William Ezell

Who was William Ezell?

William Ezell was an American blues, jazz, ragtime and boogie-woogie pianist and occasional singer. He was also billed as Will Ezell, and was a regular participant in recordings made by Paramount Records in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Ezell was noted by the music journalist, Bruce Eder, at Allmusic as "a technically brilliant pianist, showing the strong influence of jazz as well as blues in his work".

Ezell's "Pitchin' Boogie", and Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues", were amongst the earliest boogie-woogie recordings. However, Pinetop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie" was the first to use the phrase in the song's title.

Two of Ezell's more notable solo recordings, "Heifer Dust" and "Barrel House Woman" were noted for containing "elements of both blues and barrelhouse [boogie-woogie] in their form".