Joshua Altheimer

Joshua Altheimer (May 17, 1910 – November 18, 1940) was an American pianist who is remembered for accompanying Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and others on influential blues recordings made in Chicago in the 1930s. He was described by Broonzy as "the best blues piano player I ever heard", and by blues historian Hugues Panassié as "the greatest blues pianist on records".

Biography He was born in Altheimer, Arkansas, which he claimed had been founded by his grandfather, and would therefore have had family connections with the leading Chicago law firm of Altheimer & Gray. Joshua Altheimer was relatively light-skinned; it is believed that his grandfather (Louis Altheimer) was an immigrant from Germany and his grandmother an ex-slave (Epsy Marks). His father was Silas Altheimer. He became a key part of Broonzy's band in performance and on recordings, and was sought out by other blues performers of the time including Sonny Boy Williamson I, Washboard Sam, Jazz Gillum, and Lonnie Johnson. He played piano at the 1939 session on which Johnson used an electric guitar for the first time,

Joshua Altheimer died in Chicago in November 1940 at the age of 30, the result of various ailments including pneumonia.