The American Music Research Foundation Presents:

The 2002 Performer Lineup

	Bob Seeley In the world of boogie-woogie, Detroit's Bob Seeley is legendary. Aficionados wear out his tapes - there are at least three. Some describe him as a force of nature. He destroys the keyboards with his passion and immense energy. After hearing him pound out a version of "Honky Tonk Train Blues" by legend Meade Lux Lewis or his playful rendering of Meade's "Mama Take the Lobsters off the Ice, Papa's Coming Home with Crabs," or the demanding numbers of Pete Johnson or Albert Ammons, it's hard to not become a believer. He's also a walking history lesson. Seeley's influences extend to Pat Flowers, Fats Waller, Meade Lux Lewis, Art Tatum, Eubie Blake, all of whom he knew personally. Boogie, born out of the Delta black blues experience, pays tribute to these masters who often did not get the recognition they deserved in their lifetimes. Locals have enjoyed Seeley as a regular at Charley's Crab Restaurant in Troy, Mich., since it opened in 1972. He also performs regularly throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Seeley started playing classical piano at age 13, studying at the Detroit Institute of Musical Art, part of University of Detroit. His unique boogie sound bears the influences of ragtime, Harlem and stride styles. Seeley also accompanied Sippie Wallace, the Texas Nightingale, during the 1980s. A legendary blues singer, Wallace's. career resurged then after Ron Harwood, her local promoter, teamed her with Bonnie Raitt and artists such as Bob Seeley.
	Charlie Booty Comebacks may be the story of Charlie Booty's life. Born in the tiny sawmill town of Flora, Louisiana, Booty grew up listening to country music. Booty discovered swing, jazz, blues and boogie woogie in the 1930s when his family bought a battery-operated transistor radio. His home had no electricity, so there was no point in having an electric radio. Like many rural families, radio expanded his horizons and influenced his life calling. The budding young virtuoso learned clarinet at school, then taught himself guitar. Piano would soon follow. Years later, Booty proudly earned his first money playing piano while serving in the United States Air Force, irritating some in the obey-command military structure. Booty has survived more than his share of adversity. An avid and accomplished pilot, he survived the crash of his airplane during the oil crisis of the 1970s. The crash occurred because fuel had been siphoned out and replaced with water. Booty fortunately survived the accident, but lost his ability to play the piano due to amnesia. In fact, he could not remember that he had ever learned to play the piano. Over time, his friends persuaded him to learn to play again. Slowly and painfully, Booty taught himself to play the keyboards. Better yet, he came back as a world-renown piano artist, once again mastering the musical mediums he loved. Among his musical influences, Booty counts his friendship with Art Hodes and Don Ewell as influential. But his style remains distinctly his own. Like his personality, Booty's playing is gentle and sweet, with just enough mischief to keep fans intrigued - and bouncing in their seats. Booty has worked diligently to promote boogie woogie to a worldwide audience. He has several full-length CDs produced on his private Piano Joys label. He also has collaborated on discs with artists like Charlie Castner and Ben Conroy. Another effort is his "Rent Party Echoes" CD series, featuring freewheeling piano solos and duets recorded at Dallas-Fort Worth piano parties. It is our pleasure and distinct honor to have Charlie return for his third consecutive appearance at our festival. The rare works are available at the Motor City Boogie Woogie Festival.
	Michael Kaeshammer No one sits still when Michael Kaeshammer (pronounced case-hammer) works magic on the keyboards. One of the world's greatest young talents, Michael, 25, takes the old and spins it into something new and magically his own. His skill at boogie woogie astounds even vets in the music business. Kaeshammer consistently proves his wide range of talents, from arranging to composing originals on three CDs to date. His career seems to take off with each concert he plays. Three critically acclaimed CD releases showcase Kaeshammer's immense talent. He debuted with "Blue Keys" in 1996. His second CD in 1998, "Tell You How I Feel," has become the highest selling, highest charting independent Canadian jazz recording on the Gavin Radio jazz charts in the U.S. A second release is 2000's "No Strings Attached," earning him a Juno award, Canada's Grammy equivalent. Here, he breaks new ground collaborating with legends ranging from Cincinnati hall-of-famer Big Joe Duskin (1999, 2000, 2001 Motor City Boogie Woogie Festival), Art Neville and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. He also has earned Best Musician and Live Performer of the Year ('02) and Best Male Artist of the Year in 2001 awards from West Coast Music in Canada. Kaeshammer had seven years of classical piano training in Offenburg, Germany, giving him the musical foundation to branch out into the challenging territory of blues, jazz and boogie. As a child, Michael turned on to boogie after hearing a Vince Weber CD of incendiary boogie talents, 1977's "The Boogie Man." Artists like Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pinetop Smith and Pete Johnson also inspired his early years as he mastered the boogie genre. By age 6, Kaeshammer was jamming and playing professionally in clubs and at festivals all over Germany. The Kaeshammer family moved to British Columbia, Canada, in his teens. There, he blew away Canada just as he did European and U.S. fans. It's time to give a serious listen to Michael Kaeshammer, a piano virtuoso in the making. He has a knack for translating boogie it into a more contemporary format, all the while building a cult-like following.
