Category: St. Louis

Show Notes:

Today’s show is another installment of piano shows put together in conjunction with Austrian piano expert Michael Hortig. So far, we’ve devoted shows to Memphis, several shows on Texas and two on Chicago. This time we head to St. Louis, a great town for piano blues that also boasted numerous fine singers that found excellent backing by the town’s numerous pianists. With its ragtime background St. Louis was a Mecca for blues pianists like Speckled Red and Henry Brown, Sylvester Palmer, Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Barrelhouse Buck McFarland and Wesley Wallace among others. According to Peter J. Silvester, who wrote A Left Hand Like God: A History of Boogie-Woogie: “The St. Louis style of boogie-woogie s generally economical in its treble phrasing and is played with sparse chorded basses, two distinct features which can be heard in the work of Walter Davis, James “Stump” Johnson, Henry Brown and others.” Many of the St. Louis pianists came from elsewhere and eventually wound up playing piano in the brothels and gambling joints on Morgan Street. Known as “Deep Morgan” it was a rough place populated by gamblers, pimps, prostitutes, and bootleggers. There were no recording studios in St. Louis at the time so today’s artists recorded elsewhere, often in Chicago. We’re lucky so many of them got on record. Several were still active in the post-war era, often recording for small revivalist labels.

Henry Brown learned to play the piano from the “professors” of the notorious Deep Morgan section of St. Louis. One of them went by the name of “Blackmouth,” another was named Joe (or Tom) Cross. As Brown remembered him, “he was a real old time blues player and he’d stomp ‘em down to the bricks.” “Deep Morgan Blues” was one of his signature pieces. Brown worked clubs such as the Blue Flame Club, the 9-0-5 Club, Jim’s Place and Katy Red’s, from the twenties into the 30’s. He recorded for Brunswick with Ike Rogers and Mary Johnson in 1929, for Paramount in ‘29 and ’30 and backed other singers such as Alice Moore. Brown served in the army in the early 40’s, then formed his own quartet to work occasional local gigs in St. Louis area from the 50’s, and worked the Becky Thatcher riverboat in 1965. In addition to his pre-war recordings, he was recorded by Paul Oliver in 1960, by Sam Charters with Edith Johnson in 1961 and by Adelphi in 1969. For Charters he cut the fine The Blues in St. Louis, Vol. 2: Henry Brown and Edith Johnson: Barrelhouse Piano and Classic Blues and his recordings for Oliver were collected on Henry Brown Blues released on the 77 label in 1961. He died on 28. June 1981.

Aaron and Marion (he changed his name to Milton in 1929) were twins born to Ruth and Sullie Gant in Tupelo, Mississippi. Soon after the twins were born Ruth married Carl Sparks. According to Cleveland Sparks, uncle of Aaron and Marion: “Piano player Aaron he learned how to play piano before he could holler and shout…it was a coloured fellow teaching him. He had a joint y’know selling bootleg whiskey back in the corner. He just had a crowd there all the time and he just learned to play.” Henry Townsend, who often accompanied Marion, had this to say: “He just kept getting better and better and got to playing for illegal joints y’know. …Pinetop was doing a lot of house-party playing and uh ’cause this was a trend then. We would go from house-party to house-party and make some money to pay the rent. We’d go from place to place like that I mean it’d be announced at this party before it was over that there would be such and such a place to get their rent paid and Pinetop would play for those kind of parties where they had a piano–and I kinda went around him quite a bit. Now at that time Milton wasn’t singing, Pinetop was the star when it come to singing. And so just out of nowhere Milton decided he was going to sing and he’d start. …Aaron got the name Pinetop because ‘He was very good at the number that Smith made [Pinetop Smith’s “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie”]. Yeah he was very good with that number and as most guys do he just started to call himself Pinetop himself y’know.” The nickname ‘Lindberg’, Townsend suggests, was probably due to Milton’s prowess in dancing the Lindberg or Lindy Hop. In addition to the recollections of Townsend and Cleveland Sparks, biographical background on the brothers was gleaned from their thick police files; Milton was arrested some 50 times for fighting and gambling and other minor offenses while Aaron was picked up 18 times.

