William Ezell
Encyclopedia
William Ezell was an American
blues
, jazz
, ragtime
and boogie-woogie
pianist and occasional singer. He was also billed as Will Ezell, and was a regular participant in recordings
made by Paramount Records
in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Ezell was noted by the music journalist
, Bruce Eder, at Allmusic as "a technically brilliant pianist, showing the strong influence of jazz as well as blues in his work".
Ezell's "Pitchin' Boogie", and Cow Cow Davenport
's "Cow Cow Blues", were amongst the earliest boogie-woogie recordings. However, Pinetop Smith
's "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie" was the first to use the phrase in the song's title.
Two of Ezell's more notable solo recordings, "Heifer Dust" and "Barrel House Woman" (both 1929) were noted for containing "elements of both blues and barrelhouse [boogie-woogie] in their form".
, United States
,There has been speculation and supposition concerning Ezell's birth details. However, Bill Edwards noted, "While Fullerton, Louisiana
has been cited, this singular reference comes from a 1972 conversation with blues guitarist Jesse Thomas, who included that information in a sentence about Ezell. Thomas was at least 15 years younger, and did not meet Ezell until late in Will's career. There is another reference to him being from East Texas
in the same published source. Such conflicting information has to logically lean more towards concrete findings than word of mouth, so any origin of Ezell that suggests a Louisiana birthplace and upbringing is very suspect. Both a 1917 and 1942 draft record appear to provide the most correct information and initial lead on Ezell, citations of which were not found in any other source while researching this article. However, the author's findings were directly in line with research done by Alex van der Tuuk in 2003". one of six children to Lorenza Ezell, a farm laborer, and his wife Rachel. According to the 1900 United States Census, the family were still living in Brenham. The same source showed that Ezell's mother had died at some point between 1901 and 1910. Ezell found loose employment as a barrelhouse pianist and, by 1917, had relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana
, according to his draft record
, and was working as a self-employed musician. There is no evidence that Ezell was conscripted at any time. He continued his itinerant work, finding employment at riverside sawmill camps in Louisiana and East Texas
.
By the early 1920s, Ezell was working with the blues singer Elzadie Robinson. Around 1925, Ezell moved to Chicago
, Illinois
, and made friendships with both Blind Blake
and Charlie Spand
. Ezell, along with others such as Spand, was one of the boogie-woogie pianists who, in the 1920s, performed on Brady Street and Hastings Street in Detroit, Michigan
. By 1926, Ezell started work for Paramount in Chicago, as they provided regular work for black
musicians, which was not always available elsewhere. There is some doubt as to his first recording, but he wrote "Sawmill Blues", which was recorded by Elzadie Robinson (under the pseudonym of Bernice Drake) in October that year. His flexibility in playing differing styles proved popular, and one of his earliest duties was accompanying Lucille Bogan
on "Sweet Petunia", a song full of Bogan's trademark double entendres. There is evidence that Ezell and Bogan's relationship went beyond the recording studio
, to the extent that Bogan's husband considered divorce proceedings.
During 1927, Ezell's status at Paramount grew, and he operated under Aletha Dickerson's stewardship, who had replaced J. Mayo Williams
as head of Paramount's Chicago operations. As well as being an accompanist, arranger, and part-producer for other musicians, Ezell recorded his own material for the label between 1928 and 1929. These tracks included his two best known recordings, "Mixed Up Rag" and "Heifer Dust". Ezell's playing style was similar to Jimmy Blythe
. However, he was a popular musician who was warmly recalled by Little Brother Montgomery
, who had a similar route to notability. Over his time with Paramount, Ezell's own recordings and his association with Charlie Spand, Baby James and Blind Roosevelt Graves, were amongst the highest quality ever issued by that label, who had an earlier reputation for sub-standard recordings.
In addition to his musical input, Ezell's duties with Paramount were far reaching. In December 1929, he escorted the body of Blind Lemon Jefferson
, who had been one of the label's best selling artists, by railroad back to Jefferson's homeland of Texas for burial. His musical input at Paramount ceased in early 1930, although he did accompany Slim Tarpley on two sides in 1931. Paramount Records were in fast decline as the effects of the Great Depression
began to be felt, and later that year Ezell was back to playing in Louisiana accompanying Clarence Hall. Ezell's whereabouts in the later 1930s are largely unknown, although researcher John Steiner noted that Cripple Clarence Lofton
, who owned a club in Chicago, hosted on stage Ezell, Spand, Leroy Garnett and others through to the end of World War II
. Records indicate that Ezell continued to be based in Chicago during this time. He worked at their Crane Technical School, operated as part of the New Deal
laws, although whether he was employed as an instructor or maintenance staff is not certain.
