This 1956 album for ABC-Paramount came late in the career of Meade Lux Lewis (he died in 1964 at age 58), one of the three great boogie-woogie pianists, along with Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, who helped start the boogie-woogie craze when they appeared at impresario John Hammond's 1938 Spirituals to Swing concert in New York.
Lewis had made the classic boogie-woogie recording Honky-Tonk Train Blues in 1927 when he was playing regularly in the Chicago area, but was reportedly working in a carwash when Hammond called on him to appear at the '38 concert.
Lewis worked in music pretty steadily after that, although by the time the session for ABC-Paramount came around he was largely forgotten.
Admittedly, this isn't one of his better moments in the recording studio. The piano sounds tinny and he's joined by an unidentified drummer and bassist on some tracks. Still, Lewis manages to coax some pretty sweet sounds out of his inferior instrument on Ain't She Sweet, which you can listen to and download below.
Ain't She Sweet
Out of the Roaring Twenties is widely available as a download (but not on CD). However, it comes from the British imprint Hallmark, infamous for its substandard transfers from vinyl. Definitely listen before buying.
This video, date and source unknown, has some good footage of Meade Lux Lewis at the piano. Couple of audio and video glitches, but still well worth three minutes of your time.
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