	Gene Taylor Wow! That's how fans reacted to Gene Taylor's performance at last year's sold out Motor City Boogie Woogie concert. He's recorded and toured with incredible rock and blues greats -- from Canned Heat to the Fabulous Thunderbirds, lending his keyboard skills internationally. He's currently the keyboard man with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the quintessential American band formed in 1974 by Jimmie Vaughn - Stevie Ray Vaughn's brother - and Kim Wilson, current front man and harpist. Indeed, Taylor interrupted the Thunderbirds' national tour to take part in this year's Boogie Woogie show, an event near and dear to his heart. His repertoire includes recording and touring with the Blasters, classic rockers; also Ricky Nelson, James Harman, James Hammond and the Downchild Blues Band. From 1981 to '85, the Blasters made four critically acclaimed albums for Warner Bros. But Los Angeles native Taylor gained his reputation by playing with artists such as T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, Pee Wee Crayton and Lowell Fulsom. In the early 1970s, he joined Canned Heat, the rock-blues act which gave him international exposure in the heyday of the antiwar movement. Then he moved to Canada to play piano with Ronnie Hawkins, living between Canada and the U.S. for years. In 1988, with friends Doug Sahm and Amos Garrett, he won a Juno award, Canada's equivalent of a U.S. Grammy. In the last 10 years, Taylor has toured the world with the Thunderbirds ("Tuff Enough," "Wrap It Up," etc.) But his boogie piano is his trademark. He's turned many concert-goers into fans with his unique brand of high-energy licks and by also performing as a soloist occasionally. If you like your boogie rocked up and wild, this is a lifetime chance to see Taylor up close and personal, playing solo, playing passionately.
Previous Performers Include

	Big Joe Duskin It is almost impossible to begin a discussion about Big Joe Duskin without mentioning his booming bass voice. A "gentle giant", Big Joe is a perennial favorite at the Motor City Boogie Woogie Festival. In fact, Big Joe will be the only member of the "Master's of Boogie Woogie" to have performed at all three festivals to date. Big Joe brings his Rockin' playing and Rollin' vocals to the blues. If he doesn't make you smile, you ain't alive! Big Joe was honored as the first inductee of the Boogie Woogie Hall of Fame in 1999, in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. A professional musician since the age of 16, Big Joe's grace and style belie his size and his other profession, having spent 30 years as a Cincinnati Police Officer. A religious man, Big Joe has always mixed his professional talents with his love of Gospel. In fact, it was Big Joe's love of Boogie Woogie that got him in trouble with his Baptist preacher father. While in his 80's, Big Joe's father made Joe promise that he wouldn't play "the Devil's music" until after his death. What no one could predict was that Big Joe's dad would live to be 104 years of age. Joe first heard piano in his local church. "I used to have to walk through a swamp filled with alligators to get to church," Joe recalls. "And the only way I escaped a beating for being out late at night was because my uncle would find me behind the piano and take me home in his wagon. He used to get me to slip under the porch when we got home, before my old man could come out. Then, when my father started hollerin' for me, I would get out from under that porch and tell him I'd fallen asleep under there!" When his family moved to Cincinnati, Joe was able to teach himself to play the piano. "I used to play the same song over and over and over, the only song I knew. Folks would close their doors when I came onto the porch. They'd say, 'Oh no, here's the Duskin boy again. Don't let him near the piano. He's gonna play that damned song again.' 'Cause at the time, we didn't have a piano at home."
