Otis Spann

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Otis Spann

Otis Spann (March 21 1930 – April 24 1970 ) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
blues

Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
musician

Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
's leading postwar blues pianist.

in Jackson

Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the Capital and the most populous city of the U.S. Mississippi. It is one of two county seats in Hinds County, Mississippi; the town of Raymond, Mississippi is the other....
, Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson, Mississippi is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Anishinaabe language word misi-ziibi ....
, Spann became known for his distinct piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
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 Millie Lawlars.

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Encyclopedia

Otis Spann (March 21 1930 – April 24 1970 ) was an American

United States

Blues

Musician

Chicago

Career

Born in Jackson

Jackson, Mississippi

Mississippi

Piano

Gramophone record

A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
of Big Maceo Merriweather

Big Maceo Merriweather

Big Maceo Merriweather was a blues pianist and singer active in Chicago in the 1940s....
, 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

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues"....
in 1952.

Although he recorded

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanics inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects....
periodically as a solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer. In practice this means a number of different things, depending on the type of music and the context....
artist beginning in the mid 1950s, Spann was a full-time member of Waters' band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:...
from 1952 to 1968 before leaving to form his own band. In that period he also did session

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders....
work with other Chess artists like Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular...
and Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley , was an original and influential American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from blues music to rock & roll, influencing a host of legendary acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton....
.

Spann's own Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an United States record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
output was limited to a 1954 single

Single (music)

In the record industry, a single is a song usually used from a current or upcoming album to promote the album. Singles are distributed through a number of ways; originally, they were packaged as "single" records with one or two other songs and sold before the release of the album....
, "It Must Have Been the Devil," that featured B. B. King

B. B. King

B. B. King is an United States blues guitarist and singer-songwriter known for his expressive singing and inimitable guitar playing. As Komara has written, "King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." Critic...
on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
. He recorded an session with the guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres....
Robert Lockwood, Jr. and vocalist St. Louis Jimmy

St. Louis Jimmy Oden

James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden , was an United States blues singer and songwriter.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, Jimmy Oden sang and taught himself to play the piano in childhood....
in 1960, which was issued on Otis Spann Is The Blues and Walking The Blues. A largely solo outing for Storyville Records

Storyville Records

Storyville Records is a Denmark based record label founded in 1950 in music by Karl Emil Knudsen, a jazz record collector, then working for the Copenhagen telephone company....
in 1963 was recorded in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,153,615 . Copenhagen is situated on the Islands of Zealand and Amager....
. A set for the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
branch of Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
the following year found him in the company of Waters and Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton Order of the British Empire is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. He is "probably most famous for his mastery of the Stratocaster guitar." Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream , and as a solo performer, being the only person to...
, and a 1964 album for Prestige followed, where Spann shared vocal duties with bandmate James Cotton

James Cotton

James Cotton , is an United States blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter who is the bandleader for the James Cotton Blues Band. He also writes songs alone, and his solo career continues to this day....
.

The Blues is Where It's At, Spann's 1966 album for ABC-Bluesway, sounded like a live recording. It was a recording studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for Sound recording and reproduction. Ideally, the space is specially designed by an acoustics to achieve the desired acoustic properties ....
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, helping out on vocals.

In the late 1960s, he appeared on album

Album

An album or record album is a collection of related Sound recording and reproduction or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites....
s with Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy

George "Buddy" Guy is a five-time Grammy Award-winning United States blues and rock music guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and other guitarists, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues....
, Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog " in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard charts for seven weeks....
, Peter Green

Peter Green (musician)

Peter Green is a United Kingdom blues-rock guitarist and founder of the band Fleetwood Mac.A figurehead in the British blues movement, Green inspired B....
and Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a United Kingdom/United States rock music band formed in 1967 which have experienced a high turnover of personnel and varied levels of success....
.

Several film

Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
s of his playing are available on DVD

DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
, including the Newport Folk Festival

Newport Folk Festival

The Newport Folk Festival is an Music of the United States annual folk music-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959....
(1960), while his singing is also featured on the American Folk Blues Festival

American Folk Blues Festival

The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe beginning in 1962.Germany jazz publicist Joachim-Ernst Berendt first had the idea of bringing original African-American blues performers to Europe....
(1963) and The Blues Masters (1966).

Following his death from liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a primary cancer of the liver. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitis infection or cirrhosis ....
in Chicago, Illinois in 1970, at the age of 40, he was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery

Burr Oak Cemetery and Restvale Cemetery

The Burr Oak and Restvale cemeteries are located in Alsip, Illinois, a suburb slightly southwest of the city of Chicago. Many legendary musicians from the Chicago blues era are buried here....
, Alsip

Alsip, Illinois

Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago....
, Illinois

Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
.

He was posthumously elected to the Blues Hall of Fame

Blues Hall of Fame

The Blues Hall of Fame is a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1980 by the Blues Foundation, it honors those who have performed, recorded, or documented blues....
in 1980.

Otis married Olga Marie and had three children.

Discography

Solo

Otis Spann is The Blues (1960)
The Blues is Where It's At (released 1963)
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
The Biggest Thing Since Colossus

The Biggest Thing Since Colossus is an album by United States blues musician Otis Spann, released in 1969 . The album is also notable for the fact that Spann's backing band on this occasion were members of Fleetwood Mac, who were touring in America at the time....
(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

Buddy Guy - A Man & The Blues (1968)
Muddy Waters - Fathers & Sons (1969)
Junior Wells - Southside Jam Blues (1969)
Fleetwood Mac in Chicago/Blues Jam in Chicago, Vols. 1-2 (1969)
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)

Otis Spann

Career

Discography

Solo

With other artists

See also

External links