Music
Charlie Spand
born 1893
· blues and boogie-woogie pianist, singer
Barrelhouse pianist of 1920s Detroit's Brady and Hastings streets whose duet with Blind Blake, "Hastings Street," is an early musical portrait of Black Bottom.
- Born
Columbus, Mississippi- Detroit years
- 1920s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Very little is known about Charlie Spand's life away from the piano, but in the 1920s he was one of a group of boogie-woogie players, William Ezell among them, who worked the bars and rent parties of Brady Street and Hastings Street in Detroit's Black Bottom. That rolling, heavy-handed barrelhouse style was the sound of the district before the jazz clubs of Paradise Valley took over. In 1929 he moved to Chicago, teamed up with guitarist Blind Blake and began recording for Paramount; between 1929 and 1931 he cut 25 sides. His spoken-word duet with Blake, "Hastings Street," in which the two chat about the Detroit street as they play, is one of the earliest recordings to name it. After a final session for Okeh in 1940 he disappears from the record; pianist Little Brother Montgomery said he was still living in Chicago in 1958. His "Back to the Woods" has been covered by later blues artists.
Highlights
- Played the bars of Brady Street and Hastings Street in 1920s Detroit
- Recorded "Hastings Street" with Blind Blake for Paramount (1929)
- 25 Paramount sides, 1929–1931, and a final Okeh session in 1940
- Considered one of the most influential blues pianists of the 1920s
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1920s
Black Bottom
Demolished · 1960
Spand played the barrelhouses of Hastings and Brady streets; his 1929 record with Blind Blake is named after the street.