(hurried footsteps) (indistinct talking from neighbors) (knocking) - (shouting) Boogaloo?

I'd really kind of thought that probably we'd work together for a little while and he'd teach me some things, and then I'd be well on my way somewhere else to pursue my career.

(continuing to knock and shout) But actually, it's been really hard for me to get away from here, because I love him so much, and we get along so well.

Boogaloo ain't home.

(music) - Had it not been for the common language of music, I doubt these two would’ve ever been in the same room together.

And here was something that, you know, they could have been a different nationality, not even speaking the same language, and it could have worked.

(music continues) (laughter) - It's been an amazingly symbiotic relationship, because usually it'd be like, you know, great, this rich white chick is going to give Boogaloo charity-- you know, help Boogaloo out.

Wrong.

I mean, because what Boogaloo is now given Eden is, you can't measure.

I mean, she plays the piano like a dream!

(music continues) - I don't even know that I would be a performer now, if it weren't for Boogaloo.

Just the fact that he taught me how to play in a similar way that he does has changed my life.

It's changed my career.

(music continues) (laughter) - Oh, she makes me happy.

I’d say I love her.

I love her immensely.

She’s something else!

I can't get rid of her!

(laughing) (music continues) (applause) (slow song begins) (singing together) - I think people are kind of surprised, because we don't look like we have very much in common, and yet we do have plenty in common and it's all on account of him teaching me.

When I when I first met Boogaloo, I was—well when I first met Boogaloo, I wasn't impressed at all, because I wasn't even listening to that kind of music.

And then after I'd had a little bit of college and started listening to jazz, I was very taken by Boogaloo.

- [Narrator] In 1984, two people who, on the surface, couldn't be less alike, made a musical connection, a connection that would lead to a lifelong partnership.

In spite of their obvious differences, Eden Brent and Abie “Boogaloo” Ames do have at least two things in common.

They both live in the Mississippi Delta town of Greenville, and most importantly, they share a passion for the piano.

- I met Eden, she was still going to school and come down to the club and we’d play.

She’d talk to me and discuss me being her teacher.

And I said I would.

- That's the first vivid memory that I have, although I know that I had seen Boogaloo at parties and things earlier than that.

He played my sister's wedding reception.

- [Narrator] But Jessica Brent's wedding was not the first time Eden saw Boogaloo.

He was a fixture at private Delta parties.

- Heck, I know they met over here a million times.

I mean, when Eden was little, I mean, I'm sure she could probably tell you.

But I mean, I know that like every time she was over here, Boogaloo would play, and Jessica and I would have him there, you know, I guess he sort of seeped into her consciousness.

(singing) (song ends) (chuckles) - I don't know how many young people have sat down and played next to Boogaloo, or have grabbed a microphone and sung when he was playing, but I bet it's a whole bunch.

I bet it's a lot over the course of his lifetime, and I don't know what it was that caused the spark to happen, where it was more than just two people working together.

But him willing to invest the time, and to be as generous as he obviously has been in terms of passing along some of the talent and some of the hard work he's had over the years.

And for him to pass it along to Eden.

Maybe no one ever asked before.

I don't know.

(music playing) (Eden plays discordant notes) - Do that again.

Boogaloo just shows me how to do it.

Other lessons that I've had, I was working with a music score.

And so the teacher might play it for me one or two times, or show me a part that I'm making a mistake on or something.

But Boogaloo just shows me the lick until I get it right.

(plays the correct lick) (laughs) (music continues) - She only got mad at me one time.

Right?

- Maybe twice.

No we- - yeah, we argued maybe once.

- Once.

- You're a good teacher.

- Oh, thank you.

♪ I woke up one morning.

♪ ♪ Got a call from Farmer Bob.

♪ ♪ Sayin’ man I got some bad news.

♪ ♪ You no longer got a job.

♪ ♪ I got Washington County.

♪ ♪ Factory done shut down Blues.

♪ ♪ There ain’t no good news.

♪ ♪ I got the Mississippi Flat Land Blues.

♪ - [Narrator] The relationship soon grew beyond private lessons.

Eden and her teacher formed a stage act and began playing around Greenville.

- They just got a great combination.

They know one another’s moves, you know.

One go this a way, they already know where they're going.

They just make a hell of a team to me.