The brothers cut four sessions, the first for Victor and the other three for Bluebird, between 1932 and 1935. Milton cut two songs for Decca in 1934 under the name Flyin’ Lindberg. Aaron backed a number of St. Louis artists at their second session: Elisabeth Washington, Tecumseh McDowell, Dorotha Trowbridge, James “Stump” Johnson and Charlie McFadden. The brothers’ led rough and tumble lives reflected in songs that dealt with gambling, jail, alcohol, woman, hoboing and railroads. In the 1950’s Milton rejoined the church and renounced the blues. He died May 25, 1963. Aaron, remembered by his uncle as being worn by women and booze, died 5th November 1935, due to syphilistic heart disease.

Pianist Speckled Red (born Rufus Perryman) was born in Monroe, LA, but he made his reputation as part of the St. Louis and Memphis blues scenes of the ’20s and ’30s. In 1929, he cut his first recording sessions. One song from these sessions, “The Dirty Dozens,” was released on Brunswick and became a hit. After Red’s second set of sessions failed to sell, the pianist spent the next few years without a contract — he simply played local Memphis clubs. In 1938, he cut a few sides for Bluebird. In the early ’40s, Red moved to St. Louis, where he played local clubs and bars for the next decade and a half. In 1954, he was rediscovered by a number of blues aficionados and record label owners. By 1956, he had recorded several songs for the Tone record label and began a tour of America and Europe. In 1956-57 recorded for Delmark and in 1960 made some recordings for Folkways. By this time, Red’s increasing age was causing him to cut back the number of concerts he gave. For the rest of the ’60s, he only performed occasionally. He died in 1973.

According to researcher to Guido van Rijn: James “Stump” Johnson was the brother of Jesse Johnson, “a prominent black businessman,” who around 1909 had moved the family from Clarksville, Tennessee, to St. Louis, where he ran a music store and was a promoter. Jesse was married to singer Edith North. James, a self-taught piano player, made a career playing the city’s brothels.  Arthur Satherly, a talent scout for QRS, discovered Stump playing at his brother Jesse’s music store on Market St. In 1929.He had an instant hit with the “whorehouse tune” ‘The Duck’s Yas-Yas-Yas’, “a popular St. Louis party song.” He made a number of other recordings under various pseudonyms. He also backed artists Teddy Darby and Walter Davis. In 1954 Charlie O’Brien re-discovered Johnson and he was interviewed by Bo Koester. In 1960 Paul Oliver interviewed him for his book Conversation With the Blues. He told Paul Oliver in 1960: “I had learned to play the blues by just hangin’ roun’ the pool room where they have an ole piano, just pickin’ it up for myself.”  He recorded twenty-one sides between 1929 and 1933. His last pre-war recordings were made in Chicago in 1933 for Bluebird, in the company of Dorathea Trowbridge, J.D. Short and Aaron Sparks. He made some final sides in 1964 at O’Brien’s house.

Barrelhouse Buck McFarland was born in Alton, Illinois in 1903, the only place Wesley Wallace was remembered. McFarland got his shot in the recording studio waxing ten sides; two for Paramount in 1929, two for Decca in 1934 and four more for Decca in 1935, which were not issued. McFarland cut his final session for Smithsonian Folkways and an unissued session that was issued a few years back on Delmark. He died shortly

Peetie Wheatstraw was the name adopted by singer William Bunch who arrived in St. Louis in 1929. He used the nicknames “the Devil’s Son-In-Law” or “the High Sheriff of Hell.” He made his debut in 1930 for ARC and recorded in every year of the 1930s save 1933, cutting over 160 sides. On his records Wheatstraw usually required a guitarist to play with him, and had many excellent ones to choose from, including Kokomo Arnold, Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Jordan, Charlie McCoy, and Teddy Bunn. Celebrating his 39th birthday in 1941, Wheatstraw and some friends decided to drive to the local market to pick up some liquor, and on their way out they tried to beat a railroad train that was coming down the tracks at full speed. They didn’t make it. His death was reported in Variety and Billboard with short notices and on the front page of Downbeat.

