Page 58 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2023 Digital Edition

Leon Blue on the keys
Photo by Ÿ Marilyn Stringer

Eight on the Eighty-Eight

by Reverend Billy C. Wirtz Leroy was one of the first to change that. The young Indianapolis
Sunnyland Slim and I sat in the living room of his third-floor native not only wrote whiskey and women blues, he wrote tender
walk-up. I was visiting him for a month in the summer of 1979. ballads and even children’s songs. His piano playing mixed
Outside, the ice cream truck jingled “Joy to the World” and elements of stride, barrelhouse and gospel. His restrained vocal
the afternoon gave way to a warm Chicago summer night. style was a huge influence on Nat King Cole and Ray Charles.
Pointing to the record player and an album I had just bought, Carr’s 1928 classic “How Long, How Long Blues” became the
he said, “Let’s go back tomorrow and get me a copy.” most recorded blues song of all time. There are at least 100
We were listening to “Chicago Breakdown” by Big Maceo. versions of it by everyone from Eric Clapton to Lou Rawls to Andy
There’s one section in the signature song where Maceo, a (I kid you not) Griffith.
6’5” left-hander from Detroit, unloads a stunning barrage of
bass notes that piano players simply refer to as “The Maceo Big Maceo
lick.” I sat there and shook my head. Sunnyland pulled the Merriweather
needle off the record and played it again, and then he played 1905–1953
it a third time. He just laughed and said, “Yes indeed.” Active: 1940s–early ‘50s
In recent years, the guitar and those who play it have Big Maceo could have
become a focal point for the blues. However, this music we been a wrestler, but chose
know and love would not exist without several great piano to play piano instead. He
masters who helped shape and define the genre. Here are was 6’5”, 280 lbs. and a
some ivory ticklers guaranteed to fry your wig. southpaw. Much like Leroy
Carr, most of his tunes were
Leroy Carr recorded as guitar/piano
aka “George Gershwin duets. His guitar player was
of the Blues” the legendary Tampa Red. Maceo’s style featured a thundering
1905–1935 left hand; several of his songs feature distinctive left-hand runs
Active: 1920s–‘30s unlike anyone else’s. The Detroit native was also a gifted writer.
Leroy Carr was part of a His “Worried Life Blues” became a standard, recorded by
duet with guitarist Scrapper numerous artists including Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Eric
Blackwell. Back in the 1920s Clapton, and received a Grammy in 1983. In later years, the
and ‘30s, blues piano big man suffered a stroke and could only play with his left hand,
centered around a simple however, he still played gigs, with the right-hand parts played
three chord structure, and alongside of him by the young Otis Spann.

56 Blues Festival Guide 2023