Axel Zwingenberger was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1955, and enjoyed eleven years of conventional piano training. In 1973 he listened to authentic boogie-woogie piano for the first time on vintage shellacs by Albert Ammons, Meade “Lux” Lewis, and Pete Johnson. He soon joined piano-playing partners Hans-Georg Möller, Vince Weber, and Martin Pyrker, and word about the four friends began to spread. In 1974, the First International Blues-and-Boogie-woogie Festival of the West German Radio Station in Cologne was followed by Hans Maitner’s annual festival Stars of Boogie-woogie in Vienna. Axel has recorded with American music stars like Big Joe Turner, Lionel Hampton, Mama Yancey, Sippie Wallace, Champion Jack Dupree, Jay McShann and many others. Axel Zwingenberger
As a youth in Southampton, England, Carl “Sonny” Leyland was inspired by a friend’s attempt at playing Jimmy Dorsey’s “Boogie Woogie.” He immersed himself in the driving sounds created by Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, Jimmy Yancey and Cripple Clarence Lofton. At age 15, Leyland began performing with local favorites, the Bob Pearce Blues Band, and within a few years was featured as a soloist at many European festivals, including the prestigious Les Nuits de Jazz et Boogie in Paris. In 1988, Leyland settled in New Orleans, where he headed his own trio. After spending several years there, Leyland moved west to southern California. Currently, Leyland can be seen as a solo performer & leader of the Carl “Sonny” Leyland Trio. Sonny Leyland
Erwin Helfer, a Chicago boogie-woogie innovator and master, has been playing and performing for more than forty years. For many years, Erwin accompanied Mama Yancey, the wife of Chicago blues piano patriarch Jimmy “Papa” Yancey, and later recorded an album with her. He was also mentored and influenced by Cripple Clarence Lofton, Speckled Red, and Sunnyland Slim. During the 60s and 70s, Erwin released two piano duet albums with his performing and recording partner of ten years, Jimmy Walker. His most recent European tours include Berlin Jazz Festival and Debrecen Jazz Festival, the oldest jazz festival in Hungary. Erwin Helfer
Bob Seeley is an all-around pianist whose interest and repertoire span piano music from the entire twentieth century. The 78-year old Seeley – who will be 79- years old on September 13, 2007 - is an indomitable soul who has played Carnegie Hall several times and most of the major venues throughout Europe. Bob was a fixture at Charlie’s Crab in suburban Troy, Michigan for 32 years, until it changed hands in 2005. His most conspicuous influence was Meade Lux Lewis. Bob first met the maestro during a Detroit gig in the late 1940s and a longstanding friendship developed. Lewis influenced Seeley’s piano styling and has resulted in a particularly rhythmic form of boogie-woogie. Seeley has released five CDs and is working on number six with Boogie Bob Baldori.
In a career spanning 40 years, pianist Butch Th ompson has earned a world-wide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride, and classic jazz piano. He spends much of his time on tour in the U.S. and internationally. Although he often travels as a soloist, he also appears with his well-known trio or his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals band. He performs with symphony orchestras, among them recently the Hartford Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cairo (Egypt) Symphony. Widely known for his 12-year stint (1974-1986) as house pianist and bandleader on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, he continues as a frequent guest on that show. The Minnesota Orchestra with Thompson at the piano, premiered his Ecuadorean Suite, based on those early pieces in June 1998. In 1974, Thompson began his well-remembered 12-year run as the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, beginning with the show’s first broadcasts in July of that year. In addition to his career as a performer, Thompson writes articles and reviews on jazz and produces his own weekly radio show, Jazz Originals, on KBEM radio in Minneapolis. His writing has appeared in The Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music and other magazines, as well as in various CD booklets. One of Thompson’s latest CDs, an album of holiday duets with cellist Laura Sewell, is titled Bethlehem After Dark. This release is the 10th in Thompson’s acclaimed series for the Daring/Rounder label of Boston. He also played on the Grammy-winning 1997 Verve release Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton. His 1968 solo recording debut, Butch Thompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton, is currently available as a Biograph CD. Butch Thompson
Franz Jackson, 94, is one of the last living musicians to have learned Chicago jazz from its originators. His first professional gig was at age 16 with stride pianist Albert Ammons in 1929. He replaced jazz icon Ben Webster in Fletcher Henderson’s and Roy Eldridge’s bands and also won attention for Big Band compositions and arrangements for Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, and Jack Teagarden. Between tenures in Chicago, Jackson lived in New York and Sweden, performing, composing, arranging and directing bands. Beginning in the late 1940s, Jackson entertained U.S. troops abroad with his USO band. In 1957 in Chicago, he formed the Original Jazz All-Stars, recorded seven albums on his own label, Pinnacle Recordings, and toured the world with his band. Franz Jackson
Lila Ammons’s roots in jazz are legendary as the granddaughter of charismatic boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons and niece of tenor sax titan Gene (Jug) Ammons. Studying classical voice in New York, Ammons spent twelve years singing in opera, recitals, and oratorios in the United States and Europe, as well as doing commercial and film work. She has been moving steadily into jazz, and has relocated to Minneapolis-St. Paul, where, with a wide vocal and interpretive range, she has appeared at the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, the Artists’ Quarter, Bellanotte, Rossi’s Blue Star Room, the Dakota County Jazz Cafe, the Minneapolis Hot Summer and Winter Jazz Festivals. She also performed at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2007. Ammons teaches private voice lessons and is in the marvelous midst of her first recording. http://www.jazzpolice.com
Michael Price is associate editor of the Fort Worth Business Press and critic-at-large of the daily Times Leader of Wilkes–Barre, Pa. As a journalist and critic, Michael has traced the roots of American music for Texas Jazz, Billboard, Variety, and the New York Times News Service. His published commentaries include The Guitar in Jazz (University of Nebraska Press); Hollywood and the Piano (the Van Cliburn Foundation); and Dance of the Peckerwoods: The Badlands of Texas Music (Music Mentor Books of England), containing an account of a Texas-based campaign to preserve the boogie-woogie heritage. His most recent book on the jazz culture is Mantan the Funnyman: The Life and Times of Mantan Moreland (Midnight Marquee Press 2007).
Bishop Edsel Albert Ammons is the oldest of two [and the only living] child of Albert Clifton Ammons. Born Febuary 17, 1924 in Chicago, Bishop Ammons is the father of Lila Ammons and of four other children: Edsel, Jr., Carol, Kenneth, and Carlton. He was educated at Chicago area schools and colleges receiving degrees from Roosevelt University, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary.After serving as a congregational pastor in the Chicago Area of the Methodist Church, he was appointed Director of Urban Work for the Rockford District. Subsequently, he moved to the Staff of the Annual Conference where he remained until joining the faculty of Garrett-Evangelical Seminary. Following distinguished service in congregational ministry and higher education, Edsel Ammons was elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church in July 1976. For sixteen years, he served as bishop of the Church for the state of Michigan and the western fifty-five counties of the state of Ohio. He retired in 1992 and returned to post-retirement service at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary. Bishop Ammons' other activities included President of the General Board of Discipleship, Chairperson of Departments of Health and Welfare and Missionary Personnel of Global Ministries, and since 1979, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Seminary. Bishop Ammons is married to Helen Fannings Ammons
