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Back To Review List »Pioneer Press - "Piano blues key part of concerts "
by DAVID JAKUBIAK October 26, 2006
For three decades, Highland Park's Steven Dolins has overseen the preservation of Chicago piano blues and boogie woogie as the head of The Sirens Records, a small independent label that's captured artists like Erwin Helfer, Sunnyland Slim, Detroit Junior and Pinetop Perkins.
But with the release of two new CDs, one featuring pianist Barrelhouse Chuck and the other singer Katherine Davis, Dolins is doing something new.
"The last two CDs I released have full bands, which is the first time I've done that. It was the first time I recorded a harmonica player," he said. "Prior to these CDs, I'd never even recorded a guitar player."
Revival
Dolins explained he had multiple reasons for making the change.
"In Chuck's case, it is the tradition he's keeping. Piano evolved from pre-war blues to being the main instrument played at house parties, to post-war blues, where pianists were part of the band, but not the main part," he said. "So what I'm trying to do with that CD is show how the piano became part of the modern Chicago blues sound.
"With Katherine Davis, a vocalist, she does some songs from the Bessie Smith era, and some straight Chicago blues. She deserves attention, and I wanted to give her that opportunity."
Interestingly, when Dolan first started recording the Blues as a college student in the 1970s, he was doing the exact opposite of what he's now doing.
"In many cases the guys I was recording had recorded with bands, but I really wanted to spotlight their piano playing."
That mission, he said, hasn't changed.
Key player
"I'm dedicated to piano music. I've recorded Gospel pianists and jazz pianists and blues pianists," he said.
He fully plans on continuing in this mission, he added.
"Unfortunately, I think it is a dying music. I'm interested in piano and Chicago has a whole long-standing tradition of piano from the pre-war all the way to now, and really only Erwin and Barrelhouse Chuck keep that tradition, which is why I'm trying to help those two gentlemen."
He hopes fans of good music will appreciate the sound as well, and that fans drawn to the label, as the name The Sirens suggests, will check out some of the earlier recordings.
"You're supposed to be taken with the music. You're not supposed to crash into the rocks, you're supposed to go out and buy the CD," he said, laughing.