Track Listing

1. Hard Way
2. Take a Little Walk with Me
3. Otis in the Dark
4. Little Boy Blue
5. Country Boy
6. Beat-Up Team
7. My Daily Wish
8. Great Northern Stomp
9. I Got Rambling on My Mind #2
10. Worried Life Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20456 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
There is great historical significance to this 1960 record: not only was it the first solo album ever recorded by the great pianist Otis Spann, it was also the first album ever recorded for Nat Hentoff's short-lived but fruitful Candid label. However, the music within is anything but a mere footnote. Hentoff's philosophy was to let the artist's true musical nature come through in the studio, and his laissez-faire production style bore great results. For his debut, Spann employed only Robert Lockwood Jr. as his musical support, and the result is a pared-down, passionate, triumphant set that sheds light on Spann as a full-bodied vocalist as well as a pianist. The Mississippi-born Spann grew under the tutelage of Big Maceo and mastered the pounding barrelhouse piano style that Maceo brought with him to Chicago. Spann adapted this fierce, urgent style to the burgeoning electric small-band approach that was taking Chicago by storm, and he eventually became an integral element of Muddy Waters's peak ensemble. Here, with only Lockwood's guitar behind him, Spann is free to indulge in his florid runs and pulsing two-handed rhythmic attack, exploring the turf that connects the barrelhouse of his youth with the modern Chicago style. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Outstanding presence, plus bonus tracks
If you want blues piano this album is the best. The sound quality is excellent, very atypical for a 1960's album; you'll think you're in the studio with them. I bought the album in 2004 and it contains 6 additional tracks, all of which appear to be additional studio jams, but not necessarily from the same session. There is no information on the album or internet regarding these tracks, and the album doesn't even list the titles. Thus, the total album time is 73 min and well worth the price. If you want to hear absolutely great blues piano without a lot of accompanyment, this is the album to get.

Best blues ever
I heard track 15 on Music Match. Had to buy the album. Was I suprised to get the CD and see only 10 songs listed. Put it in the CD player anyway, and there are 6 unlisted tracks on the CD.
Track 15 is my favorite-- pulsing piano blues. Makes me wish I could play the piano.
If you want good clean blues, with promiment soundstage and clarity for all instruments and vocals, I suggest this album.

Pure blues
This is pure, original blues with Otis Spann and Robert Lockwood Jr. Every track is a joy, but "Otis in the Dark" alone is worth many times the price of the CD. This is one of those albums that will still be deeply rich the hundredth time you listen, and you will continue to listen!