egroj world: Eddie Tigner • Slippin' In

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Eddie Tigner • Slippin' In

 



Eddie Tigner played the piano with a smooth, strong base that rolled along below the weave of the soulful notes of the upper registers. For Tigner, the piano was not just an instrument; it was a place to be.

Eddie Tigner was born in Macon, Georgia in 1926. When his father was killed by mustard gas in WW I, Tigner’s mother married a coal miner and moved the family to Kentucky. She played piano at house parties, breakdowns, fish fries, and barbeques, often with her kids in tow. “My mother played barrel house, boogey woogie in Kentucky,” Tigner remembered, “They’d be making sausage, or build a fire to roast pig, and Mama and the guitar player would show up. They’d take an old raggedy piano and move it outside! It was kinda weird but it sounded good.”

Tigner laughed when he remembered his own response to music in Kentucky. His mother may have paved the way for his life as a piano player, but Tigner admitted that, as a kid, “I wanted to play the guitar. I wanted to play bluegrass! But I never did get used to it. I tried it and I just couldn’t get my left hand right.”

That spirit of play and resignation set the pace for Tigner all his life. When he enlisted in the military his familiarity with all kinds of music got him a special service assignment booking bands for the club on the base at Aberdeen. He took up the piano and got to know a lot of musicians. Folks like Les Paul were young enlisted men but, in the clubs and canteens, they also had time to play. In this company, Tigner developed his own eclectic style. After his discharge, he returned to Atlanta, joined the musicians union and, in addition to piano, Tigner took up vibes for a while and played with a group called the Maroon Notes.

One of the most popular musical groups in the 1940’s was The Ink Spots. When the original bass player died in 1947, the agent, I.D. Kemp, got involved in organizing a number of “Ink Spot” bands. He had met Tigner booking bands for the clubs on U.S. bases. Kemp picked up on Tigner’s base-style of playing on the piano and put his name in for one of the groups. That led to a life on the road and a steady job as an “Ink Spot” that lasted until 1987. The band played in clubs and lounges in the new “motels”, the Holiday Inn or Ramada Inn, and stopped at military bases in every state.

Life on the road was hard, but Tigner liked to recall how he developed his own home-on-the-road routine. “I had me a crock pot,” Tigner explained, “and I would make me what I want. Gizzards and rice. I loved that back then. Put it on before I go downstairs to play and when I came back it’d be pretty well done!”

In addition to decades as an Ink Spot, Tigner traveled with vaudeville legend Snake Anthony. Tigner liked to tell a story about Snake’s shows at the Augusta Theater that speaks for the open edges of the world of music at the time. There was a 14-year-old kid named James Brown who was always out in front of the theater shining shoes. “We would invite him on stage,” Tigner said, with a nod to the kid who rose to the top. “Snake didn’t care who you were if you had talent. And he [Brown] could dance! He was good. All that slide when he was only a kid!”

Working with Snake and playing with the Ink Spots, touring across 48 states, Tigner got to know a lot of musicians and learned to weave his playing into a mess of groups. In Atlanta, he played at a place called the Lithonia Country Club where he met Elmore James, T. Bone Walker, and Gate Miles Brown. The club had a mixed-race clientele that appreciated the blues, especially when it was drawn up for dancing.

As Tigner got older, the pace of the road bore down on him. Finally, a heart attack sounded the alarm and pulled him off the road. Undaunted, he took a job in a school cafeteria but kept his piano-playing hand in the scene. He settled in Atlanta and became a regular at places like the Northside and Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, but, unlike bands who grabbed onto the blues revival, Tigner never cut a record. That is until one day at the turn of the millennium when his Chicken Shack bandmates, harmonica player Paul Linden, bassist Matt Sickles, and drummer Ron Logsdon, suggested the recording idea. “[They] asked me if I wanted to record, and I said, ‘I don’t care nothing about recording. I just play ‘cause I love to play.’ They said, ‘You’re 70-some years old. You should put something down so that if anything happens, you have something to leave behind.’ That’s how it got started.”
photo by Tim Duffy.

Through Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck, Tigner hooked up with Music Maker Foundation and the result was Route 66. As classic and cross-country as its namesake, the album showed off Tigner’s range. He played standards, but ranged widely from his own version of “Take the ‘A’ Train” to “Stormy Monday” and “C.C. Rider.” The Chicken Shack players appeared on the album along with tracks that featured Doug Jones on guitar, John Weiland on bass, and Steve Hawkins on drums. Tigner even took up the organ on some of the cuts.

