Early R&B

[Lionel Mandrake]

Blues singer Big Joe Turner & boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson were quite popular a long time ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud6OhLFkPNk

The sound quality of this recording is pretty good for 1938.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Lionel Mandrake!

Oh, I like this old time sound...

And you're right--it's pretty decent for being that old. I don't hear the usual hiss.

Rock has its roots here.

Thanks for posting!

:hi:

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. My dear CP

I'm glad you like the music.

You're right about the roots of rock. In the 1950s they called it "rock and roll". The band often featured a piano, and the piano style was close to boogie-woogie. Think Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard. After a while, the guitars took over, and the name of the genre was shortened to "rock".

[chollybocker]

3. Great tune - love this stuff.

Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Six Jumping Jacks... :)
Thanks.

[Lionel Mandrake]

5. I'm glad you enjoyed it. nt

[Lionel Mandrake]

9. Speaking of Fats Waller

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNYtC9uye0

It's mostly Fats Waller, plus a bit of Art Tatum, with commentary by Chick Corea.

[bluesbassman]

4. Over 60 years old and it still boogies.

Just goes to show that good music is timeless. Thanks for posting such a great tune.

[Lionel Mandrake]

6. Yes, it does.

You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[old mark]

7. Thanks. My dad had several albums-thick books containing maybe a half dozen

78 RPM records by them, as well as some by Albert Ammons and several others. I started listenting to that stuff when I was in 2nd grade.

It is just great that people today know who these guys were.

mark

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. You're welcome.

My dad also had a collection of 78 RPM records. He liked dixieland, swing, and boogie-woogie, which were popular when he was a kid. He couldn't handle anything more recent, like bebop. And he had no interest in classical music.

A typical 78 RPM record was ten inches in diameter. Each side would hold a maximum of three minutes of music. There were also 12 inch 78 RPM records for somewhat longer pieces of music.

The books you mentioned are the reason why LP (vinyl) records and CDs are called "albums".

I generally prefer Pete Johnson's boogie-woogie to that of Albert Ammons or Meade Lux Lewis, although I like Lewis's "Honky Tonk Train Blues".

The Wikipedia article on Meade Lux Lewis mentions that "he also appeared, uncredited, in the movie It's a Wonderful Life playing piano in the scene where George Baily gets thrown out of Nick's Bar."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meade_Lux_Lewis

That scene was meant to show how the town would have deteriorated if George had never been born. I find it ironic that the supposedly worse version of the town was in some respects an improvement (e.g., the music). But I digress.

On edit: Here is an excerpt from the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Meade Lux Lewis appears four minutes into the excerpt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA_AgSDgXc8