Boogie-Woogie
Located in 2 routes
Boogie-Woogie is fast, percussive piano blues driven by repeating left-hand bass ostinatos, right-hand riffs, tremolos, breaks, and train-like momentum. Tempos often sit around 150–220 BPM, with a relentless eight-to-the-bar pulse made for dancing, cutting contests, and the satisfying illusion that one pianist has become an entire rhythm section.
History
Boogie-Woogie likely developed in Texas, Louisiana, and other railroad and lumber-camp circuits before pianists carried it into Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. Pinetop Smith's 1928 "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" gave the style its famous recorded calling card, while Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Jimmy Yancey, Cow Cow Davenport, and Big Maceo popularized it in rent parties, clubs, and Carnegie Hall's 1938 "From Spirituals to Swing" concert. Boogie-Woogie became a national craze, influencing jump blues, swing, rhythm and blues, rock and roll piano, and later rockabilly and blues-rock keyboard styles.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Peter J. Silvester, A Left Hand Like God
- John Tennison, Boogie Woogie Stomp
- Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues
- AllMusic