	Jay McShann Born January 12, 1916 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the 85-year-old James Columbus McShann is actually believed by many to be much older. A mistake years ago by a biographer has dogged McShann. Mariann, Jay's wife, says "darn that Leonard, I told him again and again to correct it, but he never did." The youngest of four children, and the only boy, Jay began to "fool around on the piano" at the age of eight. "My parents only had money enough to get one of us piano lessons. So that turned out to be my sister, Dutch." Jay would go with his sister to her lessons, until her teacher discovered that Jay was learning along with Dutch. From that point on, Jay wasn't allowed to attend Dutch's lessons. That didn't stop the young McShann, who would feign illness every Sunday before church. The family went to church without him; Jay would sit at the piano for hours and practice. Self-taught and talented, it would not be long before Jay would begin playing to an audience. As with many budding musicians who lived in rural towns, radio also provided inspiration and education for Jay. Earl Hines' late night radio broadcasts from the Grand Terrace Ballroom in Chicago were his link to the broader world of Jazz. "When Fatha' went off the air, I went to bed." As a high school student, Jay began playing for money with professional musicians in Muskogee. Soon, Jay was playing with bands all over Oklahoma. In 1936, Jay made his first trip to Kansas City. Within two days, Jay was playing gigs at the Monroe Inn. "We would close at 1 AM, 1:15. But the rest of the clubs in Kansas City went twelve hours." Jay spent this time going from club to club, listening to all of the bands that had by now, made Kansas City a musical Mecca. By 1939, Jay was leading his own big band. Jazz was all the rage, but blues and boogie were important components to a good show. "Even jazz piano players, they had to play the blues 'cause Kansas City always had the blues there." All the while, Jay's Kansas City contemporaries were Count Basie, Pete Johnson, Big Joe Turner and Dizzie Gillespie. KC really was the scene. Under his capable direction, Jay fostered the careers of many singers, Crown Prince Waterford, Walter Brown, Jesse Price and Jimmy Witherspoon. In addition to vocalists, Jay also had an uncanny ear for talented musicians like the teenage Charlie Parker, and helped establish the careers of many other musicians who spent time in his bands. McShann's 1941 recording sessions in Dallas were Parker's first recorded work. Even at this point, Jay realized that Parker's talent could be hemmed in only so much to fit the rigors of a big band format. Tenor sax legend Ben Webster, bassists Walter Page and Gene Ramey and drummer Gus Johnson all did stints in McShann's bands. Jay was also responsible for some notable hits in his career. Confessin' the Blues, later covered by the Rolling Stones, Little Walter and B.B. King, Hootie Blues, Get Me On Your Mind and later, Ain't Nobody's Business with vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon. World War II interrupted Jay's musical career, as it did for so many others. His big band broken up by the draft, Jay would return to music after the war. By the end of the 1940's, the popularity of big bands was waning, and Jay followed the trend towards smaller ensembles. As the dawn of bebop was rising, Jay was still going strong, with vocal frontman Jimmy Witherspoon. In October of 2000, Jay was honored by his longtime Kansas City home. The American Jazz Museum named its new outdoor performance pavilion in his honor. Even now, Jay maintains a busy performance and recording schedule. Jay plays no less than one major festival per month. His most recent recordings, 1999's Still Jumpin The Blues, with Duke Robillard and Maria Muldaur and What a Wonderful World have met with critical and popular success. Jay is a living legend, a repository of first-hand musical history, and a master storyteller. Moreover, he embodies the very essence of boogie woogie its roots, and its links to the past, present and future.
	Harold McKinney After 14 years of classical training and years of playing spirituals in churches and at recitals, Detroit native Harold McKinney began playing Boogie Woogie, blues and big band music in 1942. Shortly after his service in Europe, McKinney started playing Bebop and began a career which has taken him right to the top. A career which saw him playing with Sonny Stitt, Charlie Parker, Tommy Flanagan, Roland Hanna, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Carmen McCrea, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Elvin and Thad Jones, Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, Lou Rawls, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and many, many others. McKinney has played all over the world and was a renowned jazz pianist, singer, violinist, oboist, vibraphone player, a composer and an actor. He recorded several projects, including McKinfolk: Live at the Serengeti (for the Detroit Department of Cultural Affairs and the Michigan Arts Foundation), Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile (on Tribe), and Something In The Wind - With Paul Winter (on A&M) and Bohannon - with Hamilton Bohannon (on Dakar). Harold McKinney tribute: "Our bodies will return to dust, but there is an indestructible part of us that goes on to be, it existed before we were born. The older I grow, the more I know that, yeah, if