The music on this recording is at once far-reaching and intimate. It has a quality enjoyed well beyond contemporary fans of this style of music, and yet this recording gives the listener the sense of being privy to a very precise moment in music history with Memphis Slim (1915—1988) as he plays piano.
Slim (born Peter Chatman) grew up listening to his father perform blues in various venues in Memphis, Tennessee. He started performing around town at a young age before moving to Chicago at 25.