Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht

Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht

Author:Jas Obrecht [Obrecht, Jas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: MUS003000 Music / Genres & Styles / Blues
ISBN: 9780816698059
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2015-11-09T06:00:00+00:00


I want all you people to listen to my song,

I want all you people to listen to my song,

Remember me after all the days I’m gone.19

His smooth, clear delivery would become his trademark. For his second selection, “Falling Rain Blues,” Johnson simultaneously sang and played fiddle. Because of the color of his skin, his 78s, like those of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, were issued in OKeh’s 8000 “race” series.

The sales of Johnson’s initial 78 impressed OKeh executives, and in January 1926 the Johnson brothers traveled to New York City for a more ambitious set of sessions. Over a two-day period, Lonnie recorded nine songs under his own name, as well as two credited to his brother James. On their first selection, “Very Lonesome Blues,” the Johnson brothers soloed simultaneously on violins. “Nile of Genago” featured them playing a lovely preblues parlor guitar duet. For his brother’s debut 78, Lonnie played banjo on “No Good Blues” while James sang and played violin. On the flip side, James backed himself on banjo for “Newport Blues” while Lonnie used a kazoo or paper-covered comb to approximate a sassy horn part. At a follow-up session in St. Louis, James played guitar while Lonnie alternated between violin and guitar.

Johnson’s 78s, which sounded unlike any other blues performer’s, quickly found an audience. “Clearly, this was no ordinary artist,” wrote Chris Albertson. “He was far more polished than the day’s male blues singers, and his extraordinary instrumental skills matched those of the era’s leading jazz players. Consequently, Lonnie began performing along the RKO and T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuits, outlets that remained closed to such contemporary country blues artists as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Papa Charlie Jackson, and Blind Blake.”20 A June 1926 ad in the Chicago Defender placed Johnson, who’d only been recording for seven months, in grand company. The evening’s “Cabaret and Style Show” featured “OKeh Race Record Stars” performing a benefit for the Chicago Musician’s Union. Among the musicians depicted in the ad are Sylvester Weaver, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Butterbeans and Susie, Louis Armstrong, and Lonnie Johnson.21

In the Oliver interview, Johnson spoke of his time playing the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) theater circuit:



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.