Cincinnati piano blues
by Matteo Bossi
The art of piano blues in recent years has not seen many new practitioners on the scene, that’s why it’s such great news when a guy like Ben Levin comes around. Not just because of his obvious talent as a pianist, vocalist and songwriter but also for his real passion for the long history and culture of the blues. All things that are evident throughout the records and live performances of this young man from Cincinnati, Ohio. And given his age, he has already put out a good amount of albums, starting out at seventeen with “Ben’s Blues” and following it with a string of recordings on the Vizztone label. We had the chance to talk with him last December via Zoom.
You recently put out a Holiday Blues Revue record.
Yes, I’ve been working on this project since 2019 when I did my first Christmas single, “Forgot Mrs Clause” and I had my friend and great guitarist from Japan, Takuto Asano, contributing guitar on that. Since than I have been putting at least one Christmas song on each album I released. On “Take Your Time” I had a song with Lil’ Jimmy Reed called “Lump Of Coal”…So building on those sessions I decided in the last year that I wanted to do a full length Christmas album. I’ve always been inspired by classic blues Christmas recordings by musicians like Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Freddie King, Roy Milton…all this kind of stuff. I wanted to contribute something in that vein, from the Forties to the Sixties. I had a lot of fun working on this project.
We had some special guests. Lil’ Ed has a really nice Chicago blues shuffle, Little Jimmy Reed plays a downhome slow blues, local Cincinnati legend Sonny Hill, who is a veteran, he used to tour on the Chitlin’ Circuit, he has a really nice soul blues number…Sonny back in the day did some touring with Gatemouth Brown and he did a tour with Slim Harpo too. He’s another guy who is well connected to the history and the legacy of this music. And I love the vocal performance of Candice Ivory on “Christmas Mood”, because a lot of the artists that I admire have this sort of blend of blues and jazz influences and Candice certainly has that background, coming from Memphis but also having spent time in New York singing jazz. So she really is the perfect fit for that song.
How did you and Candice first meet?
I think we met through the Pinetop Perkins Foundation, I was travelling down there and she was working in Memphis and Clarksdale around the same time. We started collaborating over the last few years or so, doing some shows…and it’s always fun to work with her. You know her last project was the tribute to Memphis Minnie and I’ve supported her on some shows playing songs off that album, which was just a lot of fun.
Some of your songs of this album remind me of Charles Brown style. He did a lot of Christmas song and I think his first Christmas LP came out in 1961 on King Records, which was in your hometown, Cincinnati.
Yes, and I’ve always been fascinated by the rich history here…I’ve had a great mentorship and friendship with the late Philip Paul, who played drums on all the great recordings that Charles Brown did at King Records. It was really special for me to connect with Philip and he was always sharing stories about being in the studio at King. And today I still work regularly with the great Walter Cash Jr. and he played bass on a lot of residency gigs with Charles Brown when he lived in Cincinnati in the late Sixties / early Seventies. So there’s so many great musicians here, such a rich legacy, it’s an honor for me to be connected to that.
Ben Levin Philip Paul
Beside King Records, back in the day there were other smaller labels in Cincinnati, like Fraternity or Jewel, there was really a thriving music scene.
Oh yes and that’s why to be in this time and having this connection to a guy like Walter is so special. Walter has played with us for the past three years, I just played a four hours gig with him on Saturday and he’s been playing that same bass he’s had since he was in elementary school in 1959!
I know you studied history in college so beside sharing the stage with them, you were able to collect some of their life stories?
Yes, I’ve spent some time conducting formal interviews with a lot of musicians, particularly elder musicians. I’ve written a few articles for Blues Blast Magazine and I’m working on publishing some other articles based on interviews with people like Philip Paul and Walter Cash.
Another mentor for you was Ricky Nye, right?
Oh yes, I just saw him yesterday, I haven’t seen him in a little while and we caught up. I’ve known Ricky since I was eight years old! I went to his house almost every week for years for lessons. He really inspired me and helped me develop a true love for this music, specifically for blues piano. I would just sit in this office space that he was in his home, with two pianos, I’d watch him play something and my mouth would just drop open…Ricky to this day is one of my favorite piano players. He calls himself a roots piano player, he’s a great blues piano player but he can also play jazz and boogie woogie, so tu study with him has been one of the greatest things for me and for my music and career. I always have to give thanks and a proper nod to Ricky for giving me the tools to study and learn blues piano and encourage me to develop my own style. I can’t say enough good things about him.
