- Erwin Helfer
Infobox musical artist
Name = Erwin Helfer
Img_capt =
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1936|1|20|mf=y
Origin = flagicon|USAChicago, Illinois , USA
Died =
Instrument =Piano
Genre = Boogie woogie,Blues ,Jazz
Occupation =Pianist
Years_active = 1970s – Present
Label = Red Beans, Flying Fish
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.erwinhelferpiano.com Erwin Helfer official website]
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =Erwin Helfer (born
January 20 ,1936 inChicago, Illinois ) is an American boogie woogie,blues ,jazz pianist .Biography
Born and raised in
Chicago , and as a child was more interested in classical music than blues. Helfer was introduced to piano blues as a young teenager growing up in Chicago in the early '50s, the heyday of the city's blues clubs. Once Helfer discovered the blues he enrolled atTulane University inNew Orleans , completing college with a degree in music. Spent time outside of class studying piano style of Crescent City pianists Archibald andProfessor Longhair . Helfer began his professional career whenEstelle Yancey , wife of pianist and boogie-woogie pioneerJimmy Yancey , coaxed him to fill in for her accompanist,Little Brother Montgomery . His initial performance with Yancey led to a long-term professional partnership with the singer that lasted to her death in 1986 at age ninety. [Santelli, Robert. "The Big Book of Blues", Penguin Books, page 201, (2001) - ISBN 0141001453]In 1982 Helfer began his own record company, Red Beans, and released albums by
Estelle Yancey ,Blind John Davis , Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, and other Chicago blues artists. He was nominated for the Blues Music Awards in 2003, for "Comeback Blues Album of the Year", for his cd "I'm Not Hungry But I Like To Eat - Blues". [ [http://www.blues.org/handys/pastyears.php4?YearId=2 Blues Music Awards Database] ] Recently he has played at theChicago Jazz Festival , 2005-2007;Hungary 's Debrecen Jazz Festival, 2005, and throughout the Chicago's blues clubs.elective discography
Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.erwinhelferpiano.com Erwin Helfer official website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