If I had a night club, I wouldn't hesitate to hire them.

(blues music) - [Eden] There are a lot of Blues players from this area, and of course, that's what we're most known for.

But Boogaloo’s style exceeds the traditional sound of Blues.

For example, when Boogaloo plays with a band that is normally accustomed to backing just a plain Blues player, Boogaloo will surprise them sometimes with chord progressions that he'll throw into the twelve bar Blues that don't take it away from twelve bars.

But just change it up a little to make it a little bit more interesting.

To me, his music is a little more advanced, a little more sophisticated.

- I think Boogaloo is kind of a throwback to the era when piano players could play anything, and that's really a, you know, almost a lost art, I think, today in music.

It's good we have someone like Boogaloo around to keep it going.

- [Boogaloo] When I say hey, y’all say hey.

Hey!

- [Kids] Hey!

- [Boogaloo] Everybody, get ready to have some fun!

One.

two.

three, now here we go.

♪ Let the good times roll.

♪ ♪ Let the good times roll.

♪ ♪ I don’t care if you’re young or old.

♪ ♪ Get together and let the good times roll.

♪ - Well, I think they're a remarkable pair of people because they have kind of risen above the barriers that were naturally constructed in the Delta that kept people from different races and different backgrounds from learning from each other and growing together.

And I think that's a tribute, not only to the changing times, but to those two distinct personalities and their commitment to their art.

(blues music and singing) - It’s a weird domination, if you believe me.

But is this a good combination, because as the baton is passed, I think Eden is very fortunate to play with Boogaloo.

Yet Boogaloo is very fortunate to play with Eden.

And interestingly enough, there aren’t many young blacks who are picking up these traditional styles.

(singing) - He's much older than I am.

He's been a part of the Black Community and I'm a part of the White Community.

He's a man and I'm a woman.

I mean, two people that you would just look at on the street and say they have nothing in common, and it's nurtured this wonderful friendship that will last a lifetime.

- [Narrator] The long road to this musical relationship began nearly 80 years ago.

Although Boogaloo’s version of his life history is clouded by old age, alcohol, and an active imagination, it is known he was born in Athens, Georgia, around 1920 and named Abie Amos.

By age four, Abie was climbing up on the piano bench and playing for his family.

- My mother was a piano player.

I guess I got it from her.

- [Narrator] After a number of moves, the Amos family settled in Detroit, Michigan, where Young Abie performed for the first time in front of an audience.

- I'm also an ex-tap dancer and people didn’t know.

I and my baby brother, his name is Harold, I started on doing it with him.

And we danced in amateur contests and like that probably all summer at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

- [Narrator] In 1947, Abie, who had changed his last name to Ames, met and married a young singer named Catherine Hendrix.

- Abie was only interested in the music part.

(chuckles) The business part, he couldn’t carry.

So I took over the band.

Usually all they would have to say is Abie, you’ve got a band there, and then he’d call everybody.

- [Narrator] Under Catherine's management, Abie and his group played gigs all around Detroit and other northern cities.

He performed with the headliners of the day at nightspots like the Brass Rail Theater Bar and Baker's Keyboard Lounge.

The Ames' home also became a magnet for local and visiting musicians.

- Nat Cole was over quite a bit when Earle Gardner was in town.

Well, he thought Abie was the greatest.

And he was always over to the house.

- [Narrator] Like the golden age of jazz, Abie and Catherine's marriage was dynamic but fleeting.

Sometime during the early 1960s, Ames hit the road, heading for his adopted home: Mississippi.

- Some woman he was going with, her mother lived down there.

And she had to go home because of her mother's illness.

And soon after, Abie went down.

- [Narrator] It was in Mississippi that Abie Ames became known as Boogaloo.

Around the same time that Boogaloo was settling into his new life in Mississippi, a baby girl was born in Greenville to Howard and Carol Brent.

The third of four children, Eden Hayes Brent grew up in a well-to-do home.

Her father was enjoying success in the tow boat business, and even named a company boat after his middle daughter.

Eden's world was far removed from Boogaloo’s, but music would prove to be the common thread.

As a young woman, Eden's mother had worked in Chicago’s Chez Paris Club and had sung professionally for many years.

Along the way, she met many famous singers, among them an old acquaintance of Boogaloo’s: Nat King Cole.

