Bob Seeley




Bob Seeley

Bob Seeley is known internationally as one of the world's premier boogie piano players. Born and raised in Detroit, Bob is a classically-trained pianist whose early discovery of boogie woogie is our blessing. He learned boogie, stride, and ragtime from recordings and folios. Among his great influences is Pat Flowers &endash; Fats Waller's protégé &endash; and the boogie pioneer Meade Lux Lewis - one of the three giants of boogie woogie (along with Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson).

Bob watched Pat Flowers through the alley doorway of Bakers Keyboard Lounge when he was too young to enter the establishment, and his relationship with Lewis started in an equally unusual fashion. Bob says, "I met Meade Lux Lewis after he played in Detroit. He invited me and my friends to a house party where he was playing. We beat Lewis there and I started playing one of his songs called Chicago Flyer. As he came up the walk he asked, "Who's that stealing all my stuff?" From that beginning, Bob says, a friendship developed through the 1950s and 1960s and shows its influence in his playing today.

He also met and played piano with Art Tatum, who reportedly was duly impressed with the music of the relative youngster. Bob was also a friend to the great Eubie Blake of whom Bob says, "Eubie was a great influence. He was a terrific gentleman from another era in time and a walking history of American music." Well-versed in classic blues, Seeley worked for a while as accompanist to Sippie Wallace, the great blues vocalist who was rediscovered in the 1980s.

He has played Carnegie Hall several times and many major venues throughout Europe. Bob Seeley was a fixture at the piano bar at Charlie's Crab in a Detroit suburb, where he entertained the locals and visiting dignitaries for over 32 years. He has released a number of CDs, including collaborations with Mr. B (Mark Lincoln Braun) and with Boogie Bob Baldori.

Bob's massive roster of fans includes such diverse musicians as Dick Hyman, members of the Rolling Stones, and Kid Rock.

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Last updated October 19, 2009.
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