the magazine for independent music makers - The Music Maker Guide

also teamed up with jazz guitarist Eddie Lang
and history recalls that they were the first
black and white musicians to record together,
but because of the intense feeling and
hatred, towards mixing races, in whatever
form in White America back then. Eddie used
a stage name of Blind Willie Dunn to mask
his race and skin colour. Thankfully, this
fascist attitude has long since receded in the
population as a whole, although there are still
some areas of the States that one would
certainly hover a question mark over.
Musicians and music have always led the
way in building bridges between peoples and
nations and long may they continue. Even
way back in history, you can view from this
picture of a Christian musician, having a jam
session on lutes or Ouds, with a Muslim
musician.
It's a
shame
that all
politicians
aren't
musicians
as they
may find
far more
common
ground in
solving
the
world's problems than they currently do.
MUSIC
MAKER
I gather by now you have realised that
Lonnie was into improvisation, more than
the formatted blues structure. He was
leaning more towards jazz, yet with root s in
blues, which I think came more from his
songs than his instrumentals. His vocal
style was more sophisticated than most
blues singers, as you can tell by his smooth
delivery. Put the two together in
juxtaposition with the times in which he
plied his trade, and you have one of the
main pioneers of the cross over blues/jazz
genre, and certainly the most influential
guitarist of his generation and beyond.
Like all African Americans, he wrote
about the social conditions that he lived
and grew up in, and the subtle sentiment s
of love relationships. He recorded many
songs and instrumentals with Okeh and
played with many other artistes during his
fruitful career. In the late 1930's, he
switched labels and signed to Decca
Records. He used an electric guit ar for the
first time on a session with Joshua
Altheimer in 1939. With the end of WW11 in
1945, the guitar scene became more
electric and Lonnie moved into this genre
with ease and played more in the Rhythm
and Blues style with a group of other
notable musicians. In the late 40's he had a
huge hit with a song called "Tomorrow
Night" and although he didn't write the
song, he put his own interpret ation to it and
it topped the Billboard "Race Records"
chart for 7 weeks. Race Records was the
'box' that the record companies and media
put music by African Americans into and
thankfully, that racist philosophy has long
since been confined to the more shameful
part of musical history. He toured the UK in
the 50's and my old legendary bandleader
paid tribute to him by changing his name
from Tony to Lonnie. I am referring to the
man who started the British pop music
industry rolling, Lonnie Donegan, whom I
had the pleasure of playing with in the early
70's. As with all top musicians over time,
Lonnie Johnson's popularity waned and he
took a job as a hotel janitor. He was again
re-discovered and signed a deal with
Prestige Records. He continued recording
and touring into the late 60's until he was
hit by a car whilst walking in Toronto,
Canada. He suffered serious injuries and
never fully recovered from these. He died in
1970 and was inducted into the Louisiana
Blues Hall of Fame in 1997. In my opinion,
he should have been honoured with every
accolade possible for the massive
contribution he gave to guitar playing. A
true legend if ever there was one.
Paul Brett
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