Various Artists: Boogie Woogie Kings

Of all the moods, tones, and colors the blues has offered music in the last 100-odd years, there’s nothing quite like the sound of a barrelhouse upright playing that old boogie woogie. And back in its heyday, the Midwest was ground zero for such fanfare, evident in the songs featured on this excellent historic compilation from Delmark Records. Boogie Woogie Kings gathers 19 choice performances spanning the years 1939 to 1960, and featuring such heralded heroes of the uprighrt as Albert Ammons, “Cripple” Clarence Lofton, Meade Lux Lewis, and Henry Brown, as well as St. Louis blues great Speckled Red, the first bluesman signed to Delmark. If you are a fan of the blues piano, Boogie Woogie Kings is it.