[78-L] Reuss was Etri was Christian

[Joe Scott]

Thanks Warren.

For anyone who's interested in these pioneers, it's worth knowing that something George Barnes, Eddie Durham, Les Paul, and T-Bone Walker unfortunately had in common is that they told stories about their chronological primacy that conflict pretty glaringly with other sources. In the case of Barnes, he gave an interview to the WPA on May 10, 1939 (e.g., in connection with the fact that horn players influenced his own guitar playing, "You know I never heard any guitar solos until a year ago," & "I played in my first orchestra a year and a half ago") that conflicts with inflated claims he made when he was much older. Similarly, T-Bone's stories varied, but he once mentioned that the first electric guitarist he ever heard was Les Paul, which is more likely to be true than his claim to have been playing electric guitar well before 1939. His wife's recollection involving him learning to play electric guitar right about 1940 is probably correct. Durham's many claims about both Charlie Christian and Floyd Smith learning from him, etc., etc., are reminiscent of some of the most tall-tale-telling acoustic bluesmen such as Sam Chatmon: basically, the more people who had heard of Louis Armstrong, the more likely Sam was to say he had played with Louis Armstrong. Durham was honest about the Lunceford "Hittin' The Bottle" _not_ being on an electric, though.

One of the most important early showcases for electric guitar was Hawaiian guitarists.

Regarding backbeat, I would say it never caught on in a big way until Lionel Hampton and Buddy Johnson were both using it as of about 1946 (and then really only caught on about 1948). For instance, almost all boogie recordings made in 1945 have almost no use of backbeat.

Joseph Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: warren moorman
Sent: 12/21/13 02:37 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] Reuss was Etri was Christian

If I may join this discusssion, Eugene Hayhoe mentioned Leonard Ware, and it should be stressed that he was another whose fluent electric playing was in place well before exposure to Christian. He's also proof that the electric guitar was a more widespread development than the "southwestern school" emphasis of many narratives. George Barnes's the best proof of that, but Gibson having brought to market an electric model in '36 indicates how awareness of the instrument was already in the air by then. In that regard the electric guitar's a good example of how recordings are an imperfect denominator of history. Ever heard of Warren Clayton? He was being featured on electric guitar with Jack Wardlaw's very popular southeastern band by early 1938, but unrecorded, he's seldom included in tallies of early electric players. That Ware's often overlooked may be partly a result of his having been Hammond's recommendation as an electric guitarist to Goodman before Christian, which Goodman wasn't ready to accept, along with Ware's relatively small recorded legacy. On that point, let's take note that the 75th anniversary of the first Spirituals to Swing Concert is this Monday (Dec. 23, 1938). Virtually erased from the history of the show, Leonard Ware played electric guitar at the concert, not Eddie Durham as is usually, mistakenly, given. Ware's appearance is documented on a cd released in 2000 by Vanguard, whose compilers confirmed Ware's appearance from Hammond's notes and other research. Ware's solo on "After You've Gone", included on the cd, shows that he was a quite adept electric player already, and it clearly matches Ware's other recorded work, recognizably different from Durham's style. He'd already recorded on electric a month earlier (11/16/38) with Sidney Bechet, whose piano-less band he played in at Nick's at the time. Further proof of Ware's pre-Christian skill on electric was captured on a Camel Caravan aircheck a month after the Carnegie concert (Jan. 10, 1939), issued on a Collector's Choice cd. (George Rose, another electric player Goodman tried in 1939 before Christian joined in September, also has several decent solos on the same cd). Ware, who recorded with some significant figures in the '40's but mostly just stuck to live gigging, was in the late '30's an electric guitar inspiration to other early Harlem guitarists. I would mention William Lewis, who recorded a scorching electric solo on a Sam Price Decca side, "Blow Katy Blow", in early 1942, but aside from some airchecks with Benny Carter's band a few years later, Lewis' talent is completely lost to history. In any case, the imminent 75th anniversary of the Spirituals To Swing concert ought to be noteworthy, as it not only kicked off American musical "roots" awareness, spurred the launch of Blue Note Records and Cafe Society, and brought a strong back beat into popular music prominence via the boogie woogie craze, but was perhaps the earliest appearance of an electric guitarist in such a visible showcase, thanks to Leonard Ware. BTW, here's a link to one of the notices about Warren Clayton, the early white swing band electric guitarist: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmartech.gatech.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F1853%2F25240%2F1938-04-29_17_24.pdf&ei=e_u1Uv77KcmosQT9vYFQ&usg=AFQjCNHHKHbDYODzlLbmdAY45lg72Z_IXg Cheers 78l, Warren Moorman On Wednesday, December 18, 2013 1:52 PM, Julian Vein <julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: On 18/12/13 18:30, Joe Scott wrote: > There's a nice Harry James CD on Jasmine called Meadowbrook Memories, two '44 shows. Unfortunately the two low points of the CD are Reuss trying to play "Steel Guitar Rag," imo. By '44 the field was crowded with very good lead electric guitarists such as Chuck Wayne, T-Bone Walker, Les Paul, Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel, Al Casey, Jimmy Wyble, Remo Palmieri, Teddy Walters, and Tiny Grimes. > > Joseph Scott > =============== I was playing them this afternoon. I agree, Reuss seems to be going through the motions. Incidentally, the later version seems to have a superior arrangement. On the first one James seems to be thrashing out in all directions. Other fine electric guitarists of the period were Arv Garrison, Jimmy Shirley and Irving Ashby. Julian Vein _______________________________________________ 78-L mailing list 78-L at klickitat.78online.com http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l _______________________________________________ 78-L mailing list 78-L at klickitat.78online.com http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l