Photo by Manuel Vicari
Can't really have a blues piano week if you don't have some Pinetop Perkins, now can you? I think the bio on his official website says it all;
Pinetop Perkins is one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen still performing. He began playing blues around 1927 and is widely regarded as one of the best blues pianists. He’s created a style of playing that has influenced three generations of piano players and will continue to be the yardstick by which great blues pianists are measured.
I like the video below, because it it shows where Mr. Perkins is in his life. I really like the end where he says, "Well I'm trying to make it, 93 years young and I'm still trying to make it." Now that is the blues, I hope I'm still trying to make it in my ninities. Mr. Perkins will be 95 this comming July 7th, God willing.
Notes from YouTube; Pinetop Perkins and Anthony Sapienza perform Pinetop's hit "Kansas City" the day after Pinetop's gig at B.B. King's Blues Club in NYC. November 2006. Pinetop will be featured in a cover story in the December 2006 issue of Seventh Hour Blues, available at www.seventhhourblues.com
Mr. Perkins is an award winning blues piano player;
In 2005 he was also presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy’s. In 2000 he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts. He has been featured in the documentary Piano Blues directed by Clint Eastwood for the Martin Scorsese PBS series, The Blues. In addition, he continued to win the Blues Music Award for best blues piano every year until 2003 when he was retired from that award, which now bears his name--the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year.
References;
Pinetop Perkins Official Web Site
Pintop Perkins @ MySpace
Pintop Perkins @ Wikipedia
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