Boogie Woogie

Pete Johnson/Albert Ammons – 8 to the Bar
Two Piano Boogie Woogie for Dancing
Victor Records P-69, RCA Victor, 1941

Sixth Avenue is a street that probably exists in every city in every English speaking country, yet seeing the title Sixth Avenue Express on a jazz record you just know it's Sixth Avenue in New York City. I mentioned last week the purchase of this 78 rpm 4-record set by Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons. It contains eight sides with boogie woogie piano music, issued as a dance album. And danceable they are, from the slow moving walking-speed Walkin' the Boogie, to the fast pace subway train-speed of Sixth Avenue Express, all make your fingers snap and your toes tap. Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons are two of the three (with Meade Lux Lewis) great boogie woogie pianists, a craze that started in 1938 with a concert by Ammons and Johnson and lasted through the early 1940s. You can listen to Sixth Avenue Express below and download it here.