One of the finest pianists of the postwar blues era, Otis Spann was an integral part of the Chess sound in the 50s. Both as long-time sideman to Muddy Waters and as a primary Chess session man.
Born March 21, 1930 in Jackson, Mississippi, Spann learned to play piano in his stepfather’s church taught by local musician (who some say was his father) Friday Ford in Mississippi. By age 14 he was already playing in blues groups in the Jackson, Mississippi area, “in a style much influenced by the records of Big Maceo, who took Spann under his wing when he moved to Chicago” in 1946/47.
Spann began playing around Chicago, and had a regular gig in the house band at the Tick Tock Cub. Jimmy Rogers heard and recommended him to Muddy Waters, joining band in 1952 and stayed for 17 years. Alongside Lafayette Leake, he became Chess’ house pianist and can be found on sessions by Bo Diddey, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Little Walter…
Made debut on his own in 1954 with B.B. King and Robert Lockwood in session for “It Must Have Been the Devil”. Other sessions followed with Willie Dixon, “but strangely the label didn’t think much of Spann’s powerful vocals and they went unreleased for many years.”
In mid-60s continued to record with Waters but also pursued his own time in the limelight recording a string of albums for Prestige, Bluesway, Testament…
Plagued by health issues in the late 60s, after Waters’ Fathers and Sons, relinquished piano bench to Pinetop Perkins in 1969.
Performed almost to his dieing day, passing away in a Chicago hospital three weeks after a performance in Boston at age 40.
Spann was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. And if you’re ever traveling the Mississippi Blues Trail, you’ll find a marker erected honoring Spann at 547 S. Roach St in Jackson where he lived and grew up in the 30s and 40s. (Thanks to the book Rough Guide to the Blues for some of Spann’s historical information.)