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| Erwin Helfer | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 20, 1936 |
| Origin |  Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Genre(s) | Boogie woogie, Blues, Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1970s – Present |
| Label(s) | Red Beans, Flying Fish |
| Website | Erwin Helfer official website |
Erwin Helfer (born January 20, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American boogie woogie, blues, jazz pianist.
Contents |
Biography
Born and raised in Chicago, and as a child was more interested in classical music than blues. Helfer was introduced to piano blues as a young teenager growing up in Chicago in the early '50s, the heyday of the city's blues clubs. Once Helfer discovered the blues he enrolled at Tulane University in New Orleans, completing college with a degree in music. Spent time outside of class studying piano style of Crescent City pianists Archibald and Professor Longhair. Helfer began his professional career when Estelle Yancey, wife of pianist and boogie-woogie pioneer Jimmy Yancey, coaxed him to fill in for her accompanist, Little Brother Montgomery. His initial performance with Yancey led to a long-term professional partnership with the singer that lasted to her death in 1986 at age ninety.[1]
In 1982 Helfer began his own record company, Red Beans, and released albums by Estelle Yancey, Blind John Davis, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, and other Chicago blues artists. He was nominated for the Blues Music Awards in 2003, for "Comeback Blues Album of the Year", for his cd I'm Not Hungry But I Like To Eat - Blues.[2] Recently he has played at the Chicago Jazz Festival, 2005-2007; Hungary's Debrecen Jazz Festival, 2005, and throughout the Chicago's blues clubs.
Selective discography
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Careless Love | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | The Sirens Records | |
| 2003 | St. James Infirmary w/Skinny Williams | Jazz, Blues and R&B | Sirens | |
| 2001 | I'm Not Hungry But I Like To Eat - Blues | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | Sirens | |
| 1987 | Chicago Piano | Blues, Jazz | Red Beans | |
| 1979 | On the Sunny Side of The Street | Blues, Jazz | Flying Fish | |
| 1976 | Boogie Piano Chicago Style | Boogie | Big Bear | |
| 1974 | Blues, Boogie Woogie Piano Duets & Solos | Blues, Boogie | Flying Fish |
Footnotes
- ^ Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues, Penguin Books, page 201, (2001) - ISBN 0141001453
- ^ Blues Music Awards Database
External links
Jimmy & Mama Yancey : Santa Fe blues
Jimmy Yancey -piano Israel Crosby -bass Mama Yancey - vocals Recorded in Chicago 18-7-1951 The other half of the blues team led by pioneering boogie-woogie pianist Jimmy Yancey, Estelle "Mama" Yancey was a talented vocalist known for her warm sense of humor and great command of the stage. In her childhood, Estelle Harris sang in church choirs and learned guitar. Jimmy Yancey, who had traveled the U.S. and Europe as a vaudeville dancer, married Estelle in 1917, when she was 21. Yancey often sang with her husband at informal gatherings, house-rent parties, and clubs in the 1930s and '40s in Chicago. Because Jimmy Yancey was not that good a blues singer, but was a great boogie-woogie/blues piano player, Estelle recorded frequently with her husband. Yancey sang with her husband in 1948 at Carnegie Hall, and this performance in turn led to Jimmy Yancey's last recording with Mama, Pure Blues, in 1951 for a fledgling Atlantic Records. Jimmy Yancey died a few months later from a stroke brought on by complications from diabetes, but Estelle continued to perform and record. One of the best examples of her soulful, expressive vocals can be found on an album for Atlantic, Jimmy and Mama Yancey: Chicago Piano, Vol. 1. Mama Yancey's recordings with other pianists include South Side Blues for the Riverside label (1961), some records with Art Hodes for Verve in 1965, and Maybe I'll Cry with Erwin Helfer for the Red Beans label in 1983, recorded at age 87. Yancey died in 1986. ~ Richard Skelly, All Music Guide
Author: mnikitasm2008
Keywords: Jimmy Mama Yancey blues
Added: October 7, 2008
Erwin Helfer at the Piano Man
Erwin Helfer piano, Odie Payne drums, ? bass
Author: GerreeCee
Keywords: Chicago blues Piano folk
Added: May 5, 2008
Big John Wrencher, SP Leary, Erwin Helfer, John Brim
Chicago Blues at Elsewhere II opening weekend - Chicago - 1978
Author: GerreeCee
Keywords: blues Chicago harmonica harp
Added: December 12, 2007
Pleaeseeeee Baby Pleaseeeeee
The bases of the blues is some kind of Heart ache. That heart break is just one of the feelings That connects us all. In this song," Soothe Me" Katherine infuses That emotion with the grace that only a blues woman Can With Erwin Helfer at the piano setting the tone The Diva Davis's job is made that much easier.
Author: chitownRonnie
Keywords: Katherine Davis Blues Erwin Helfer Miss Ronnie KIR
Added: December 12, 2007
How to use that thang!!!!!
When she gets going Katherine is a force of nature Her partner in crime is none other than Erwin heefer He is an accomplished piano man, and really the only one That can keep up with The Diva Davis. When watching her sing plz note the moment the scarf Comes off we get an X rated version of the blues and everyone joins in.
Author: chitownRonnie
Keywords: Katherine Davis Erwin Helfer Blues KIR Miss Ronnie
Added: December 12, 2007
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