Touched by the recording bug and supported by Music Maker, Tigner recorded a second album, Slippin’ In, where he showed his hand as a songwriter in the title track. The songs spread out from swing and blues to novelty tracks like “Did You Ever See A Monkey Play a Fiddle.” The recordings spread Tigner’s music around and they took him back on the road. He favored his weekly gigs in Atlanta, but Tigner also performed at festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival, Blues to Bop Festival in Lugano, Switzerland, and a six-week tour of Europe in 2010.

When Tigner noticed that he was forgetting things, he had to give up his job at the elementary school cafeteria. There, he was not just a service worker but the guy who could reach even the most recalcitrant kids. The official diagnosis was Alzheimer’s. “I asked doctor what that was,” Tigner shared, “and she said, ‘Eddie if you don’t know. you’ll find out.’ I haven’t found out yet!” Tigner laughed. “I asked should I stop playing? ‘No,’ she said. ‘you just keep playing.’ I said. ‘but what if you forget from Alzheimer’s?’ She said, ‘Eddie you won’t forget your music.’ ”

And nobody who hears him will forget Eddie Tigner.
Eddie Tigner was born August 11, 1926, and passed away April 18, 2019.
https://musicmaker.org/artist/eddie-tigner/

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Eddie Tigner tocaba el piano con una base suave y fuerte que rodaba por debajo de la trama de las conmovedoras notas de los registros superiores. Para Tigner, el piano no era sólo un instrumento; era un lugar en el que estar.

Eddie Tigner nació en Macon, Georgia, en 1926. Cuando su padre murió a causa del gas mostaza en la Primera Guerra Mundial, la madre de Tigner se casó con un minero del carbón y trasladó a la familia a Kentucky. Tocaba el piano en fiestas caseras, averías, frituras de pescado y barbacoas, a menudo con sus hijos a cuestas. "Mi madre tocaba 'barrel house', boogey woogie en Kentucky", recuerda Tigner. "Hacían salchichas o encendían una hoguera para asar cerdo, y aparecían mamá y el guitarrista. Cogían un viejo piano de trapo y lo sacaban fuera. Era un poco raro, pero sonaba bien".

Tigner se rió al recordar su propia reacción ante la música en Kentucky. Puede que su madre le allanara el camino como pianista, pero Tigner admite que, de niño, "quería tocar la guitarra. Quería tocar bluegrass. Pero nunca me acostumbré. Lo intenté y simplemente no conseguía que mi mano izquierda tocara bien".

Ese espíritu de juego y resignación marcó el ritmo de Tigner toda su vida. Cuando se alistó en el ejército, su familiaridad con todo tipo de música le valió una asignación especial de servicio contratando bandas para el club de la base de Aberdeen. Empezó a tocar el piano y conoció a muchos músicos. Gente como Les Paul eran jóvenes alistados pero, en los clubes y cantinas, también tenían tiempo para tocar. En esta compañía, Tigner desarrolló su propio estilo ecléctico. Tras su licenciamiento, regresó a Atlanta, se afilió al sindicato de músicos y, además del piano, Tigner se dedicó al vibráfono durante un tiempo y tocó con un grupo llamado Maroon Notes.

Uno de los grupos musicales más populares de la década de 1940 fue The Ink Spots. Cuando el bajista original murió en 1947, el agente, I.D. Kemp, se involucró en la organización de varias bandas de "Ink Spot". Había conocido a Tigner contratando bandas para los clubes de las bases estadounidenses. Kemp se fijó en el estilo de Tigner de tocar el piano en la base y le apuntó a uno de los grupos. Eso le llevó a una vida en la carretera y a un trabajo fijo como "Ink Spot" que duró hasta 1987. El grupo tocaba en clubes y salones de los nuevos "moteles", el Holiday Inn o el Ramada Inn, y paraba en bases militares de todos los estados.

La vida en la carretera era dura, pero a Tigner le gustaba recordar cómo desarrolló su propia rutina de casa en la carretera. "Tenía una olla de barro", explicaba Tigner, "y me preparaba lo que quería. Mollejas y arroz. Me encantaba por aquel entonces. Lo ponía antes de bajar a jugar y cuando volvía ya estaba hecho".

Además de décadas como Ink Spot, Tigner viajó con la leyenda del vodevil Snake Anthony. A Tigner le gustaba contar una historia sobre los espectáculos de Snake en el Augusta Theater que habla de las aristas abiertas del mundo de la música en aquella época. Había un chaval de 14 años llamado James Brown que siempre estaba delante del teatro limpiando zapatos. "Le invitábamos a subir al escenario", dijo Tigner, haciendo un guiño al chaval que llegó a lo más alto. "A Snake no le importaba quién fueras si tenías talento. Y él [Brown] sabía bailar. Era bueno. Todo ese deslizamiento cuando sólo era un niño".