Years later, when Carol married and had children, making music became a family affair.

(singing) (playing piano) - I started playing the piano when I was about five, I think.

At some point, I was playing my brother's recital piece better than he was, and I wasn't in lessons.

So my mother found a teacher, Molly Swartz, and she taught me all throughout grade school and up through high school, and I was taken mainly just classical lessons.

- [Narrator] From there, Eden went on to the University of North Texas, where she received her bachelor's degree in music.

- And I spent all that money on your piano lessons, sent you to college, all the way through college, you get back and I'm listening to you play.

And I thought it was pretty good.

And then I introduced you to Boogaloo.

After you stayed with him a while, then you really learned how to play!

But I could have shortened that, and all that money.

Bring Boogaloo in and wouldn’t have had to do all that.

- Out of state tuition.

- Out of state tuition.

- They’ve all been beautiful to me, the whole Brent family.

I call them all Boogaloo.

- [Narrator] But no matter who gets called Boogaloo, only one person has earned the title Little Boogaloo.

- She’s the only one that sounds like me, that’s why they call her Little Boogaloo.

(laughing) (tape machine clicking) (indistinct talking on tape) - I have to check on him and see how he's doing.

Boogaloo normally calls me just about every day, and I guess the, you know, aside from giving him money when he needed it or taking him a meal if he needed it, or something like that, the most significant role I've played would be in his health care, because there are times when Boogaloo might be ill and not necessarily think that he should go to the doctor.

You don’t get dressed up, you don't have to.

You don’t have to put on anything, any big deal.

It’s going to be muddy out there.

You don’t want to get a nice suit dirty.

- Since Eden and Boogaloo have been playing together, she handles all that end.

In that respect, she's been like sort of an agent, a manager, as well as his performing partner.

- Hey Boogaloo!

Boogaloo!

- The only concern I've ever had is that when Eden has had to take him home at night, late in the night and in some of the neighborhoods where he's lived, I worry a little bit about that.

You know, young girl traveling around by herself needs to be very careful.

- I’ve got the same worry about him going.

And when you drop him off, you know, if I drop him off myself, I wait and make sure he gets in the house.

- [Narrator] As it turns out, threats to Bigelow's well being have not come from violent crime.

In 1997, the house in which he was living was destroyed by fire.

It was the second time Boogaloo had lost a home this way.

- Air condition.

Faulty.

Just blew up.

I saved everybody’s life.

I was the only one woke.

I was only one sober.

(piano music playing) - Boogaloo is one of our great dear friends that we've worked with over the many years, and we've held benefits for other musicians and other people that were strangers to us.

And he's always been one of the very first ones to always give his time.

And so now that he's faced with this misfortune, we really want to see to it that we can help him out and pay him back for all that he's given to the community.

- Imagine somebody in the early 19th century who would turn down a chance to hear Mozart.

You'd be stupid to do that!

And there are several people in the Delta who are not here tonight to hear the Mozart of the Delta.

- [Narrator] And so the question: Why isn't Boogaloo, with his natural talent and unlimited repertoire, receiving attention like so many other Delta musicians?

- Part of the reason could be that Boogaloo drinks a lot, and I think that happens to a lot of musicians.

Furthermore, his musical style encompasses much, much more than just Blues.

While he plays Blues, he also enjoys playing old Duke Ellington tunes or Big Band Swing type numbers, and he plays beautiful ballads.

I think that's probably why.

He's not easily put in one category or another.

- I think maybe because Boogaloo hasn't concentrated on being a singer, and he’s played in a lot of jobs that will make him some money, but aren't the kind of jobs that people go to look for talent so much.

If he'd been playing the Juke Joints more, it's funny, he'd probably have more notoriety outside of Mississippi.

(piano music playing) - I got a letter from my wife, my ex-wife, Tina Turner.

That was my wife.

Her real name was Anna Mae.

- Boogaloo will say that it was members of the Rat Pack that actually gave him the name from having watched him perform in Las Vegas.

And of course, knowing the character, this all is part of the legend of Abie Boogaloo Ames.

- John Lee Hooker, did you ever?...

- Oh, I played with, I played with Son Thomas.

- Son Thomas?

- Boogaloo stories, at first, after I got to know Boogaloo better, it kind of hurt my feelings that he wouldn't feel like he could be just as honest with me as he would be with himself.