So it was through Ricky or even through your dad that you discovered the great piano blues players?
I would say that obviously my father got me into this music initially, he was always playing it in the house or in the car…he got a Freddie King CD in the car. And he listened to some piano players, he definitely listened to Professor Longhair, but as far as the deep blues piano players it was Ricky who introduced me to guys like Otis Spann and Pinetop, Little Brother Montgomery. For a long time Ricky would send me home with listening assignments, “listen to this piano player” he’d say, whoever that was, let’s say Sunnyland Slim… “come back next week and we’ll talk about their style and licks, how they play”. It was very informative for me.
Why the piano? I mean, your dad is a guitar player…
Oh, I did try to learn some guitar…my dad showed me some chords and some rhythm but I’ve never got the right feel for it. It didn’t come naturally to me. We had an upright piano and I think there’s something about this instrument that speaks to me, it feels very natural to sit behind the piano and play. A lot of musicians say that no matter what instrument you play the piano is the best instrument for composing music, everything is laid out in front of you. And I understand that, it makes sense. I’ve been playing piano for years and in the last year and a half I’ve been also playing Hammond organ, I’ve been really inspired by the soul/jazz organ combo…like Groove Holmes, of course Jimmy Smith…in Columbus, Ohio there was a great jazz organist called Hank Marr…so this stuff is really inspiring and I enjoy being able to stretch out, I play Hammond organ on the track “Skating” and “Christmas Mood” on the album.
Why blues? When you started to play piano did you try to play other styles that you liked and then at some point turn to the blues? How did that happen?
That’s a great question, it makes me go way back in the memory bank. I know my first lessons with Ricky we talked about basic things, structuring chords and scales so I can have the foundation…I know we worked on some pop music when I was eight years old…my dad loved the blues but he also loved classic rock from his childhood and teen years. I remember spending some time working on an Elton John song. Then Ricky within the first year, maybe even the first few months, taught me the basic 12 bar blues form…we practiced the left hand pattern and then he said let’s add some ideas and riffs in the right hand. He wrote this little theme, similar to something that Jimmy Yancey would do, he said let’s call this “Ben’s Blues”. That became the title track to my first album in 2017. So, once I had an understanding of that, then we talked boogie woogie and that was really exciting for me. Cincinnati had a dedicated stage at the Blues Fest for piano blues and boogie woogie, it’sc alled The Arches, and they would bring in piano players from all around the world. I would go to these house parties before the Blues Fest and there would be ten fantastic piano players rotating all night in this living room. I’d watch and be blown away by Albert Ammons boogie at lightnin’ speed and then someone would play a downhome blues like Otis Spann…being around that so much and being introduced to it I developed a natural love for it. And I had great opportunities to listen to classic recordings and also to see in context live, which I think is important…it showed me that this stuff is not just an old recording on a disc, this is still relevant.
Did you manage to see some of the elders piano players?
Unfortunately I’ve never had the opportunity to connect with piano players of the generation of Pinetop Perkins…I almost met Henry Gray, but I missed him at an event before he passed away. By the time I started to get interested in that music and piano blues in Cincinnati that generation had passed on, like Big Joe Duskin or H Bomb Ferguson. Philip Paul of course worked with so many great piano players and I feel lucky to have this connection with him. And I’ve been working lately with the great drummer Art Gore, he played with jazz greats like George Benson and Dr Lonnie Smith. And of course Bob Stroger, who I met through the Pinetop Perkins Foundation, Bob worked with so many great piano players. Last year I went down to Bentonia, Mississippi and played some gigs with Jimmy Duck Holmes, a great honor for me and I’m hoping to go back this next year. As far as piano players I did connect with one elder who is still living in Cincinnati, he’s not a blues piano player but a jazz piano player, heavily influenced by Oscar Peterson and Errol Garner, he lives in a retirement home here and he’s 102! I met him connected with him because I saw his name listed in a King Record recording with Lonnie Johnson. His name is Mr Frank Payne and he’s an amazing guy. He told me he had lost the recording he had made with Lonnie Johnson so I looked through the discographies, find it and I burnt some CDs so he could listen and share it with friends and family. A few days later I got a call from Frank and he said, “Ben, thank you very much for bringing these CDs, but some of these recordings that’s not me playing!” I just thought it was amazing, This was a couple of years ago, he was 100 years old. I’ll be playing at his retirement home tomorrow.
