Sunnyland Slim

Chicago blues piano player Sunnyland Slim was an innovative player, and a prolific recording artist as both a leader and a sideman throughout his professional life, which lasted for more than 50 years. His playing exemplified Chicago blues piano in its combination of percussive attack, rolling, cascading streams of notes, and syncopated rhythmic sophistication. His influence can be traced directly to both of Muddy Waters longtime sidemen Otis Span and Pinetop Perkins. Slim can be heard as a sideman on recordings from Muddy Waters to Chuck Berry, as well as many, many other blues luminaries. And as a singer, he had a big, rough-hewn voice.