French boogie-woogie piano player Jean-Paul Amouroux gave me these two cds just after his show at MEAM, (European Museum of Modern Art) in Barcelona (Spain) Jean Paul is an orthodox pianist who follows the original boogie-woogie tradition He has also published many albums, including different recordings with Memphis Slim or Lloyd Glenn Amouroux is also director and coordinator of the most important boogie-woogie festival in France, The Boogie Woogie Festival of La Roquebrou / The boogie-woogie is a piano style whose main characteristic is the ostinatos, played with the left hand and related to the primitive blues style, which used to be played, even before the twenties, in barrelhouses, bars and bad reputation juke-joints Over the years, boogie-woogie has enjoyed an intermittent popularity and its splendor years were between 1935 and 1945 approximately but, in fact, boogie-woogie has never disappeared In Famous Blues In Boogie Woogie, Jean Paul delights us with his excellent piano playing in sixteen classic tracks, which include songs coming from W C Handy, Count Basie, King Oliver, Duke Ellington or Clarence and Spencer Williams Jean-Paul is backed by drummer Michel Denis, a real institution of blues and boogie in France, because he was Memphis Slim’s drummer during the years Memphis lived in Paris until he passed away The second cd, Boogie Big Band is a more ambitious work, because Jean-Paul is backed by a twelve musicians big band Fourteen splendid blues and boogies, coming from Meade Lux Lewis, Pinetop Smith, Freddie Slack, Clyde McCoy, Benny Carter or Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy/Memphis Slim Two good albums that will fully satisfy listeners, performed by one of the most consolidated French boogie-woogie piano players