Sammy Price

Sammy Price built an extensive and versatile career rooted in the traditions of blues and boogie-woogie piano. He took up piano studies in Dallas and, from 1927 to 1930, appeared as singer and dancer with Alphonso Trent’s band. His first session came in 1929, when he cut a lone side issued under the name Sammy Price and His Four Quarters. After several years in Kansas City he passed through Chicago and Detroit before settling in New York in 1938 as Decca’s house pianist, where he accompanied numerous blues vocalists such as Trixie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. In the early 1940s he led his own groups on record, one notable date including Lester Young. Price maintained a steady presence on 52nd Street, performed at the Nice Festival with Mezz Mezzrow in 1948, returned to Texas for a spell, and then spent a decade alongside Red Allen while also appearing on many rock-and-roll-oriented dates in the 1950s. Later recordings paired him with Doc Cheatham. He remained active until shortly before his death, sixty-three years after his debut session.