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Erwin Helfer (born January 21, 1936) is an American boogie-woogie, blues and jazz pianist.[1] Helfer is a Chicago boogie-woogie and jazz innovator, performer, and educator.
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Erwin Helfer | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 21, 1936 |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | Boogie-woogie, blues, jazz |
| Occupation | Pianist |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | Red Beans, Flying Fish, The Sirens |
| Website | Official website |
Born in 1936 and raised in his home-town Chicago, Erwin attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Helfer was mentored by William Russell, who introduced him to Glover Compton, Baby Dodds, Mahalia Jackson, Cripple Clarence Lofton, and Estelle Yancey, as a young teenager growing up in Chicago in the early 1950s.
William Russell moved to New Orleans and worked on a Ford Foundation grant, which led to the creation of the Jazz Archives at Tulane University. Helfer followed Russell to New Orleans and studied at Tulane University. He studied psychology but he did not complete a degree. He became close to Billie Pierce and De De Pierce. He spent time outside of class studying the piano style of Crescent City pianists Archibald and Professor Longhair.
In 1956, Erwin Helfer made the only recordings of the house rent party pianist, Doug Suggs, and also recorded Speckled Red, Billie Pierce, and James Robinson (on the album Primitive Piano for his Tone Records and subsequently reissued by The Sirens Records SR-5005). Other tracks from the Speckled Red recording session were issued on Delmark Records first release.
Helfer began his professional career when Estelle Yancey, wife of pianist and boogie-woogie pioneer Jimmy Yancey, coaxed him to fill in for her accompanist, Little Brother Montgomery. His initial performance with Yancey led to a long-term professional partnership with the singer, that lasted to her death in 1986.[2]
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Helfer recorded for Chess Records, Testament Records, Flying Fish Records, Big Bear Records and various European labels. Peter J. Welding, one of the preeminent blues historians and scholars, wrote that Helfer had "mastered the rhythmic and melodic subtleties" of the blues piano style.[citation needed]
In 1976, Helfer recorded Heavy Timbre - Chicago Boogie Piano for The Sirens Records; the recording session simulated a house rent party and included blues pianists Blind John Davis, Sunnyland Slim, Willie Mabon, and Jimmy Walker.
In 1982, Helfer partnered with Pete Crawford and started Red Beans Records, and released albums by Estelle Yancey, Blind John Davis, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, and other Chicago blues artists. These recordings were sold to Evidence Records.
In 2001, Helfer began collaborating with The Sirens Records, which restarted in 2001. He was nominated for the Blues Music Awards in 2003, for 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year', for his album I'm Not Hungry But I Like to Eat - Blues. He has recorded St. James Infirmary, Careless Love, and Erwin Helfer Way for The Sirens Records.
More recently he has played at the Chicago Jazz Festival, 2005–2007; the Debrecen Jazz Festival in Hungary, 2005, the Chicago Blues Festival, 1986-2010, and throughout blues clubs in Chicago.
| Year | Title | Genre | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Blues, Boogie Woogie Piano Duets & Solos | Blues, Boogie | Flying Fish |
| 1976 | Boogie Piano Chicago Style | Boogie | Big Bear |
| 1979 | On the Sunny Side of The Street | Blues, Jazz | Flying Fish |
| 1987 | Chicago Piano | Blues, Jazz | Red Beans |
| 2001 | I'm Not Hungry But I Like To Eat - Blues | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | The Sirens Records |
| 2002 | Heavy Timbre - Chicago Boogie Piano | Blues, Boogie | The Sirens Records |
| 2002 | 8 Hands on 88 Keys - Chicago Blues Piano Masters | Blues, Boogie | The Sirens Records |
| 2003 | St. James Infirmary (with Skinny Williams) | Jazz, Blues and R&B | The Sirens Records |
| 2005 | Careless Love | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | The Sirens Records |
| 2013 | Erwin Helfer Way | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | The Sirens Records |
| 2021 | Celebrate the Journey (with the Chicago Boogie Ensemble)[3] | Blues, Boogie, Jazz | The Sirens Records |
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