You never heard of Otis Spann you say? Catch up here — he was one of the greatest post-war blues pianists and played with the Muddy Waters band for nearly 20 years, as well as working as a session man for Chess Records with Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley and others. A tragedy that he died of cancer at the young age of 40 in 1970, but he made a lot of good music in his short time here. In the first clip below, he’s playing his signature tune, “Spann’s Stomp” (AKA “Spann’s Boogie”). If you can’t tap your foot to this one, check your pulse.
And a tune made famous by Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”:
Otis with Muddy Waters at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, circa 1968 (and look at Muddy playing a solo on a solid-body Guild sans slide):