Blues Piano Essentials

While early Delta blues often favored the guitar due to its portability in rural areas, blues piano took root in more populous regions—or at least under the roofs of saloons, churches, and brothels—particularly as the sound moved from the deep South to the North. Blues piano came out of the ragtime tradition of the late 19th century, and moved to the foreground in the 1920s and ’30s, with pioneers such as Leroy Carr introducing a smooth playing style that contrasted with the grit of guitar. Camille Howard’s boogie-woogie rhythms added a percussive, danceable flair to the music, while Bessie Smith used the piano to add sophistication to her raw vocal style. Big Joe Turner and Charles Brown infused jump-blues energy and laidback cool, which would go on to influence early rock ’n’ rollers. By the ’40s and ’50s, boogie masters Pinetop Perkins and Professor Longhair brought new rhythmic vitality, which soon impacted players like Fats Domino and Dr. John, the latter of whom took blues piano into funky and sometimes psychedelic new directions.