Otis Spann

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Otis Spann

Background information
Born March 21, 1930(1930-03-21)
Jackson, Mississippi, USA
Died April 24, 1970 (aged 40)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genre(s) blues
Occupation(s) Vocalist
Musician
Instrument(s) Vocals, Piano
Years active 1944 - 1970
Label(s) Decca, Chess Records
Associated acts Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, B. B. King, Eric Clapton

Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970 [1]) was an American blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist.[2]

Contents

[edit] Career

Born in Jackson, Mississippi[3], Spann became known for his distinct piano style.

Spann began playing piano by age of eight, influenced by his local ivories stalwart, Friday Ford. At 14, he was playing in bands around Jackson, finding more inspiration in the 78s of Big Maceo Merriweather, who took the young pianist under his wing once Spann migrated to Chicago in 1946. Spann gigged on his own, and with guitarist Morris Pejoe, before hooking up with Muddy Waters in 1952.[4]

Although he recorded periodically as a solo artist beginning in the mid 1950s, Spann was a full-time member of Waters' band from 1952 to 1968 before leaving to form his own band. In that period he also did session work with other Chess artists like Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley.[5]

Spann's own Chess Records output was limited to a 1954 single, "It Must Have Been the Devil," that featured B. B. King on guitar. He recorded an album with the guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. in 1960, and a largely solo outing for Storyville Records in 1963, that was recorded in Copenhagen. A set for the UK branch of Decca Records the following year found him in the company of Waters and Eric Clapton, and a 1964 album for Prestige followed, where Spann shared vocal duties with bandmate James Cotton.

The Blues is Where It's At, Spann's 1966 album for ABC-Bluesway, sounded like a live recording. It was a recording studio date, enlivened by enthusiastic onlookers that applauded every song (Waters, guitarist Sammy Lawhorn, and George "Harmonica" Smith were among the support crew). A Bluesway encore, The Bottom of the Blues followed in 1967 and featured Spann's wife, Lucille, helping out on vocals.

In the late 1960s, he appeared on albums with Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac.

Several films of his playing are available on DVD, including the Newport Folk Festival (1960), while his singing is also featured on the American Folk Blues Festival (1963) and The Blues Masters (1966).

Following his death from liver cancer in Chicago, Illinois in 1970, at the age of 40, he was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.

He was posthumously elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo

  • Otis Spann is The Blues (1960)
  • The Blues is Where It's At (released 1963)
  • The Blues Never Die! (1964)
  • Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol.1 (1966)
  • The Bottom of the Blues (1968)
  • Cracked Spanner Head (1969)
  • The Biggest Thing Since Colossus (1969)
  • Cryin' Time (recorded 1968, released 1970)
  • Walking The Blues (recorded 1960, released 1972)
  • Last Call: Live at Boston Tea Party (recorded 1970, released 2000)

[edit] With other artists

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dead Rock Stars Club - accessed December 2007
  2. ^ All Music Guide bio
  3. ^ All Music Guide bio
  4. ^ Dead Rock Stars Club - accessed December 2007
  5. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited, p. 168. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 

[edit] External links