Born in 1916 in Muskogee (yup, the same town Merle Haggard sang about), McShann watched his sister take piano lessons, but his real education came from Earl Hines’ late-night broadcasts from Chicago’s Grand Terrace Ballroom. “When Fatha went off the air, I went to bed,” he told writer Stanley Dance, years later. At Nashville’s Fisk University, he discovered he had a good musical ear, and he learned on the bandstand with a variety of different groups. His piano playing was tough, two-fisted, and it swung.

Additional Details

Label: Stony Plain

Genre: Blues

Run Time: 40 mins

Release Date: 03/28/06

UPC: 772532131520