dozen songs at Solid Sound in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The result is the new album on Stony Plain Records, "Naughty, Bawdy & Blue." The album is dedicated to Maria's friends Sippie Wallace and Victoria Spivey, and includes a duet with Bonnie Raitt on Sippie's "Hesitation Blues." You can hear samples of all the songs in Maria's Musical Oasis.

Maria will be touring extensively to support the new album - check the schedule here - and will be performing with James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band on Sunday September 3 at the largest free jazz festival in North America, the Detroit International Jazz Festival, held annually in downtown Detroit.

Boogie woogie Great Big Joe Duskin Passes at 86

Tue, 08 May 2007 16:44:31 GMT

Boogie Woogie legend Big Joe Duskin died Sunday May 7 at his home in Cincinatti from complications arrising from a long battle with diabetes. You can read the obituary in the Cincinatti Inquirer here.

Big Joe, the “gentle giant,” was a perennial favorite of ours, performing at the first three Motor City Boogie Woogie Festivals from 1999-2001. He was honored as the first inductee of the Boogie Woogie Hall of Fame in 1999 in hometown Cincinnati, Ohio. A professional musician since the age of 16, Big Joe’s grace and style belie his size and his other profession -- working 30 years as a Cincinnati police officer. Big Joe has always mixed his musical talents with his love of gospel. In fact, Big Joe’s love of Boogie Woogie got him in trouble with his Baptist preacher father. While in his 80s, Big Joe’s father made Joe promise that he wouldn’t play “the Devil’s music” until after his death. What no one could predict was that Big Joe’s father would live to 104 years of age.

Joe first heard piano played in his local church. “I used to have to walk through a swamp filled with alligators to get to church,” Joe recalls. “And the only way I escaped a beating for being out late at night was because my uncle would find me behind the piano and take me home in his wagon. He used to get me to slip under the porch when we got home, before my old man could come out. Then, when my father started hollerin’ for me, I would get out from under that porch and tell him I’d fallen asleep under there.”

When his family moved to Cincinnati, Joe was able to teach himself to play the piano. “I used to play the same song over and over and over, the only song I knew, Coon Shine Baby. Folks would close their doors when I came onto the porch. They’d say, ‘Oh no, here’s the Duskin boy again. Don’t let him near the piano. He’s gonna play that damned song again.’ ‘Cause at the time, we didn’t have a piano at home.”

Four New Television Programs in Production

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 14:54:36 GMT

At the American Music Research Foundation we don’t just put on concerts, record them, and make TV shows of great performances. Rather, as a 501(c)(3) our mission is to connect all the dots, demonstrate the continuity between musical styles over time and geography, and break through the artificial barriers that package music, musicians, and audiences in separate boxes.

We are producing four new 60 minute television programs from the 2005 and 2006 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festivals and have created a new web page that contains samplers from these programs, as well as "Boogie & the Blues Diva," and "2003 Motor City Boogie Woogie & Blues Festival." Click here to go to the page, or click on the links below to watch the individual samplers.

Big Band Boogie Woogie Big band music of the swing era was primarily for dancing, and nothing got dancers on floor like the eight-beats-to-the-bar boogie woogie beat. This program recreates the feel of those times and highlights the relationship between the blues, boogie woogie, and jazz. Performers include the 15 piece Paul Keller Orchestra, pianists Bob Seeley, Charles Boles, Mr. B., and Axel Zwingenberger, clarinetist Dave Bennett, saxophonist Red Holloway, guitarist George Bedard, and of course, the dancers. Watch the sampler!

Detroit Blues & Beyond The blues informs virtually all popular music in America, and Alberta Adams and Johnnie Bassett are acknowledged masters. Sir Mack Rice wrote some of the biggest R&B hits of all time, including “Mustang Sally.” Calvin Cooke is master of the "Sacred Steel Guitar," a tradition that comes from the Pentecostal Church and is heavily influenced by the blues. The Howling Diablos are a “rock band,” but their original music would not be possible without the blues. All of these artists are from Detroit. Watch the sampler!

Gen2 Blues The sons and daughters of blues artists have a unique perspective on the continuity of the tradition. Our performers include Bernard Allison, son of Chicago blues great Luther Allison; Kenny Neal, son of Raful Neal and a member of one of New Orleans' most prestigious musical families; Tasha Taylor, daughter of Johnnie “The Wailer” Taylor; and Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5. Performing with all of these artists is the Grammy-winning Phantom Blues Band. Watch the sampler!

International Boogie Woogie The American piano style called boogie woogie has spread around the world, and is particularly popular in Europe. This program puts on the same stage Germany’s Sylvan Zingg, France’s Philippe LeJeune, Toronto’s Michael Kaeshammer, and American expatriate Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, now residing in Vancouver BC. Watch the sampler!

Funk Brother Joe Hunter Passes

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:24:19 GMT

Legendary pianist and Motown Funk Brother Joe Hunter was found dead in his apartment in Detroit on February 3, 2007. Click here for Detroit Free Press writer Brian McCollum's obituary.

Joe was the Master and Ceremonies for the 2003 Motor City Boogie Woogie & Blues Festival. AMRF President Ron Harwood remembers Joe fondly:

It is a great loss to the music community and a great personal loss to hear of the passing of “Ivy” Joe Hunter. Joe was a very special person, kind to everyone and always with a smile on his face. Over the past few years I had the privilege to visit with Joe, interview him and have him perform on our 2003 AMRF Motor City Blues and Boogie Woogie Festival. His interviews were a special treat to an old ethnomusicologist like me, because Joe brought Detroit’s music history to a vibrant and lively – and sometimes romantic crescendo as he rollicked across two decades of Hastings Street stories.

To be sure, Joe Hunter was a terrific piano player, someone who could capture an audience with either a solo boogie number or a smile-filled vocal; but mostly, Joe was a unique character. There was never a time that I saw Joe off in a corner. On the contrary, he was always where the action was, filling his friends with stories of dozens of great recording sessions, personal histories of the great Motown singers and always recognizing the guys in the band who made such special backdrops for the gospel/soul voices that Barry Gordy discovered.

I was also blessed with the opportunity to hear Joe’s straightforward explanations on the evolution of R&B music from gospel and country blues – and of course – Boogie Woogie. Joe felt comfortable playing almost any style because he was an entertainer at heart with no special axe to grind for one musical genre over another. He simply loved to play, loved to talk, and loved life. I know for sure that he’s giving piano lessons on the other side and grinning from ear to ear. We will miss you Joe.

Here is a slideshow of pictures from 2003.