Eddie Cochran was a big fan of Johnny Smith and the Ray Charles at Newport album. Scotty Moore was a Tal Farlow fan. The most advanced guy in that world at that time, Cliff Gallup (from the Blue Caps), was huge into Les Paul. Frank Beecher, who played with Bill Haley, had previously played with Benny Goodman (I think he replaced Mike Bryan or Turk Van Lake). Paul Burlison, on the other hand, seemed be be coming out of blues players of the time (Guitar Slim, Gatemouth Brown, Lowman Pauling) and Les Paul. And Larry Collins was all about his mentor, Joe Maphis. Maphis had the most astonishing technique of any flatpicker the world had seen to date (Doc Watson had yet to arrive), but his focus was entirely in the Scotch-Irish fiddle tune mindset. He was a huge influence on Clarence White, of whom he was an early endorser. Of course, Scotty Moore was also hugely influenced by Chet Atkins, who seemed to have influenced everyone in rockabilly along with Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. Whoever played guitar on Johnny and Joe's "I Can;t Find The Doorknob", plus Gary Lambert (who's on the Glen Glenn stuff) typify this. It pays to remember that rockabilly was a country music development, so the chief influences are liable to be whoever was hot shit in country at the time -- Chet Atkins, Hank Garland, Grady Martin, and, to a lesser extent, Merle Travis -- coupled with some other stuff. That said, "Guitar Boogie" was such a huge record that its influence cannot be overstaed in this music. I don't know who took the solo, but whoever it is on the Thumper Jones stuff -- "How Come It" and "Rock It" -- is pretty wild. Thumper soon after stopped playing rockabilly and went back to cutting country and using his real first name, George. he did okay. Also, there's a wild solo on the amazing "Rhythm N Booze" by Corky Jones, played by Corky himself. Corky's single didn't take off, so he too went back to cutting country under his real name -- Buck Owens. Buck also played on some Wanda jackson sessions, but probably the most distinctive playing on a Wanda record is the pseudo-eastern slide hook on "Funnel Of Love", which was played by Roy Clark (a redneck who knew how to play over chord changes very well). Atkins, by the way, played his share of really good rockabilly solos, like the amazing one on "Everlovin'" by the Davis Sisters. Jimmy Bryant is the Pat Martino of hillbilly guitar, and he too had a few moments of rockabilly glory: the Sammy Masters singles on 4 Star, which are masterpieces. While Sam is known mostly as a songwriter ("Who Can I Count On", which was recorded by Patsy Cline, and the ubiquitous to Californians "Go See Cal"), his 4 Star singles are kind of a holy grail, especially "Some Like It Hot", and some of Bryant's best playing is on them. When I played with Sam, I had the unenviable task of having to reacreate the famous descending diminished four bar break on "Some Like It Hot", and figuring it out was not a happy experience. Incidentally, D. Clinton Thomas' solo on the Morells' "Growin' A Beard" is a note-for-note recreation of that whole solo. For Jimmy Bryant, you need only hear "Stratosphere Boogie", which puts most jazz guitar to shame in terms of harmonic imagination and rhythmic drive. Shockingly, he wasn't that popular. His records with Speedy West were beyond their time and didn't sell that well. Marshall Crenshaw called them "the Bird and Diz of hillbilly music", and that's accurate. Very few things live up to their advance hoopla as well as Jimmy & Speedy. Hope this helps. skip h on 6/21/03 6:59 AM, Matt Laferty at mlaferty@stny.rr.com wrote:
The problem is that there is a big class issue. While Elvis quickly and financially transcended Memphis (whose Jazz scene was not that contemporary, I would wager), most Rockabilly was pretty rural stuff. The big names on Capital and RCA whose background was in country were probably more influenced by Western Swing. Western Swing (and what some folks call "hillbilly bop") has a lot of Jazz influence. The solos on Bob Wills and Milton Brown records can be downright swinging.
I'd recommend listening to Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant, two HOT HOT HOT session guitarists who blended jazz, country, bop, western swing influences with exotica and a whole mess. It's instrumental, 50s and great. Hank Garland was a country guitarist who was very jazz influenced...all those guys, esp. the pickers, loved Django.
matt
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tosh" <tosh3@earthlink.net> To: <zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2003 2:31 AM Subject: Rockabilly meets Jazz
For those of you on the list that has a long memory - you can gather I got into 1950's Jazz - and recently got into Rockabilly.
I know Buddy Holly lived in the Village and went to Jazz clubs. I presume to see artists like Monk, Miles, etc. But I wonder if people like Sam Phillips (Sun Records) or even Elvis listened to contemporary (meaning 50's) Jazz? Is there a Rockabilly artist that has Jazz shadings or visa versa?
It seems unlikely by reading bios on Elvis - but the thought stuck in the back of my head while reading the Buddy Holly bio. Also the late 50's were an amazing time for music. Sinatra was making great recordings, Elvis & the whole Rockabilly scene including Sun Records of course - and Glenn Gould too. In the 60's it seems that one field of artist could meet another - but maybe socially the music scene in the 50's weren't so expansive...if that's the right word.
Anyway it is something I have been thinking about - and would like to hear others comment...if it's even possible!
Best, Tosh -- Tosh Berman TamTam Books http://www.tamtambooks.com
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