Otis Spann

Otis Spann

Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970 ) was an American blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist.

Career

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Otis Spann became known for his distinct piano style.

Born to Frank Houston Spann and Josephine Erby. One of five children - three boys and two girls. His father played piano, non professionally, whilst his mother had played guitar with Memphis Minnie. Spann began playing piano by age of eight, influenced by his local ivories stalwart, Friday Ford. At the age of 14, he was playing in bands around Jackson, finding more inspiration in the 78s of Big Maceo Merriweather, who took the young pianist under his wing once Spann migrated to Chicago in 1946. Other sources say that he moved to Chicago when his mother died in 1947 playing the Chicago club circuit and working as a plasterer. Spann gigged on his own, and with guitarist Morris Pejoe, working a regular spot at the Tic Toc Lounge before hooking up with Muddy Waters in 1952.

Although he recorded periodically as a solo artist beginning in the mid 1950s, Spann was a full-time member of Waters' band from 1952 to 1968 before leaving to form his own band. In that period he also did session work with other Chess artists like Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley.

Spann's own Chess Records output was limited to a 1954 single, "It Must Have Been the Devil", that featured B.B. King on guitar. He recorded a session with the guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. and vocalist St. Louis Jimmy in 1960, which was issued on Otis Spann Is The Blues and Walking The Blues. A largely solo outing for Storyville Records in 1963 was recorded in Copenhagen. A set for the UK branch of Decca Records the following year found him in the company of Waters and Eric Clapton, and a 1964 album for Prestige followed, where Spann shared vocal duties with bandmate James Cotton.

The Blues is Where It's At, Spann's 1966 album for ABC-Bluesway, sounded like a live recording. It was a recording studio date, enlivened by enthusiastic onlookers that applauded every song (Waters, guitarist Sammy Lawhorn, and George "Harmonica" Smith were among the support crew). A Bluesway encore, The Bottom of the Blues followed in 1967 and featured Spann's wife, Lucille Jenkins Spann (June 23, 1938 – August 2, 1994), helping out on vocals.

In the late 1960s, he appeared on albums with Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac.

Several films of his playing are available on DVD, including the Newport Folk Festival (1960), while his singing is also featured on the American Folk Blues Festival (1963) and The Blues Masters (1966).

Death

Following his death from liver cancer in Chicago in 1970, at the age of 40, he was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.

He was posthumously elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

Discography

Solo

• Otis Spann is The Blues (1960)
• Goodmorning Mr Blues (1963)
• The Blues is Where It's At (released 1963)
• The Blues of Otis Spann (1964)
• The Blues Never Die! (1964)
• Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol.1 (1966)
• The Bottom of the Blues (1968)
• Cracked Spanner Head (1969)
• The Biggest Thing Since Colossus (1969)
• Cryin' Time (recorded 1968, released 1970)
• Walking The Blues (recorded 1960, released 1972)
• Last Call: Live at Boston Tea Party (recorded 1970, released 2000)
• Complete Blue Horizon Sessions (recorded 1969, released 2006)

With other artists

• Robert Lockwood, Jr. - Is The Blues (1960)
• Lonnie Johnson - Portraits in Blues vol 6 (1963)
• "Brother" Waters & Eric Clapton - Raw Blues (recorded 1964, released 1967)
• Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 2 (as part of The Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet) (1966)
• Buddy Guy - A Man & The Blues (1968)
• Muddy Waters - Fathers & Sons (1969)
• Johnny Shines - Last Night`s Dream (piano on Pipeline Blues) (1969)
• Junior Wells - Southside Jam Blues (1969)
• Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam in Chicago, Vols. 1-2 (1969)
• Muddy Waters - Mud in Your Ear (1967, released 1973)
• Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Bosses of the Blues, Vol. 2 (recorded 1970, released 1991)
• Floyd Jones & Eddie Taylor - Masters of Modern Blues, Vol. 3 (recorded 1966, released 1994)
• T-Bone Walker & Joe Turner - Super Black Blues, Vol. 1 (recorded 1969, released 2001)

See also

• List of blues musicians
• List of Storyville Records artists
• List of people from Mississippi
• Chicago blues

External links

• Otis Spann's Gravesite
• Tribute to Otis Spann
• Otis Spann at Allmusic
• 1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
• Review for Last Call CD
• Lucille Spann discography