Joshua Altheimer (May 17, 1910 – November 18, 1940)Although some sources give his date of death as February 18, 1940, that cannot be correct as he is known to have recorded later that year. was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

who is remembered for accompanying Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and others on influential

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

recordings made in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in the 1930s. He was described by Broonzy as "the best blues piano player I ever heard", and by blues historian Hugues Panassié as "the greatest blues pianist on records".

Biography

He was born in Altheimer, Arkansas, which he claimed had been founded by his grandfather, and would therefore have had family connections with the leading Chicago law firm of Altheimer & Gray. Joshua Altheimer was relatively light-skinned; it is believed that his grandfather (Louis Altheimer) was an immigrant from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and his grandmother an ex-slave (Epsy Marks). His father was Silas Altheimer. It is thought likely that he received some formal musical training, explaining his technique and "perfect tempo". He worked for some years in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, where he met and probably first performed with blues singer Big Bill Broonzy, who grew up in the same area. Altheimer then moved to Chicago, and in 1937 began working as Broonzy's regular piano accompanist. According to writer Roger House, Altheimer "brought a nimble, boogie-woogie piano style to the urban blues trio". He became a key part of Broonzy's band in performance and on recordings, and was sought out by other blues performers of the time including John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Washboard Sam, Jazz Gillum, and Lonnie Johnson. He played piano at the 1939 session on which Johnson used an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

for the first time, and recorded prolifically as a sideman during 1939 and 1940. He is described by Bruce Eder at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

as "a strong player, with a right hand capable of coaxing rich, diverse figures out of his instrument". However, he made no recordings as a solo or featured performer. Joshua Altheimer died in Chicago in November 1940 at the age of 30, the result of various ailments including

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altheimer, Joshua 1910 births 1940 deaths American blues pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists People from Jefferson County, Arkansas Musicians from Arkansas 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians Deaths from pneumonia in Illinois