Born to barrelhouse: Pianist Ron Tanski was built for boogie-woogie
Ron Tanski begins a monthlong residency at Club 705 Thursday night. Ron Tanski’s career as a blues piano player began on Christmas at the age of five. Two things happened that holiday season: his mother got a piano, and Tanski got a record player. He immediately scoured the house for records to play and found a stash of old 45s. He started playing one after another, burning through dozens until one particular record nearly knocked him to the floor. It was the original Sun Records recording of Jerry Lee Lewis playing “Whole Lotta Shakin’.” “It was like a bomb went off in my head,” Tanski said. “I remember thinking, ‘I want to do that – that is what I like.’ I listened to that record like a million times. I remember I took it to school the next time we had show-and-tell and I told the teacher, ‘Play this song.’ I was like, ‘This is really cool! This is music – it’s got a great beat, you can dance, you can move…’ And they all looked at me like I was from Mars.” Tanski soon discovered he had a rare gift. He could figure out how to play almost anything he heard on the piano. He took lessons, but steadfastly refused to do what any instructor told him to play. What was the point? He…
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