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ALL MUSIC Review
Blues Piano Orgy Review by Paul Collins

Thanks in part to the luridly alluring title and the enthusiastically informative liner notes by Bob Koester, this solid collection was many a young musician's introduction to the men who pioneered blues piano in the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt Sykes is the best represented artist here, and his leering vocals are hard to resist: After hearing the ribald metaphor of "Dresser Drawers," you'll never view furniture quite the same way again. His "Kickin' Motor Scooter" is truly a marvel of smiling euphemism, with the song devoted to boasts of how he's "A dangerous motor scooter...A tricky motor scooter!" Other artists, while not always as inventive lyrically, show a wide range of piano styles, from the bouncing syncopated jazz of "Stendahl Stomp" to the trickling upper registers and restrained bass coaxed by Curtis Jones from a battered old piano in "Tin Pan Alley Blues #2." Not every track is unaccompanied piano, though. "Every Time I Get to Drinking," a blues dirge to the bottle, revolves around the elastic pull of an upright bass. The closing instrumental, Otis Spann's "Three-in-One Blues," features ominous bass chords wracked by a scattershot backing of drums. Despite being essentially a glorified soundcheck, and by far the least structured piece on the album, it's also the most primally satisfying.