Otis Spann

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Otis Spann
Born (1930-03-21)March 21, 1930
Jackson, Mississippi
Died April 24, 1970(1970-04-24) (aged 40)
Chicago, Illinois
Genres Chicago blues[1]
Occupations Vocalist
Musician
Instruments Vocals, piano
Years active 1944–1970
Labels Decca, Chess, Storyville, Bluesway, Vanguard, CBS/Blue Horizon
Associated acts Muddy Waters

Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970)[2] was an American blues musician whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.[3][1]

Contents

Career [edit]

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style.

Born to Frank Houston Spann and Josephine Erby. One of five children - three boys and two girls. His father played piano, non professionally, while his mother had played guitar with Memphis Minnie.[citation needed] Spann began playing piano by age of eight, influenced by his local ivories stalwart, Friday Ford. At the age of 14, he was playing in bands around Jackson, finding more inspiration in the 78s of Big Maceo Merriweather. It was 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, working a regular spot at the Tic Toc Lounge.[2]

Spann replaced Merriweather as Muddy Waters' piano player in late 1952, and participated in his first recording session with the band on September 24, 1953.[4] From 1952 to 1968 Spann was a full-time member of the Muddy Waters band, while periodically recording as a solo artist. 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" / "Five Spot", which featured B.B. King and Jody Williams on guitars. He recorded a session with the guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. and vocalist St. Louis Jimmy in New York on August 23, 1960, which was issued on Otis Spann Is The Blues and Walking The Blues. A largely solo outing for Storyville Records in 1963 was recorded in Copenhagen. A set for UK Decca Records the following year found him in the company of Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton, and a 1964 album for Prestige followed where Spann shared vocal duties with band-mate 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 (Muddy 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 Jenkins Spann (June 23, 1938 – August 2, 1994[6]), 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 Jazz Festival (1960) and Copenhagen Jazz Festival (1968) with the Nobody Knows the Trouble and Cold Cold Feeling solos (both festivals captured on Muddy Waters: Classic Concerts), while his singing is also featured on the American Folk Blues Festival (1963) and The Blues Masters (1966).

Death [edit]

Following his death from liver cancer in Chicago in 1970, at the age of 40, he was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. Spann's grave laid unmarked for almost thirty years, until Steve Salter (president of the Killer Blues Headstone Project) wrote a letter to Blues Revue magazine to say "This piano great is lying in an unmarked grave. Let's do something about this deplorable situation". This lit a spark in the blues community on a world wide level. Blues enthusiasts from Alaska to Venezuela, from Surrey to England, and Singapore sent donations to purchase Spann a headstone. On June 6, 1999 the marker was unveiled during a private ceremony. The stone reads "Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard - He'll play forever in our hearts".

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

Discography [edit]

Solo [edit]

  • Otis Spann is The Blues (1960)
  • Goodmorning Mr Blues (1963)
  • The Blues is Where It's At (released 1963)
  • The Blues of Otis Spann (1964)
  • 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)
  • Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (recorded 1969, released 2006)
  • Someday... (recorded 1967, released 2012)

With other artists [edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Robert Lockwood, Jr. - Is The Blues (1960)
  • Muddy Waters - At Newport (1960)
  • Lonnie Johnson - Portraits in Blues vol 6 (1963)
  • "Brother" Waters & Eric Clapton - Raw Blues (recorded 1964, released 1967)
  • Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 2 (as part of The Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet) (1966)
  • Buddy Guy - A Man & The Blues (1968)
  • Muddy Waters - Fathers & Sons (1969)
  • Johnny Shines - Last Night's Dream (piano on Pipeline Blues) (1969)
  • Junior Wells - Southside Jam Blues (1969)
  • Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam in Chicago, Vols. 1-2 (1969)
  • Muddy Waters - Mud in Your Ear (1967, released 1973)
  • Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 2 (recorded 1970, released 1991)
  • Floyd Jones & Eddie Taylor - Masters of Modern Blues, Vol. 3 (recorded 1966, released 1994)
  • Muddy Waters & His Blues Band with Otis Spann - Live The Life (Live) (recorded 1964, released 1997)
  • T-Bone Walker & Joe Turner - Super Black Blues, Vol. 1 (recorded 1969, released 2001)
  • David Maxwell & Otis Spann - Conversations in Blue (2010)
  • "Chuck Berry - "You Can't Catch Me," "No Money Down," "Sweet Little Rock and Roller," "Roly Poly," "Berry Picking."

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5. 
  2. ^ a b Dead Rock Stars Club - accessed December 2007
  3. ^ Allmusic bio
  4. ^ http://www.livinblues.com/bluesrooms/otisspann.asp
  5. ^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 168. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 
  6. ^ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed January 2009

External links [edit]

Authority control
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