Good Grief: Charles Brown's Up for a Blues Grammy, but He's Not Really Playin' the Blues

FOR A MUSICIAN with a Grammy nomination for best traditional blues album of the year, pianist/vocalist Charles Brown is quick to say he is more a "variety artist" than a bluesman, using a term dating from the 1940s when Brown was part of the Three Blazers and they were giving the rival Nat Cole Trio a run for who would rule at Hollywood supper clubs.