And then, I got to thinking about it, and it just seemed that, if Boogaloo wants to tell interesting stories, whether or not they're the truth, I don't really care because I really do know Boogaloo.

- And Lincoln Brent told me the other day that he told them that Nancy Sinatra had called him to give him a update on Old Blue Eyes, you know, because he knew that Boogaloo would want to know that.

And Lincoln looked at me and said, “You know what?

What if this is all true?” - Where are you from?

- Cruger.

- From where?

- Cruger, Mississippi.

- Boogaloo’s history is rather legendary.

It's hard to tell what actually occurred and what actually didn't.

And I'm sure that coming up in Detroit, lots of people must have passed through that he would have played with a time or two or dozens, even.

- A lot of the more named musicians would come over and sit in with him.

When they would start jamming, as they call it.

We go up to Berry Gordy’s up at Motown.

- [Narrator] Because of all the tales surrounding him.

Boogaloo Ames, in many ways, remains an enigma.

The fact is, when his last song has been played, what Boogaloo will be remembered for is the music and the impact he had on his young students, especially on Eden.

- She's as close to myself than any protégé I've ever had.

I've had many, but the one that’s closest to me, I'm surprised myself, turns out to be a woman.

I thought it was going to be a man.

- [Narrator] Eden has come a long way as Boogaloo's protégé, and together, they have traveled a great distance as well.

In 1995, they took their act to the Big Apple playing the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

- I'll never forget it.

We went downstairs to have a cocktail and sort of loosen up before we had to play, because we had about 30 minutes or an hour before the job started, and I ordered us up a round and it was about $20 or something for two drinks.

And he looked around and he said, “Well, Baby, this is a beautiful place, but at $10 a drink, they can afford it.” (laughing) - Eden had got some deal with all the welcome centers in different places and cities in Mississippi, and they would come play at that.

I mean, they're driving around all over the state of Mississippi.

I mean, you know, here is a 70 at that point- - I think it's 75, 76 year old black man and about a 20-something year old white girl, and they're in the car together, sleeping in motels, driving around like, you know, burning up the highways all over the place, and not even thinking about it.

- I'm taking you to Memphis today, because I want to have a good recording of you forever.

And that's why we're going.

I’ve been wanting to do this for years.

(piano playing) - Is there any way we can slow these tapes down so I can actually hear what Boogaloo’s doing and try and copy him later?

(laughing) - Yes, ma'am.

- There’s a few of those double-time things in there that I still haven’t quite caught on to yet.

But I don't have to wait till I'm 79 to play like him.

(laughing) - I’ll see if I can't help you out, Girlfriend.

- And he calls me Little Boogaloo, but it's a name that I can't say that I've really earned yet.

I'm still working on it.

There is a magic about him that I'm not real sure that I've captured quite yet, but I'm still working on it, and I'm not going to give up.

(piano music playing) (laughing) ♪ You said that it's over.

♪ ♪ And sent me away.

♪ ♪ Now his crying eyes.

♪ ♪ Can't stand the light of day.

♪ ♪ I tried to forget.

♪ ♪ The way we used to be.

♪ ♪ But I can't seem to lose this memory.

♪ - We hit it off right.

I don't want to play with nobody but her.

I'm dedicated to Eden.

♪ Never stop needing.

♪ ♪ The way that you love me.

♪ ♪ I can't seem to lose this memory.

♪ - I think Bogaloo loves me like his daughter.

I think I've given him a lot of love and support, and I think that he doesn't worry so much.

I think also that he's really proud that somebody loved his music enough to want to copy him, to want to be like him.

♪ My shattered heart.

♪ ♪ Continues to break.

♪ Boogaloo started out as my teacher, but then after spending so much time with him, we became really good friends.

So when I'm out of town, or he's out of town, I really miss the friendship, not just the performing together, but talking to him and laughing with him.

Boogaloo always puts me in a good mood.

Shucks, we dance together.

We've gone out together.

We have a good time.

I enjoy his company.

Yeah, I love him.

- I love you too.

♪ This memory.

♪ - I like that.

- Oh, you've changed my life.

I would never have been writing songs like that if I hadn't met you.

♪♪ - [Narrator] Production of this program was made possible in part by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.