However, Ezell's later death in 1963 in Chicago at the age of 70, did not solicit any newspaper obituaries.
In 1992, Document Records
issued a compilation album
containing 23 tracks, covering his recording time with Paramount between February 1927 and January 1931.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
and boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
pianist and occasional singer. He was also billed as Will Ezell, and was a regular participant in recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
made by Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Ezell was noted by the music journalist
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
, Bruce Eder, at Allmusic as "a technically brilliant pianist, showing the strong influence of jazz as well as blues in his work".
Ezell's "Pitchin' Boogie", and Cow Cow Davenport
Cow Cow Davenport
Charles Edward "Cow Cow" Davenport was an American boogie woogie piano player. He also played the organ and sang.-Career:...
's "Cow Cow Blues", were amongst the earliest boogie-woogie recordings. However, Pinetop Smith
Pinetop Smith
Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist...
's "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie" was the first to use the phrase in the song's title.
Two of Ezell's more notable solo recordings, "Heifer Dust" and "Barrel House Woman" (both 1929) were noted for containing "elements of both blues and barrelhouse [boogie-woogie] in their form".
Biography
Ezell was born in Brenham, TexasBrenham, Texas
Brenham is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, Texas, United States, with a population of 16,147 according to the 2009 census. It is the county seat of Washington County...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,There has been speculation and supposition concerning Ezell's birth details. However, Bill Edwards noted, "While Fullerton, Louisiana
Fullerton, Louisiana
Fullerton is an unincorporated community in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States. Fullerton was once an industrial community based around a large lumber mill...
has been cited, this singular reference comes from a 1972 conversation with blues guitarist Jesse Thomas, who included that information in a sentence about Ezell. Thomas was at least 15 years younger, and did not meet Ezell until late in Will's career. There is another reference to him being from East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
in the same published source. Such conflicting information has to logically lean more towards concrete findings than word of mouth, so any origin of Ezell that suggests a Louisiana birthplace and upbringing is very suspect. Both a 1917 and 1942 draft record appear to provide the most correct information and initial lead on Ezell, citations of which were not found in any other source while researching this article. However, the author's findings were directly in line with research done by Alex van der Tuuk in 2003". one of six children to Lorenza Ezell, a farm laborer, and his wife Rachel. According to the 1900 United States Census, the family were still living in Brenham. The same source showed that Ezell's mother had died at some point between 1901 and 1910. Ezell found loose employment as a barrelhouse pianist and, by 1917, had relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, according to his draft record
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
, and was working as a self-employed musician. There is no evidence that Ezell was conscripted at any time. He continued his itinerant work, finding employment at riverside sawmill camps in Louisiana and East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
.
By the early 1920s, Ezell was working with the blues singer Elzadie Robinson. Around 1925, Ezell moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and made friendships with both Blind Blake
Blind Blake
"Blind" Blake was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.-Biography:...
and Charlie Spand
Charlie Spand
Charlie Spand was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer, noted for his barrelhouse style. Spand was deemed one of the most influential piano players of the 1920s. Little is known of his life outside of music, and his total recordings comprise only thirty three...
. Ezell, along with others such as Spand, was one of the boogie-woogie pianists who, in the 1920s, performed on Brady Street and Hastings Street in Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. By 1926, Ezell started work for Paramount in Chicago, as they provided regular work for black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
musicians, which was not always available elsewhere. There is some doubt as to his first recording, but he wrote "Sawmill Blues", which was recorded by Elzadie Robinson (under the pseudonym of Bernice Drake) in October that year. His flexibility in playing differing styles proved popular, and one of his earliest duties was accompanying Lucille Bogan
Lucille Bogan
Lucille Bogan was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson...
on "Sweet Petunia", a song full of Bogan's trademark double entendres. There is evidence that Ezell and Bogan's relationship went beyond the recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, to the extent that Bogan's husband considered divorce proceedings.
During 1927, Ezell's status at Paramount grew, and he operated under Aletha Dickerson's stewardship, who had replaced J. Mayo Williams
J. Mayo Williams
Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts...
as head of Paramount's Chicago operations. As well as being an accompanist, arranger, and part-producer for other musicians, Ezell recorded his own material for the label between 1928 and 1929. These tracks included his two best known recordings, "Mixed Up Rag" and "Heifer Dust". Ezell's playing style was similar to Jimmy Blythe
Jimmy Blythe
Jimmy Blythe was an influential American jazz and boogie-woogie pianist.-Life:He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, and moved to Chicago, Illinois around 1916, studying with pianist Clarence Jones...
. However, he was a popular musician who was warmly recalled by Little Brother Montgomery
Little Brother Montgomery
Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer....