Did you ever meet Erwin Helfer?
I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him yet. I go to Chicago a couple of times a year, it’s something I need to do.
Ben Levin & Nick Moss Lucerne 2024 ph Phiippe Prétet
You played with some artists from Chicago, like Nick Moss, Tom Holland, Lil’ Ed, The Cash Box Kings…how is it to play and fit with other artists repertoires?
I love collaborating with other artists. This started a few years ago, I was asked to put on a concert series at the Hard Rock Casino in Cincinnati, they said to me, “Ben, we want you to do a Blues Brunch every Sunday for two months”. So I would do that and every week we featured a different artist. That’s how I first connected with Lil Jimmy Reed, I brought him to town and we did some shows and some recordings, Bob Stroger, Johnny Burgin…it was just a whole lot of fun. Now it’s really fun to be able to connect with these musicians, sometimes I’ll get a call, “Hey, we’re gonna be close to Cincinnati we’d love to work with you”. Last year the Cash Box Kings were in Columbus and they decided to extend their tour by one extra date and come to Cincinnati and that was so much fun for me. They already have a great piano player in the band, Lee Kanehira, so Lee and I switched off, I played piano and she played organ and then we swapped. And it’s really inspiring. With Nick Moss or Tom Holland it’s a great opportunity to dive into the Chicago blues repertoire. I love Chicago blues, it’s always there in my own shows, but playing with these guys straight Chicago blues is a different experience.
How about your singing style? To me it comes out as very natural, sometimes you remind me of Charles Brown.
I appreciate that a lot, since I was very young I always had melody in my head…I’m singing all day long and humming things! And I started playing live at eleven, sitting in with my dad’s band, which was the perfect opportunity to fine tune my skills as a piano player but also as a vocalist. When I started out my dad would give the microphone to sing maybe one or two songs a night. I certainly observed the way my father sang and entertained an audience…I had a few people tell me, “oh your voice sounds like a mixture of Ricky and your dad” and I thought oh that makes sense, they’re the two vocalists I’d listen to the most. Then when I started leading my own group and digging into the blues repertoire a lot deeper…you mentioned Charles Brown and I have always loved the way that he sang and played, it’s so cool and effortless I always strive to have a similar quality but I don’t want to sound like an imitator, I want to absorb his style and make it my own. Other vocalists I love are Percy Mayfield and some blues shouters like Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown, I feel inspired by the energy they would bring to the microphone. The list of great vocalists is pretty endless…
And also you have, even in your own compositions, a touch of the New Orleans piano tradition of the likes of Professor Longhair or Huey Piano Smith.
Oh yes, I can’t talk about blues piano without mentioning New Orleans piano! I was obsessed with Professor Longhair for a long time…I recall going to Ricky’s for a lesson and saying “oh can we work on this song?” And he would say, “well, Ben, we’ve been working on a lot of Professor Longhair lately why don’t we shoot for something else?” And I saw the movie, Ricky gifted it to me for my birthday, “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together”. And seeing that was like…I mean how could you not like it? The man is singing and yodeling and whistling, kicking his foot on the side of the piano to keep time…he has the most interesting approach out of everybody that I have ever heard to this day. I’ve always been inspired by his playing and his singing. When I was a teenager i had the opportunity to see Dr John here in Cincinnati and that was really cool. You mentioned Huey Piano Smith and his band The Clowns, that band is so much fun…One of my house gigs in Cincinnati, my longest running gig, I’ve been playing for ten years at a place called BrewRiver Creole Kitchen, and I play “Big Chief”, “Going To The Mardi Gras” and some Fats Domino songs…playing at this restaurant you have these New Orleans dishes in front of you and drinking New Orleans cocktails I play some NO Rhythm & Blues.