I do not live another day, I have had a very blessed life." Harold Walton McKinney, Born July 4, 1928, died, June 20, 2001. Hal McKinney was to be a part of this years' Motor City Boogie Woogie Festival and Workshop. His untimely passing leaves a hole that cannot be filled; his music leaves a legacy that cannot be forgotten. Harold was a "musician's musician." One of ten children in the McKinney family, Harold was first introduced to the keyboard by his mother, Bessie Walton McKinney. Harold began playing chords and tunes before his fourth birthday. Before long, Harold was performing vocal and piano recitals with his older brother, Clarence. By his teenage years, Harold had become an accomplished boogie woogie and blues player. By now, he was also rehearsing with professional big bands. Jazz and blues found fertile ground in Detroit during the 1940's. During this period Harold discovered bebop, an improvisational jazz form that would shape the remainder of Harold's career. From Charlie Parker to Sonny Rollins to Wes Montgomery and Sarah Vaughn, Harold played with them all. He drew strength and independence from these experiences. Harold spoke very fondly of his relationship with guitarist, Kenny Burrell. "He is my musical hero. He and I grew up playing together in little Detroit clubs. He is one of the true keepers of the Jazz flame." Long after artists like Burrell had moved away from Detroit, Harold remained in his hometown. Harold began writing music while in the Army in the early 1950's. Once home, Harold continued collaborating with local jazz artists. Harold was always eager to share his love and knowledge of music with others. For the last nine years of his life, Harold held weekly jazz workshops at the SereNgeti Ballroom. This provided an opportunity for young musicians to test their chops and learn from a true master. His 300 plus original compositions are a testament to the creativity of a man whose life was shaped by music. As important as music was to Harold, was his desire to promote pride and cultural connection within the African American community. In 1995, Harold and longtime friend Teddy Harris were invited on a State Department tour as representatives of the United States. As part of this tour, they performed in West Africa, North Africa, Turkey, Jordan and Syria. The Masters of Boogie Woogie were fortunate enough to have Harold as one of our players for the inaugural Motor City Boogie Woogie Festival in 1999. Thanks for touching our lives with your music.
	Vince Weber Vince sings and plays like someone whose cradle wasn't rocked in Hamburg, Germany, but in the bars of Chicago and New Orleans. His incredible energy and formidable stage presence have certainly kept his audiences rocking all over the world. Vince began playing as a classically trained pianist, but it wasn't long before the Beatles and the blues took his attention. After hearing Otis Spann and Pet Johnson, Vince was lost to Bach and Chopin. Their loss was our gain. His first LP- 1975's The Boogie Man, on EMI- reached number 3 in the Austrian charts and went on to win the highest German recording award and the Coup d'Europe Musicale the following year. He has starred on German television and toured the US several times. Last year he did an extensive Canadian tour with the great Michael Kaeshammer and the indisputable Joe Duskin. In 1977, Vince released his second album, Blues 'n Boogie and this was followed by Boogie on a Blue Song, Octoroon and the 1995 release The Best Yet- a compilation, 2 disc set available through the Amazon.com web store. In 1999, Vince and Axel got together to produce the Boogiemeisters CD, an unbelievably driving tour de force that's available in the lobby tonight. If you like four-handed piano boogie, you must not miss the opportunity of owning the record. Vince has played with Jay McShann, James Booker, Chuck Berry and Champion Jack DuPree, among others. When Vince hits the stage, be prepared to boogie.
	David Maxwell David Maxwell is one of the great, living, blues-influenced piano players. His soulful, energetic, gospel-, blues-and jazz-tinged, virtuoso playing reflects his years as a sideman to such luminaries as Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie King and James Cotton, as well as his long-term relationships with mentors Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim and Pinetop Perkins. At present, Maxwell heads up the James Cotton Trio and is a renowned solo performer, as well as a sought-after educator and workshop leader at both the high school- and college-levels. Maxwell has played, toured and recorded with Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, Odetta, James Cotton, Albert King, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, Ronnie Earl, Keith Richards, Roy Gaines, Ola Mae Dixon, Steve Freund, Mike Welch, Paul Oscher, Lowell Fulsom, Luther Johnson, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm and the Conan O'Brien Band, among many others. His latest album, Maximum Blues Piano- on Tone Cool Records- received high acclaim. He has been nominated twice for a W.C. Handy Award. David is often compared to his mentor Otis Spann. In fact, James Cotton calls David, 'the soul of Otis Spann.' "(Otis) never sat me down and gave me lessons, so to speak," Maxwell says, "but he was so encouraging to me as a man and as a musician. I'd follow What he did on the keyboard, make mental notes. He would entertain me and I would enjoy it."
