Memphis Slim

John Len Chatman (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988), known professionally as Memphis Slim, was an  American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, “Every Day I Have the Blues”, has become a blues standard, recorded by many other artists. He made over 500 recordings. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1989. Memphis Slim historic home in Memphis, at 1130 College Street – now restored and housing the Memphis Slim Collaboratory, Memphis Slim was born John Len Chatman, in Memphis, Tennessee. For his first recordings, for Okeh Records in 1940, he used the name of his father, Peter Chatman (who sang, played piano and guitar, and operated juke joints); it is commonly believed that he did so to honor his father. He started performing under the name “Memphis Slim” later that year but continued to publish songs under the name Peter Chatman. He spent most of the 1930s performing in honky-tonks, dance halls, and gambling joints in West Memphis, Arkansas, and southeast Missouri.
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Joggie Boogie

The Blues is Everywhere

Every Day I Have The Blues

St. Louis Boogie

I’m lost without you

Southside Reunion

and Buddy Guy, Junior Wells – When Buddy Comes To Town

Little Lonely Girl

Empty Room Blues Lyrics

You Got To Help Me Some

When Your Dough Roller Is Gone

Willie Dixon and Memphis Slim Studs Terkel Paris, France. 1962

Memphis Slim | Sonny Boy Williamson – Live at Jazz House 1963 – Full Album

Memphis Slim – Chatman corner 2011 full album

Cambridge, Massachusetts 1986

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