Otis Spann rose to fame as the piano player for MUDDY WATERS, whose band, more than any other, defined the postwar Chicago blues sound. He went on to become as highly regarded as a solo performer as he was as an accompanist.
Spann was born on March 21, 1930, in Belzoni, Mississippi. He worked in the cotton fields at an early age, but began playing piano at age seven, later playing organ and harmonica as well. An early inspiration was a barroom piano player named Friday Ford. By the time Spann had reached his mid-teens, he was performing regularly in juke joints in and around Jackson, Mississippi.
Spann served in the army from 1946 to 1951, then settled in Chicago, where he worked as a house plasterer by day and musician at night. Among the artists he played with during this period were MEMPHIS SLIM and Roosevelt Sykes.
Spann first recorded with legendary singer/guitarist Muddy Waters in 1952, but only joined the Muddy Waters Band as a full-time member in 1953, when he replaced singer pianist Big Maceo, whose husky singing style influenced the young newcomer. Spann remained a loyal member of the band while others, such as harmonica player LITTLE WALTER, were embarking on solo careers. Spann played on many of Waters’ hits, including “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and “Hoochie Coochie Man.”
As a member of Waters’ band, Spann played hard-rocking, loud piano blues. Waters liked the full sound Spann’s piano provided, the piano serving as a subtext to the guitar and harmonica, moving the rhythm along and embellishing the lyrics. Spann also became something of a house pianist for Chess Records, playing on hits by Howlin Wolf, Bo DIDDLEY, and Chuck BERRY, among others.
Spann was a master accompanist. Willie Dixon once explained why as a producer he called on Spann to play so often: “He was a good musician. You see, a good musician knows how to make the other fellows sound good. Otis was the type of guy who could play with anybody and play behind you enough to make you sound good. When it came his time, he would do his thing, but he would get out in time to let you do yours.”
Spann’s solo career evolved concurrently with his other work. Blues scholar Paul Oliver traced its beginning to a 1958 festival in Leeds, in Yorkshire, where Spann performed with Waters and “all but stole the show.” His first solo recording was Otis Spann Is the Blues in I960. That album, and others that he recorded for the Candid label, show to great effect the breadth and depth of Spann’s talent.
Spann toured Europe with Muddy Waters from 1963 to 1964 with the American Folk Blues Festival. During this tour he recorded The Blues of Otis Spann in the U.K. He also recorded two tracks with Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton, “Pretty Girls Everywhere” and “Stirs Me Up.”
Spann’s solo career took off when he returned to the U.S., and he produced a series of albums. In his solo work Spann showed a preference for the slower blues, which he played in the barrelhouse style, laying down bass chords with his left hand and rolling complex, rippling phrases with his right. His singing voice was deep and soft, with hints of a shout and a slight lisp. “When he sings, his eyes are shut and his words are spun out as if he is reluctant to let them go,” Oliver said.
Spann performed regularly and recorded for many labels throughout the 1960s while continuing to play with Waters. The two men remained close friends and colleagues until Spann’s death from cancer on April 24, 1970, in Chicago.
Daria Labinsky
SEE ALSO:
BLUES.
FURTHER READING
Cohn, Lawrence, ed. Nothing But the Blues
(New York: Abbeville Press, 1993);
Rooney, James. Bossmen: Bill Monroe and Muddy
Waters (New York: Da Capo, 1991).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Complete Candid Recordings;
Down to Earth; Otis Spann Is the Blues.