Roosevelt Sykes was born on January 31, 1906, in Elmar, Arkansas, and in 1909, he moved with his family to St. Louis. By 1918 he had taught himself the art of blues piano and, three years later, left home to work as an itinerant pianist in gambling establishments and barrelhouses throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. He later attributed his early piano influences to local St. Louis musicians such as “Red Eye” Jesse Bell, Joe Crump, and Baby Sneed. However, his most important mentor was “Pork Chop” Lee Green, who taught Sykes a rendition of the “Forty-Four Blues” piano style. In 1929 Sykes met Jesse Johnson, the owner of the Deluxe Record Shop in St. Louis. Sykes, who at the time performed at an East St. Louis club for one dollar a night, quickly accepted Johnson’s invitation to a recording session in New York. Accompanied by Johnson, Sykes arrived at the Okeh Studios in New York in June of 1929. He recorded several numbers, including a version of “Forty- Four Blues.” During the same year, while attending a recording session for Paramount, Sykes received the nickname “The Honey Dripper” from a song written by singer Edith Johnson. He was signed to four different labels the next year under four different names (he was variously billed as Dobby Bragg, Willie Kelly, and Easy Papa Johnson). Sykes joined Decca Records in 1935, where his popularity blossomed. He backed St. Louis artists such as Walter Davis, Charlie McFadden, Mary Johnson and Alice Moore.

Singer/pianist Walter Davis was among the most prolific blues performers to emerge from the pre-war St. Louis scene, cutting over 150 sides between 1930 and 1952. Davis hit big right out of the gate as he related to Paul Oliver: “My first recording was “M and O Blues” and “My Baby’s Gone” and a few months later why it came out and it was a success, it was a great hit. I had my picture put in the Chicago Defender, The Pittsburgh Courier and other local papers and naturally I became pretty famous.” In Paul Oliver’s Conversation With the Blues he recalled how he got his start: “I was playing over there for JC’s Nightclub in East St. Louis. …Jesse Johnson and Jack Kapp came over and they heard me play and then they asked me about making some recordings for RCA Victor. Well I didn’t think I was good enough to play for a big outfit like that, but they told me I was doing fine, and they asked me to play some more blues, so they could hear them. Well naturally, blues was something that was just talent to me somehow or other, and I played a couple more blues for them. So Mr. Kapp signed me up, gave me a contract. Well, I didn’t think too much about it til he gave me fifty dollars… I knew he meant business because he wasn’t just giving away fifty dollars. The I got ready to go to New York.” He first attracted attention upon relocating to St. Louis during the mid-1920s, and soon made the first of his many recordings for the Victor label. Many of his recordings were made conjunction with guitarist Henry Townsend. He enjoyed a fair amount of success before a stroke prompted him to move from music to the ministry during the early 1950’s. Davis was still preaching at the time of his death on October 22, 1963.

Among the fine lesser known pianists on the scene, we hear from James “Bat” Robinson, Joe Dean, Eddie Miller, Wesley Wallace, Sylvester Palmer, Jabo Williams and James Crutchfield. James “Bat The Humming-Bird” Robinson moved to Memphis where he was raised, learned piano and drums from his father as a youth, moved to Chicago about 1922, frequently worked with Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Elzadie Robinson and others in local club dates. He worked with Louis Armstrong, moving to St. Louis about 1930. He recorded for the Champion label in 1931. He cut a couple of sides before he passed in 1957.

Joe Dean was one of the few artists actually born in St. Louis, born in the city April 25, 1908. He recorded one 78 for Vocalion, “I’m So Glad I’m Twenty-One Years Old Today” b/w “Mexico Bound Blues”, in 1930. He remained musically active on a part-time basis into the 1960’s. He eventually became the Rev. Joe Dean and died on June 24 1981. He was interviewed by Mike Rowe for Blues Unlimited magazine.

Eddie Miller cut 5 songs for Brunswick and ARC between 1929 and 1936. He also backed a number of artists including Ma Rainey, Charlie McFadden, Merline Johnson among others.

Sylvester Palmer was, according to Don Kent, “One of the most eccentric of all St. Louis pianists before his untimely death. He is one of the few pianists whose left-hand work can be directly attributed to the influence of Wesley Wallace…The fluidity of his irregular timing is quite amazing.” It is suggested that Palmer may have been a pseudonym for Wallace himself. He cut 4 sides for Columbia in 1929 and died on 5th May 1935. Wesley Wallace cut one 78 for Paramount in 1929 and backed St. Louis singer Bessie Mae Smith on record. Recent research shows Wallace ,born 1902 in Caroll County, Palmer in the nearby Holmes County 1901. Both counties were situated at the Illinois Central, heading for Chicago and St. Louis.

