Have you ever played any boogie woogie piano?
The amazing thing about boogie woogie, aside from how much fun it is to play, is that the material can be re-used in countless ways, so you can apply what you know to many other songs without even having to alter it that much. The individuality comes out in our rhythms, our musical feel, and in the way we develop the material.
Here’s the boogie woogie pioneer, Meade Lux Lewis, playing his classic “Honky Tonk Train Blues.”
This was recorded in 1940, which places it right at the the transition between the Swing Era of jazz and the birth of Rock and Roll. Both Benny Goodman and Chuck Berry would have felt right at home playing this tune.
Enjoy, and then sit down at your piano and play some boogie woogie for yourself!