Trabajando con Snake y tocando con los Ink Spots, de gira por 48 estados, Tigner conoció a muchos músicos y aprendió a entrelazar su forma de tocar en un lío de grupos. En Atlanta, tocó en un local llamado Lithonia Country Club, donde conoció a Elmore James, T. Bone Walker y Gate Miles Brown. El club tenía una clientela mestiza que apreciaba el blues, sobre todo cuando se ponía a bailar.

A medida que Tigner se hacía mayor, el ritmo de la carretera le agobiaba. Finalmente, un infarto hizo sonar la alarma y le apartó de la carretera. Impertérrito, aceptó un trabajo en la cafetería de un colegio, pero siguió tocando el piano. Se instaló en Atlanta y se convirtió en un habitual de locales como el Northside y el Fat Matt's Rib Shack, pero, a diferencia de las bandas que se aferraron al renacimiento del blues, Tigner nunca grabó un disco. Hasta que un día de principios de milenio sus compañeros de Chicken Shack, el armonicista Paul Linden, el bajista Matt Sickles y el batería Ron Logsdon, le sugirieron la idea de grabar. "Me preguntaron si quería grabar y les dije: 'No me importa nada grabar. Sólo toco porque me encanta tocar'. Me dijeron: 'Tienes setenta y tantos años. Deberías grabar algo para que, si pasa algo, tengas algo que dejar atrás'. Así fue como empezó".


A través de Danny "Mudcat" Dudeck, Tigner se puso en contacto con la Music Maker Foundation y el resultado fue Route 66. Tan clásico y campestre como su homónimo, el álbum mostraba la variedad de Tigner. Tocó estándares, pero abarcó desde su propia versión de "Take the 'A' Train" hasta "Stormy Monday" y "C.C. Rider". Los intérpretes de Chicken Shack aparecieron en el álbum junto con temas que contaron con Doug Jones a la guitarra, John Weiland al bajo y Steve Hawkins a la batería. Tigner incluso tomó el órgano en algunos de los cortes.

Tocado por el gusanillo de la grabación y apoyado por Music Maker, Tigner grabó un segundo álbum, Slippin' In, en el que mostró su faceta de compositor en el tema que da título al disco. Las canciones abarcaban desde swing y blues hasta temas novedosos como "Did You Ever See A Monkey Play a Fiddle". Las grabaciones difundieron la música de Tigner y le llevaron de nuevo a la carretera. Prefería sus actuaciones semanales en Atlanta, pero Tigner también actuó en festivales como el Chicago Blues Festival, el Blues to Bop Festival de Lugano (Suiza) y una gira de seis semanas por Europa en 2010.

Cuando Tigner se dio cuenta de que se le olvidaban las cosas, tuvo que dejar su trabajo en la cafetería de la escuela primaria. Allí no era sólo un trabajador de servicio, sino el tipo que podía llegar hasta los niños más recalcitrantes. El diagnóstico oficial fue Alzheimer. "Le pregunté a la doctora qué era eso", cuenta Tigner, "y me dijo: 'Eddie, si no lo sabes, lo averiguarás'. Aún no lo he averiguado". Tigner se rió. "Le pregunté si debía dejar de jugar. 'No,' dijo ella. 'Tú sigue jugando'. Le dije. '¿Pero qué pasa si te olvidas por el Alzheimer?' Ella dijo, 'Eddie no olvidarás tu música'. "

Y nadie que lo escuche olvidará a Eddie Tigner.
Eddie Tigner nació el 11 de agosto de 1926 y falleció el 18 de abril de 2019.
https://musicmaker.org/artist/eddie-tigner/


Tracks:
1 - Heartbreak
2 - I Dare You Baby
3 - Slippin' In
4 - All Around The World
5 - Need Your Love So Bad
6 - Knock Me A Kiss
7 - River's Invitation
8 - Home At Last
9 - Brunswick Stew
10 - Did You Ever See A Monkey Play A Fiddle
11 - Please Send Me Someone To Love

Label:    Music Maker Relief Foundation – MMCD80
Country:    US
Released:   
Genre:    Rock, Blues





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5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. He was born in 1926 and his father was killed in the first World War. Somebody should have told his father that the war ended in 1918...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, his father heard about the end of the First World War, and as wiki points out: "After his father died from the effects of mustard gas poisoning he suffered in World War I, and when Tigner was six years old, the family relocated to a mining camp in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky"
      The musicmaker.org biography expresses itself badly in that sense.
      ;)

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  3. Thanks egroj, Eddie Tigner's the birthday boy for my blog today.

    ReplyDelete