Dave Myers (October 30, 1926 - September 3, 2001) was an American blues guitarist and (electric) bassist, who with his brother Louis (September 18, 1929 - September 4, 1994) formed the Chicago blues band The Aces.
Their parents Mary and Amos Myers were musical, but Mary played the guitar only at home, while Amos played the guitar at parties in private homes. Dave grew up as a child listening to Lonnie Johnson, a pioneering blues and jazz guitarist and banjoist who lived in the basement of Myers’ family home. Dave along with his brother Louis, sang in the local Baptist church choir. They moved to Chicago 1941. Louis had started playing guitar in Mississippi and took it up again in Chicago, followed by Dave, who later switched to electric bass. They played with other blues artists on the South Side and on their own, without a drummer until their longtime friend Fred Below (pronounced BEE-low) joined forces as the Three Aces.
Below, (September 6, 1926 - August 13, 1988) who was born in Chicago, brought experience from playing in high school and U.S. Army bands and studying at a percussion school. Trained in jazz, he found the blues difficult at first but before long he had developed his own backbeat style, which set the standard for generations of blues drummers to come.
The Aces were one of Chicago’s premier blues combos, in the early 1950s. Also known as the Three Dukes, the Four Aces (when they hooked up with Junior Wells), the Jukes (when they teamed with Little Walter), or more often just the Aces, the band was in demand to play behind various singers, but also could deliver top-notch blues with Louis Myers taking a lead role.
The group first recorded in 1952, backing Little Walter on “Mean Old World” and other numbers for Checker, a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago. Other sessions, club dates, and tours with Little Walter followed. The foursome toured widely as one of the country’s most popular and energetic young blues acts. Although Dave and Louis played with Junior Wells before Walter, they recorded with Wells only in 1953. Louis and Below also recorded with him 1954. All three Aces later backed Wells on a live recording in Boston. Dave was also hired by Fender Guitarist during the 1950’s to promote and demonstrate the electric bass around Chicago. His percussive style earned him the nickname Thumper.
As a unit the Aces were not a constant presence on the blues scene, although the individual members stayed busy in town or on the road. In testament to their prowess as an all-purpose band, the Aces backed Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Koko Taylor, Lightnin’ Slim, Jimmy Dawkins, and others at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival, in addition to doing their own set, and all the proceedings were recorded, resulting in several albums. They also recorded behind Jimmy Reed, Roosevelt Sykes, Billy Boy Arnold, Louis Jordan, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood Jr., Eddie Taylor, and numerous others in the U.S., Europe, or Japan.
As the Aces, they recorded albums of their own for three French labels and a few tracks on various compilations. Louis Myers, heralded primarily for his skills on guitar, also possessed a potent harmonica attack and was featured on an instrumental single for the Abco label in Chicago in 1956. He later recorded albums on Advent, JSP, and Earwig. Both Dave and Louis also recorded a few songs for the Wolf label.
Dave concluded his recording career with the album “You Can’t Do That” for Black Top in 1996. He later performed at the 1999 Chicago Blues Festival and was the last living member of the Aces until his death. In March of 2000, Myers’s left leg had been amputated due to diabetes. Then his right leg was amputated on August 29, 2000. He never fully recovered from the surgery and retired from the profession.
On September 3, 2001, Myers died at the Waterfront Terrace Nursing Home in Chicago at the age of 74. His funeral was held on Chicago’s south side at the Rayner Funeral Home”
(Edited from The Blues Foundation & article by Latisha Cherrelle Tucker)