	Johnnie Johnson Johnnie Johnson: the "Father of Rock 'N' Roll Piano" was born in 1924 in Fairmont, West Virginia, and Johnnie began playing piano at the age of five. Johnnie is self-taught, having learned his craft by listening to his mother's Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters '78s. Growing up during the big band era did much to mold Johnnie's subsequent style and thereby influence the history of rock & roll. Johnnie moved to Detroit in 1942 after high School to work for Ford Motor Co. During the war, Johnnie served in the Marine Corps Special Weapons Crew in the South Pacific. While in the service, Johnnie also played with the USO bands that would come through the Marshall Islands where he was stationed. Up until this point in his career, Johnnie had largely considered himself a jazz musician….. that was about to change. After the war, Johnnie returned to Detroit, where he met T-Bone Walker. Johnnie credits his association with the guitar player of his fresh appreciation of the blues. Johnnie remained in Detroit for the next three years, playing throughout the city. Johnnie eventually moved to Chicago, where he further honed his craft playing with Muddy Waters, Howlin'Wolf, Little Walter, Memphis Slim, Etta James and the Moonglows. In 1952, Johnnie moved to St. Louis, where he got a job working for the Penn Railroad with his brother. Unlike Chicago and Detroit, St. Louis had very few blues and jazz clubs. Instead, most musicians made money playing parties and the occasional club date. Johnnie and his band were no exceptions to this rule… this too, was about to change. New Year's eve, 1952, Johnnie's saxophone player called in sick just before the gig. Johnnie called another local musician to fill in for his ailing sax player. The unknown musician was the guitar player Chuck Berry. The partygoers were blown away. No one had ever seen a black man play hillbilly music. For the next three years, Johnnie and Chuck had the hottest band in St. Louis. In fact, they put St. Louis on the musical map, and rock & roll on the charts. Johnnie wrote the music and worked out the arrangements, Chuck wrote the lyrics. Their first record was a song originally called "Ida Red." Someone else had already released a song with the same title and when Johnnie and Chuck were asked to rename their song, they noticed a mascara box sitting in the corner. The song was renamed "Maybellene." For the next eighteen years, Johnson and Berry Recorded, toured and changed modern music forever. To this day, Johnson and Berry remain friends, and continue to play together occasionally. Always a retiring personality, Johnnie never sang during his career with Chuck Berry. It was not until Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones begged Johnnie to sing "Tanquerau." A song they co-wrote for Johnnie's first album "Johnnie B. Bad," that we first heard Johnnie's smooth baritone pipes. As a result of this collaboration as well as Richards' 1988 film "Hail Hail Rock & Roll," Johnnie is enjoying a level of celebrity that he seems to find surprising. More surprising, is the fact that it took so long for the music industry to recognize the genius and international treasure that he is. Johnnies' musical career remains busy. He has played on Keith Richards' solo album "Talk Is Cheap," and toured two years in a row with the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and his band "Rat Dog." Eric Clapton regularly invites Johnnie to perform with him at his annual Royal Albert Hall concerts. In 1998, Paul Schaeffer invited Johnnie to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's induction ceremony. In 2000, Johnnie embarked on a national book tour to introduce his biography, Father of Rock and Roll- The Story of Johnnie "B. Goode" Johnson, by Travis Fitzpatrick. In 2001, Johnnie Johnson received rock & roll's highest honor, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
	Axel Zwingenberger Axel was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1955 and has parlayed his undeniable and irresistible talent into a reputation as one of the truly great boogie woogie piano players of all time. His public debut as a boogie player was at the first blues and boogie woogie festival put on by German radio in Cologne, Germany, in 1974. Since then he has played and recorded with Big Joe Turner, Big Joe Duskin, Alexis Korner, Lionel Hampton, Sippie Wallace, Mama Yancey, Lloyd Glenn, Jay McShann, Champion Jack Dupree and Sammy Price, to name but a few. His recordings for The Friends of Boogie Woogie- on the Vagabond label- have re-introduced Europeans to the careers and talents of many of the world's great blues and boogie players and singers. Axel's work in the preservation and promotion of blues and boogie, and his great and lasting friendship with Vince Weber, can be credited with an incredibly vibrant renaissance of the forms, all over Europe. In fact, there are more than 100 young players on the professional circuit today, in Europe, who can directly trace their enthusiasm and burgeoning careers to Axel and Vince's tireless boogie entrepreneurship. Axel has given more than 3500 concerts in over 40 countries around the world, including a stint at Carnegie Hall in New York, and tours of Africa and Asia. And he has released more than 25 CDs. In addition to his performance and recording career, Axel is also an accomplished and photographer whose first book of steam train photographs is being released this week in Germany. Axel can be reached at: www.boogie-woogie.net on the web.
	Uncle Jessie White Uncle Jessie White: born in Terry, Mississippi, Jessie has lived in Detroit since 1950. His musical style echoes his roots in the Mississippi Delta. At the age of 82, Jessie continues to perform every Saturday night with his 29th Street Blues Band at the Attic Bar in Hamtramck. Jessie is considered by many to be the patriarch of blues in Detroit.