Do you know Jon Cleary who plays a lot of that stuff too?
I have never met Jon Cleary but of course I have watched him and I know his recordings, he’s obviously a monster piano player, a great musician. But at The Arches stage the house drummer each year was Johnny Vidacovich, who played on Professor Longhair “Crawfish Fiesta” …and I was 12 years old at this house party I was playing this rhumba he pulled me aside and he said, “hey Ben I like how you played that Fess shit!”
Lil’ Jimmy Reed Ben Levin
Tell me about the Lil’ Jimmy Reed album you produced.
He came in for a Blues Brunch and it was very inspiring. We had a recording session which produced “Lump Of Coal” and “I’ve Been Drinking Muddy Water”. Jimmy is so full of energy, when I reached out him I said I had two shows booked and we would have a day off so we can relax and he said “What?Let’s work, man, book some gigs!” So I said “well, Ok”and I managed to get us another gig. He’s just so full of fire on stage and every now and again he just soars…a lot of people see his name and they say “oh, this may be a tribute act or someone who sounds like Jimmy Reed”. And it’s true he can play harmonica and sing very close to Jimmy Reed but his guitar playing is powerful, it reminds me of Magic Slim or Little Milton. And so we said let’s do a full album, we brought him back and we connected with Sallie Bengtson of Nola Blue Records. She was really interested in the project, we recorded in two days in Cincinnati. I wrote some songs, my father did, and some of Jimmy’s favorite covers…and it was a lot of fun. We just played like it was live on the gig. He’s such a seasoned pro, it’s so easy to work with him. I’m very proud of that project. And Jimmy is not shy so if there is something going on with the music that he’s not particularly happy about he’d let us know. Not in a rude way but he’s very particular about rhythm guitar, he wants this sort of Eddie Taylor rhythm part, just like on a Jimmy Reed album…that and the drums being played in a certain way, the bass patterns…when I’m playing with him it’s like being the cherry on top, I try to find spots in between his vocals and runs. I feel like before we went into the studio we had enough experience so that he felt comfortable.
And you worked with your dad.
Yes, we’ve been working together for a long time and it’s fun for us to both take a step back from the front stage and be working as a team supporting someone like Jimmy. We’re happy to give the spotlights to him. For many years my dad led the band and slowly as I developed my voice and my confidence as a performer he gave me more opportunities to sing and lead the band. By the time I was fifteen I started leading my own groups, sometimes with him and sometimes without him. He’s been such a role model for me and so generous about sharing the stage, he told me he gladly passed the responsibility to be a band leader to me. And now we just work together and last Friday when we played I said to him, “hey do you want to sing one?” It was sort of a full circle moment. I love playing on stage with my dad, it’s one of the greatest things, nobody connects with me at that level, it’s hard to explain. And we both don’t want to clown with the music but we don’t want to be too serious.
You made your record “Still Here” right after he got better, he had a bad Covid.
Yes that was a very difficult time for our family, it was four years ago he was in the hospital for a month and so we were not sure if he was gonna make it. He was a miracle that he was able to survive and regain his strengths and his abilities to do everything that he loves to do. He’s still working as a professor at the University and he’s still playing music. As he was recovering, when he woke up from his coma he wasn’t able to do anything on his own, my mom said to him as a mantra, “you’re still here”. Words of strength that helped him push through. When he got out of the hospital he didn’t even have the finger strength to play guitar…he had to do hand exercises to regain that.
You went to college, will you continue your academic path?
Yes and I plan on going back to school, I’d love eventually to get my PhD and be able to teach at college level like my father has and have a career path combining music and history. And still performing live. There are certain people that have inspired me in that regard, my father of course, but also a local musician name Dr. Steve Tracy, who taught English Literature for years but combines that with the blues and he wrote a book on Cincinnati blues history. I’d like to do something similar in the future. Or someone like Dr. David Evans…I’ve just met him in person last week, what an inspiring guy. And I’ll come back to Europe next summer, I’ve never been to Italy and I would really love to come. I’m currently working on a single to be released early 2025 and going back into the studio fo finish another project. A lot more fun recordings on the horizon! I hope to make it to my nineties and still play regularly.
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