Boogie-woogie, or boogie for short, is a percussive style of jazz piano based closely on the 12-bar blues. It began as “barrelhouse music” in the early years of the 20th century. Barrelhouses were rough, tough saloons in some Southern states, such as Texas and Louisiana, where the drink was mostly served straight from the barrel. Music was often provided by pianists who had to play loud and hard to be heard above the noise of the bar’s customers. They kept up a constant, forceful bass rhythm in the left hand, while improvising blues with the right, so that they could carry on playing (with the left hand) even while drinking or eating (with the right). The repeated bass part typical of boogie was a device that was also used by ragtime players, who called it “the sixteens.” Often two players would share a piano to duet on a boogie tune. This allowed greater volume and sometimes complexity to be achieved, along with the opportunity for one of the players to rest during the other’s solo in what was often a physically demanding playing style.
Around the time of World War I, when large numbers of African-Americans were moving to the industrial cities in the North in search of employment, barrelhouse music took on a more distinctive character. This was especially true in Chicago, then the hub of the U.S. railroad system. Most poor African-Americans lived near the railways, and the pounding of steam locomotives, the constant rumble and clatter of carriages and goods wagons, found strong echoes in the music.
Styles of boogie varied, but the ostinato (repetition of a musical pattern) left-hand rhythm remained its most important feature, still following the simple harmonic pattern of the blues. Some jazz scholars believe that a slightly more relaxed version of boogie can be traced back to the slow Latin-American rhythm of the habanera that had earlier come across to New Orleans from Cuba.
Two of the most famous boogie piano players were Clarence “Pine Top” Smith, and Charlie “Cow Cow” Davenport, both of whom lived in Chicago in the 1920s. Other pioneer boogie musicians were Albert Ammons, Charles Avery, Pete Johnson, Meade “Lux” Lewis, Romeo Nelson, and Jimmy Yancey. Some notable examples of early boogie-woogie styles were recorded—for example, Avery’s “Dearborn Street Breakdown” (1929) and Nelson’s “Head Rag Hop” (1929). Despite their popularity, none of the innovators of the boogie style got rich, and most had to do other jobs by day to make a living: both Ammons and Lewis were taxi drivers, and Yancey was a groundsman in a Chicago baseball park.
Some boogie players performed throughout the swing and dance band eras, and so helped to keep boogie alive. Boogie also became a hit in the commercial mainstream during the 1940s with songs like the ANDREWS SISTERS’ “Boogie-woogie Bugle Boy.” Indeed, remnants of boogie can be heard in much rock’n’roll, such as the music of Fats DOMINO, LITTLE RICHARD, and Jerry Lee LEWIS. Many blues-based rock bands in the 1960s, such as British bands LED ZEPPELIN and Status Quo, used simplified elements of boogie. The BEATLES used a straightforward boogie-woogie piano as the basis for their 1967 hit “Lady Madonna.” Boogie-woogie has many contemporary advocates, including the British pianist Jools Holland, formerly of pop-punk band, Squeeze.
Alan Blackwood
SEE ALSO:
BLUES; NEW ORLEANS JAZZ/DIXIELAND; ROCK’N’ROLL; SWING.
Brown, Wesley. Boogie Woogie and Booker T
(New York: Theater Communications, 1987);
Silvester, Peter J. A Left Hand Like a God: A History of Boogie Woogie Piano
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1989).
Charlie “Cow Cow” Davenport: The Accompanist;
Pete Johnson: King of the Boogie;
Meade “Lux” Lewis: Tidal Boogie;
Jimmy Yancey: fimmy Yancey, Vol. 1.