Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s. It was eventually extended from piano, to piano duo and trio, guitar, big band, country and western music, and gospel. While standard blues traditionally expresses a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing. The genre had a significant influence on rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
Anderson Meade Lewis, known as Meade Lux Lewis, was an American pianist and composer, remembered for his playing in the boogie-woogie style. His best-known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded by many artists.
Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
Eugene "Jug" Ammons, also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R&B.
Wilbur Schwichtenberg, known professionally as Will Bradley, was an American trombonist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s. He performed swing, dance music, and boogie-woogie songs, many of them written by Don Raye.
Albert Clifton Ammons was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a blues style popular from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s.
Pete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.
Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith, was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist. His hit tune "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" featured rhythmic "breaks" that were an essential ingredient of ragtime music, but also a fundamental foreshadowing of rock & roll. The song was also the first known use of the term "boogie woogie" on a record, and cemented that term as the moniker for the genre.
"Again" is a popular song with music by Lionel Newman and words by Dorcas Cochran. It first appeared in the movie Road House (1948), sung by Ida Lupino. An instrumental rendition was used in the movie Pickup on South Street (1953). By 1949, versions by Vic Damone, Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Gordon Jenkins, Vera Lynn, Art Mooney, and Mel Tormé all made the Billboard charts.
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is a World War II jump blues song written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince which was introduced by The Andrews Sisters in the Abbott and Costello comedy film, Buck Privates (1941). The Andrews Sisters' Decca recording reached number six on the U.S. pop singles chart in the spring of 1941 when the film was in release. The song is ranked No. 6 on Songs of the Century. Bette Midler's 1972 recording of the song also reached the top ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Cleveland Josephus Eaton II was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments were playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre. He was inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
"Imagination" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen and the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was first published in 1940. The two best-selling versions were recorded by the orchestras of Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey in 1940.
"Roll 'Em Pete" is a blues song, originally recorded in December 1938 by Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson. The recording is regarded as one of the most important precursors of what later became known as rock and roll.
"Can't We Be Friends?" is a 1929 song with lyrics by Paul James and music by Kay Swift, introduced on Broadway in The Little Show by Libby Holman. It was later recorded by many artists including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.
Robbert Arris Jules "Rob" Agerbeek is an Indo Dutch boogie-woogie and jazz pianist and winner of several jazz concourses in the Netherlands in the late 1950s. He is regarded as one of Europe's finest jazz pianists, covering the full spectrum of jazz styles from his early days of Boogie-woogie to Chicago traditional Jazz, swing and contemporary jazz.
Selections from Showboat is a Decca Records compilation album of phonograph records featuring songs from the Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein II musical Show Boat.
"Boo-Woo" is the A-side of the 78-rpm jazz instrumental single recorded on February 1, 1939 by Harry James and The Boogie Woogie Trio.
Boogie Woogie is a compilation album containing four 10-inch, 78 rpm records of boogie-woogie music. The songs on the album were recorded over a period of three years from 1936 to 1939, then released in 1941 on this compilation album by Columbia Records (C44). Artists featured on the album include Harry James, Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, and the three prominent boogie-woogie pianists of the time, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis.
The discography of American trumpeter and band leader Harry James includes 30 studio albums, 47 EPs, three soundtrack/stage and screen albums, and numerous live albums and compilation albums, along with contributions as sideman and appearances with other musicians. James released over 200 singles during his career, with nine songs reaching number one, 32 in the top ten, and 70 in the top 100 on the U.S. pop charts, as well as seven charting on the U.S. R&B chart. As of 2016, two recordings of Harry James had been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
