The Blues may be nothin’ but a woman cryin’ for her man, or it may be nothin’ but a good man feelin’ bad, etc. etc. But it is, whether we like it or not, still a business. And self-promotion is the key to survival in that game.

I say all this to illustrate the difference between two people. One (who shall remain anonymous) rang the OffBeat offices recently, saying that he’d been calling me about being in the column and that I’d said I’d put him in. Not true. The other person (who’s practically anonymous, but shouldn’t be) was a friend of his, and a legend in his own right. He had a gig coming up, just like the other bluesman I mentioned, but I wouldn’t have even found out about it if not for the shamelessness of the first guy. Who said the blues wasn’t ironic?

That second guy, the one mentioned oh-so-casually in the first guy’s conversation, is Aaron Moore. And that story of how he came to be in this column is a typical one, revealing as it does Aaron’s unassuming nature and his complete lack of hubris. He doesn’t call attention to himself, but attention, as the play says, must be paid: he’s regarded as one of Chicago’s finest blues pianists, having tickled (and beaten) the ivories behind Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, Howlin’ Wolf, and countless other household names. And now there are two new ways to pay it: his upcoming gig with longtime friend Ready Teddy on the 6th at Jimmy’s, and his brand-new CD, Boot ‘Em Up. (available August 10).

Moore’s life story is so stereotypical you wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t true. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised by a deeply religious piano teacher of a mother, Aaron dutifully played chestnuts like "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" under her tutelage. Something else was calling him, though, for when no one was around, his repertoire shifted to less calming material like Basie’s "One O’Clock Jump" and Ellington’s "Satin Doll."

Suitably encouraged by locals, he landed a live radio gig on Greenwood’s WGRM. "They’d call up and request songs, and I’d play them," he recalls. He eventually joined the mass exodus of Delta bluesmen heading north. "I came to Chicago because that’s where they were playing the blues," he says simply. "Muddy Waters, Albert King, B.B. King, I played with all of them. Roosevelt Sykes, he was my main man on the blues. I liked his blues." This is where he chose the road less-traveled, however-Moore took a job as a garbage truck driver in Chicago and stayed with the city for 36 years, playing only on weekends and turning down tours, even when Muddy or Wolf were begging him to break away for a while. "On the weekends was when I would play…when they would come in town, if the piano man got drunk, they knew to call me," he says. Eventually they started calling him first.

He retired (as Deputy Commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, yet) in 1988, moved to Milwaukee, and is entering the second decade of his retirement, playing whenever he likes and focusing on a solo career that started with 1996’s fabulous Hello World. The new CD, Boot ‘Em Up, continues that same tradition, with the same producer and much of the same band. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith replaces Huckleberry Hound on drums. "I was playing the Milwaukee Summerfest and Huckleberry called me the day I got a drummer. If he’d called a day earlier, I’da took him."

Filled with his telltale licks, the CD’s titles tell much of the story: "I’ve Been Looking For An Angel," "Wading Out In Deep Water," (ahem) "Bedroom Invitation," and "I Don’t Know Why I Love You." It’s not the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song. "I’m not gonna give you somebody else’s song," he smiles, warmly but with obvious pride. "Every one is my original." As is the man himself. Still, last of the great Chicago pianists or not, his devotion to his job and refusal to live The Life are what have kept him from widescale acclaim. If you’re wondering where you can discover a new blues great, stop wondering. Go to Jimmy’s and rediscover an old one.

Longtime Muddy Waters guitarist "Steady Rollin’" Bob Margolin arrives to work his solo mojo at Tip’s Uptown on the 5th. The inimitable Rev. Al Green plays his first gig in the Crescent City in a long, long time at the Saenger Theater on the 13th (it may be sold out by the time you read this). Master of heartbreaking soul Percy Sledge appears at the Boomtown Casino in Harvey on the 21st. (Although if you really want that gutbucket roadhouse feel, check his gig at the Moonlight Inn on the 14th all the way back in French Settlement.) Dr. John makes a return to Tip’s Uptown on the 28th, playing a selection of hits from his decades-long funk/blues/pop/boogie-woogie career. And Taj Mahal fans, take note: he plays at the House of Blues Africa Fete on the 24th, along with Kulanjan and Toumani Diabate. You probably won’t get much blues with this lineup, but Taj fans will follow him anywhere. Smart guys.