Джо Уилли "Pinetop" Перкинс: Американдық блюз сазгерінің өмірі мен мансабы

American blues pianist

Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock and roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.

On March 21, 2011, Perkins died in his sleep of cardiac arrest at his home in Austin, Texas at the age of 97. A music filled open casket funeral for Perkins was held in Austin, Texas on March 29, 2011, and was attended by several fellow musicians including Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Margolin. Perkins was laid to rest in the McLaurin Memorial Garden cemetery in Clarksdale on April 2, 2011, following a final open casket "homegoing" celebration.

Bruce Iglauer, founder of Chicago's Alligator Records, stated Perkins was "absolutely the premier blues piano player." He added, "His career spanned literally over 80 years. He was the symbol of a whole generation of musicians." The workshop, which usually occurs in Clarksdale, Mississippi but was made virtual during the COVID 19 pandemic, provides young musicians master classes with some of the best living talent in the traditional Blues and Jazz genres, and culminates in a performance at the Ground Zero Blues Club by the students.

Perkins was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000. In 2005, Perkins received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. At the age of 97, Perkins won a Grammy Award in the category Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip, which he recorded with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, thus becoming the oldest winner of a Grammy Award, edging out the comedian George Burns, who had won in the spoken word category 21 years earlier.

Perkins has been the subject of two documentary films: Born in the Honey (2007) and Sidemen: Long Road to Glory (2016). He also appeared in Clint Eastwood's 2003 documentary Piano Blues.