He backed a host of big name musicians during his career, including B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and David 'Honeyboy' Edwards. Michael Frank, boss of his label Earwig, tells the Chicago Tribune: "Aaron was a serious two-handed player with a strong left hand. A lot of blues piano players are good on the right hand; not too many are navy on bass. He was a master at that. He was a great boogie-woogie player and a real strong singer too."

He'd been born in 1918 on a Mississippi plantation and learned piano from his mother. In 1951 he moved to Chicago and his first gig was with pianist Roosevelt Sykes, who became his mentor.