“Hawaiian Nightingale.” A very simple although lovely waltz by Vaughn DeLeath. Hardly to be considered within any discussion of jazz/blues or hot music. And yet, Clarence Johnson’s performance is a salient reminder that great talent produces great music. Johnson’s playing of this otherwise commonplace, sentimental tune is uniquely his own; containing his jazz …
Although Clarence Johnson left us no piano solo disc recordings, no band recordings, and only about two dozen vocal accompaniment sides, he still remains one of the most influential artists in the history of Chicago South Side Piano. Unlike Blythe, who was prolific in all forms of recordings, Johnson’s personal playing style is …
This section will present Blythe’s piano roll recordings of popular songs, such as fox trots and waltzes of the day. Frequently, these performances are highly jazz-tinged (even the waltzes) and exhibit Blythe’s characteristic keyboard trademarks. On some, Blythe added hot South Side coda sections to otherwise commonplace tunes, and these are special for …
Collectors interested in the jazz and blues history of Chicago’s South Side of the 1920s have most certainly heard of this enormously gifted and prolific artist. On the merits of his disc recordings alone, he stands as one of the founding fathers of that particular pianistic style known to us as “South Side …
Many collectors of jazz, blues and ragtime are familiar with this material via 78rpm or LP recordings and sheet music. While a number of websites have in the past offered downloads of piano rolls, both hand-played and arranged, the effort which Paolo and I are now undertaking on Chicagosouthsidepiano.com is unprecedented in terms …