Floyd Dixon

Floyd Dixon

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Floyd Dixon Passes Away In Orange, CA At Age 77

(ORANGE, CA)—Robert Auerbach, founder/CEO of HighJohn Records, LLC is saddened to announce that Floyd Dixon, the blues pianist generally credited with starting the jump blues scene on the West coast, has died of cancer at age 77 in Orange, CA at Chapman Hospital. Born in Marshall, TX on February 8, 1929, Floyd toured extensively with the likes of Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and Charles Brown in the late 40s and early 50s. He scored a series of hit records in the 50s with “Telephone Blues”, “Call Operator 210” and “Hey Bartender”, the latter enjoying wide exposure with the release of the 1980 hit film, “The Blues Brothers.”

In recent years, Floyd enjoyed a career resurgence that began with his winning the prestigious W.C. Handy Award for Comeback Album Of The Year in 1997 fohn Records, LLC, who signed him to the label to cut his 2005 disc, Fine! Fine! Thing! The album put Floyd back in the spotlight, gaining him front covers of Living Blues and Southland Blues Magazine. He had been performing around the country in 2006 and was scheduled to open the Long Beach Blues Festival during Labor Day weekend. He’d just recorded concerts in Phoenix (6/1&2) with fellow piano legends Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray for a CD/DVD set entitled Floyd Dixon’s Desert Piano Summit, which will be released later this year by HighJohn.

“We join with Floyd’s family and his many fans around the world in mourning and celebrating a man who made giving his life’s mission. His generosity of spirit cannot be overstated and we feel fortunate to have had the privilege of knowing and working with him,” said Auerbach.

A public memorial service will be held at Grace Chapel on the grounds of Inglewood Cemetery (720 E. Florence Ave.) on Monday, July 31 from 1-3 PM.

Los Angeles Times Article - Floyd Dixon, 77; Blues Singer, Pianist Influenced Ray Charles

Purchase Floyd Dixon's new CD "Fine! Fine! Thing!" at highjohn.com

Recipient of the W.C. Handy Award for Comeback Album of the Year (WAKE UP AND LIVE, 1997), Floyd Dixon is a true blues original. A native of Texas, he participated in Los Angeles' influential Central Avenue jazz scene and came to prominence in the 1950's with hits like "Telephone Blues," "Call Operator 210" (both of which spent several weeks on the Billboard charts), and "Hey Bartender" (later covered by the Blues Brothers). In 1947 Dixon cut his earliest sides for the Supreme label. Playing piano and singing in the "jump" style of early rhythm-and-blues, he subsequently recorded for Aladdin, Modern and Specialty, and made early road forays with B.B. King and Ray Charles, whom he encouraged away from crooning and towards church-based styles. In the fifties and sixties he was in constant demand. But in the 1970's "Mr. Magnificent" dropped out of the music scene in favor of a quieter life back in Texas. By the early 1980's, however, he could not resist the call of European interest in blues roots, and eventually toured as part of the European Blues Caravan with Ruth Brown and Charles Brown. These days, more than half a century into his career, his powerful performances are again a fixture at American blues and jazz festivals. His older recordings have been reissued on the Fantasy label, while Alligator Records has recorded his award-winning newer work. Recognizing him as 1997's Most Outstanding Blues Musician (Keyboards) and Comeback Artist of the year, Living Blues magazine proclaimed Floyd Dixon "a musical genius, excelling at vibrant exuberant jump blues, rockin' piano boogies and sophisticated West Coast blues," and praised his "impeccable piano technique, fabulous timing, and a voice like a foghorn."