One of the most exciting moves in basketball is the “slam dunk.” Players jump up high and force the ball into the net. The famous former basketball player Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the best “slam dunkers” of all time.

(MUSIC: “Pinetop’s Mambo”/Pinetop Perkins)

Pinetop Perkins

DOUG JOHNSON: Blues pianist Pinetop Perkins died Monday at his home in Austin, Texas. The ninety-seven year old musician was still making great music in his last days. In fact, just last month he won a Grammy Award. Mario Ritter remembers Pinetop Perkins and plays some of his music.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: The piano player was born Joe Willie Perkins in Mississippi in nineteen thirteen. He lived with his mother and grandmother as a boy. His grandmother was abusive. She finally beat the boy so badly that he left home.

Pinetop Perkins said he started playing guitar when he was ten years old. He taught himself to play by listening to others. Two years later, he started a job repairing pianos and decided to teach himself to play that instrument as well.

(MUSIC: “I Almost Lost My Mind”/Pinetop Perkins)

Perkins began playing music in small clubs and at parties when he was a young man. At one club in Arkansas a woman cut his arm badly with a knife. There was so much damage that Perkins could no longer play guitar. So the piano became his instrument.