Jabo Williams was a highly talented pianist/vocalist hailing from Birmingham, Alabama. It’s not clear if he was discovered there or when he relocated to St. Louis. In St. Louis he may have been recommended to Paramount by local record store owner and talent scout Jesse Johnson. Paramount went out of business in 1932, the same year Williams recorded his eight records which were likely pressed in small quantities which makes them extremely rare. In the only known photograph of Williams he’s seen in a wide-brimmed hat and in the company fellow Birmingham pianist Robert McCoy. In St. Louis he was well remembered by pianist Joe Dean as a slim, medium-brown man who played piano in a pool hall on 15th and Biddle. “Polock Blues” refers to an area in East St. Louis. He returned to Alabama dying there in the mid 1950’s, according to Robert McCoy.

By the end of the 1920s, James Crutchfield had begun traveling through the Louisiana lumber camps, Mississippi levee camps and East Texas juke joints, performing as the M & O Kid. In 1948, Crutchfield moved to St. Louis. In 1955, Crutchfield was appearing with Bat the Hummingbird (drums) at a bar located at Market Street and found there by Bob Koester, on a tip from Charlie O’Brien, and recorded a few days later, along with Speckled Red. Several of the songs were eventually released in the Barrelhouse Blues and Stomps anthology series on the Euphonic label. Six selections are included on the compilation album Biddle Street Barrelhousin’, released in 2000 by Delmark Records. In was recorded by the Swingmaster label in the 80s.

St. Louis boasted many fine singers who often worked with the above mention pianists. We feature several of them including Charlie McFadden, Dorothy Baker, Elizabeth Washington, Doretha Trowbridge, Mary Johnson. Alice Moore and others. Charlie McFadden was a singer based out of St. Louis. Henry Townsend knew him and said that he could play piano a little bit, but preferred that someone else played it on his recordings. Roosevelt Sykes was the usual pianist, even though Eddie Miller and Aaron “Pinetop” Sparks made a couple of appearances, each. He cut two-dozen sides between 1929 and 1937. “Gambler’s Blues” is his first title (unissued but later remade for Brunswick) and of his thirteen arrests from 1929 to his last in  1935, ten were for gambling. Roosevelt Sykes recalled McFadden well, “We called him ‘Specks’ – he had them on his nose, y’now, ole four-eyes” while Henry Townsend remembered, “I knew Charlie quite well. He and I and Roosevelt used to be together quite a bit on 17th between Cole and Carr ….Charlie played a little piano himself now. I don’t know whether he may have – whether he played for himself any time or not but he played a little piano himself.”  McFadden had a distinctive high voice and both Roosevelt Sykes and Big Joe Williams considered him the best singer in the city.

Mary Johnson of St. Louis (sometimes billed as “Signifying Mary”) made her debut in 1929, cut just shy of two dozen songs, achieved modest success and never recorded again after 1936 outside of a couple of 50s religious sides which were issued posthumously. She died in 1983. Johnson got her start in show business as a teenager in St. Louis. and frequently worked with Lonnie Johnson who she married in 1925. Johnson was blessed with superb backing musicians throughout her brief career that elevated her recordings above many of her contemporaries. She was accompanied by either Henry Brown, Judson Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, or Peetie Wheetstraw on piano, many selections featuring trombonist Ike Rodgers, guitarists Tampa Red and Kokomo Arnold and violinist Artie Mosby.

Alice Moore, or Little Alice as she was known, achieved a measure of success with her first record, “Black And Evil Blues” cut at her first session 1929 with three subsequent versions cut during the 1930’s. In all she cut thirty-six sides: Two sessions for Paramount in 1929 and nine sessions (the final one went unissued) for Decca between 1934 and 1937.  She had the good fortune to record with the city’s best musicians including pianists Henry Brown, Peetie Wheatstraw, Jimmie Gordon, possibly Roosevelt Sykes as well as guitarists Lonnie Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and trombonist Ike Rodgers. She died an 1st January 1949.