, who had a similar route to notability. Over his time with Paramount, Ezell's own recordings and his association with Charlie Spand, Baby James and Blind Roosevelt Graves, were amongst the highest quality ever issued by that label, who had an earlier reputation for sub-standard recordings.
In addition to his musical input, Ezell's duties with Paramount were far reaching. In December 1929, he escorted the body of Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
, who had been one of the label's best selling artists, by railroad back to Jefferson's homeland of Texas for burial. His musical input at Paramount ceased in early 1930, although he did accompany Slim Tarpley on two sides in 1931. Paramount Records were in fast decline as the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
began to be felt, and later that year Ezell was back to playing in Louisiana accompanying Clarence Hall. Ezell's whereabouts in the later 1930s are largely unknown, although researcher John Steiner noted that Cripple Clarence Lofton
Cripple Clarence Lofton
Cripple Clarence Lofton , born Albert Clemens in Kingsport, Tennessee, was a noted boogie-woogie pianist and singer....
, who owned a club in Chicago, hosted on stage Ezell, Spand, Leroy Garnett and others through to the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Records indicate that Ezell continued to be based in Chicago during this time. He worked at their Crane Technical School, operated as part of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
laws, although whether he was employed as an instructor or maintenance staff is not certain.
However, Ezell's later death in 1963 in Chicago at the age of 70, did not solicit any newspaper obituaries.
In 1992, Document Records
Document Records
Document Records is a British record label that specializes in early American blues, bluegrass, gospel, spirituals jazz, and other rural American genres , generally made between 1900 and 1945...
issued a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
containing 23 tracks, covering his recording time with Paramount between February 1927 and January 1931.
Known recordings
| Year | Song title | Accreditation | Paramount Records catalog reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | "Sawmill Blues" (composer credits only) | Elzadie Robinson (billed as Bernice Drake) | |
| 1927 | "Stormy Hailing Blues" | Marie Bradley | P4219 |
| 1927 | "Sweet Petunia" | Lucille Bogan Lucille Bogan Lucille Bogan was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson... |
P4309 |
| 1927 | "Levee Blues" | Lucille Bogan | P4324 |
| 1927 | "Jailhouse Moan" | Ora Brown | P4563 |
| 1927 | "Restless Blues" | Ora Brown | P4564 |
| 1927 | "Whiskey Blues" | Elzadie Robinson | P4667 |
| 1927 | "Black Bordered Letter Blues" | Bertha Henderson | 4680 |
| 1927 | "Six Thirty Blues" | Bertha Henderson | P4681 |
| 1927 | "Bunker Hill Blues" | Sally Duffie (possibly a pseudonym for Ezell) | P4728 |
| 1927 | "Barrel House Moan" | Elzadie Robinson | P4786 |
| 1927 | "West Coast Rag" | Blind Blake Blind Blake "Blind" Blake was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.-Biography:... |
P4787 |
| 1927 | "Tick Tock Blues" | Elzadie Robinson | 20067 |
| 1927 | "Hour Behind the Gun" | Elzadie Robinson | 20068 |
| 1928 | "Old Mill Blues" | William Ezell | 20823 |
| 1928 | "Mixed Up Rag" | William Ezell | 20824 |
| 1928 | "Ezell's Precious Five" | William Ezell | 21065 |
| 1928 | "Crawlin' Spider Blues" | William Ezell | 21066 |
| 1929 | "Barrel House Woman" | William Ezell | 21143 |
| 1929 | "Bucket of Blood" | William Ezell | 21144 |
| 1929 | "Heifer Dust" | William Ezell | 21145 |
| 1929 | "Playing the Dozen" | William Ezell | 21146 |
| 1929 | "This Is Your Last Night With Me" | Elzadie Robinson | 21186 |
| 1929 | "Cheatin' Daddy" | Elzadie Robinson | 21187 |
| 1929 | "My Pullman Porter Man" | Elzadie Robinson | 21190 |
| 1929 | "Just Can't Stay Here" | Blind Roosevelt Graves / Baby James | G15649 |
| 1929 | "Pitchin' Boogie" | Blind Roosevelt Graves / Baby James | G15650 |
| 1929 | "Freakish Mistreater Blues" | William Ezell | G15654 |
| 1929 | "Hot Spot Stuff" | William Ezell | G15655 |
| 1929 | "Hometown Skiffle Part One: Mixed Up Rag" | Paramount All Stars | 21453 |
| 1931 | "Try Some of That" | Slim Tarpley | L0733 |
| 1931 | "Alabama Hustler" | Slim Tarpley | L0734 |
Compilation album
| Year | Album title | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Complete Recorded Works (1927-31) | Document Document Records Document Records is a British record label that specializes in early American blues, bluegrass, gospel, spirituals jazz, and other rural American genres , generally made between 1900 and 1945... |