Before I helped edit this column, I knew little of his work, or at least I was unaware of Mr. Walker as its source. Now I wonder how he eluded my notice. So who else digs T-Bone?
Love him! That’s one of the most beautiful guitar tones around, great sense of invention within the blues, great showman.
One of my favourite clips of T-Bone Walker - Jazz at the Philharmonic, with Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Wilson, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Moody, Benny Carter and Bob Cranshaw.
**Gfactor **- I couldn’t get the link to work, but in this quote, I figured it out - there are a few stray characters in front of “http” - the link in the quote is fixed.
Thanks for the OP (and your editing assistance!) - T-Bone really is wonderful.
Fixed it,
OT- Props to Wordman on the Teemings article - well done sir!
T-Bone definitely set the standard for ‘showman/vocalist/instrumentalist/frontman’.
It’s performers like him,Billy Gibbons,Hendrix,SRV, George Thorogood et al that I measure my own performances against. Obviously I’m nowhere near as good but it’s nice to have a standard to aspire to.
-Mitch
I want to bump this thread, and, I hope, get input on a question…
…if I were to keep writing articles in *teemings *about guitar and music, would anyone out there be interested in more on less-well-known-today-but-influential players like T-Bone, or about more modern stuff? Or more about the music and/or the guitar in the music vs. the player?
Any input at all would be great! Thanks in advance…
I might not want to be the guy you want to ask - basically, if it interests you about the guitar, its music or its players, it will interest me. Even on a subject I already know something about, you have come up with corners I hadn’t explored and connections I didn’t know about. On subjects I know nothing about, your writings always make me say to myself “Le Ministre, you lazy bastard - why didn’t you already know that?”
One of the things I love about the guitar is the ease with which musical ideas flow from one guitarist to another, irrespective of differences of style. Country players turn into jazz players, rock players steal licks from classical composers, contemporary classical composers write homages to Django Reinhardt and Frank Zappa, etc. I’m always interested in how roots and influences trace back and forth, and I’m also always interested in what guitarists like to play when nobody’s listening.
One of the things I loved about the T-Bone article was how it focused on someone you might not have heard directly, but whose influences were ubiquitous.
So my two cents worth is just keep ‘em comin’!!
Thanks sir - kind words. I’m at the airport, on BBerry, so can’t thumb-in text for long, but I hear you. Guitar is such a broad brush, that if you open youself to what it can do, it can open your mind to music you might otherwise discount or miss. I remember first hearing the stupid, simple lead on Steve Perry’s song Oh Sherry - and realizing, after playing it, what a model of hooky economy it was, and how good Waddy Wachtel is. Or realizing how godd Lindsey Buckingham is with his one-note-stinger lead in Don’t Stop. I wasn’t supposed to like that kinda music, but the guitar worked. If it could get me to listen to pop, what else should I listen to?
Coming in late, sorry WordMan. I thought you did a really good job on your article, especially relating T-Bone and his stylings to a) the evolving role of the guitar vs the horn section, and b) his influence on later players. I’d totally eat up more stuff in this vein. Honestly, I’d heard the name T-Bone before but knew next to nothing about him, and found this fascinating. Nice job!
Here is the best twelve bucks you will ever spend:
T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings: 1950-1954
At one point I had actually lost my copy of this album and had to special-order it from a small record shop. The clerk at the shop couldn’t believe how little I was paying for this thing (at the time, some fifteen years ago, it was only $11). I have my favorites, but these are all 52 of them boss sides. Twelve dollars. Twelve.
Compare that to the slightly bigger Complete Capitol/Black & White Recordings which is also full of wonderment, but will cost you out the ass for only one more disc worth of sides. In my opinion, there is no huge drop off in quality between his 40’s and 50’s recordings, which tends to highlight what a fantastic bargain the Imperial Recordings is, so that’s where you should start.
Although T-Bone Walker is credited with more-or-less inventing lead guitar, and so must be remembered to future generations, if you just really dig the sound, which straddles the line between jazz and blues, you should also check out Joe Liggins, who is the only other artist I’ve heard who sounds anything like T-Bone.
Hey **Johnny **- cool; that’s the collection I link to in the article. I got it - maybe even on sale for $9 (!!) 10 - 15 years ago and never looked back.
I think of **Charlie Christian **as the “inventor of lead guitar” - but that’s not fair since the two (T-Bone and Charlie) played together back before Charlie got more famous with Benny Goodman’s band. I don’t know Joe Liggins - if you can steer me towards clips online and notable recordings, that would be great.
Of modern stuff, **Duke’s Blues **by **Duke Robillard **has some very nice T-Bone covers and songs in the style of - Duke knows his stuff…