Pinetop Smith's Pinetop Boogie Woogie
I guarantee you that one hundred years from now, after most of the current pop music dross is forgotten like so many stale party pastries, people will still be groovin’ to Pinetop Smith. Pinetop (1904-1929) died young but played an ultimate boogie-woogie piano. His hands on the keys were like some great life-affirming, sweaty, breathless roadhouse beatitude.
Born and raised in Alabama, he traveled the vaudeville circuit and played for blues diva Ma Rainey. In the 1920s he held forth in the saloons of Chicago (his untimely death resulted from a stray bullet in a barroom argument). He tended to shout out good-natured instructions over his riffs – “shake that thing” – inviting us all to the house party.
Here’s Pinetop from 1928: