One of my favorite guitarists of the 20s and 30s was Lonnie Johnson. I always thought his playing style was so crisp and fresh that he’s one of the few blues artists I go out of my way to collect.
Of course, Johnson considered himself a jazz guitarist and indeed appears on many jazz records in the 1920s, including with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, Jimmy Blythe, Wilton Crawley, Chas. Creath’s Jazz-o-maniacs, Duke Ellington, and Clarence Williams (and yes, I just did a search of Rust’s “Jazz and Ragtime Records to come up with that list) – along with providing guitar accompaniment to a number of blues singers. Of course, his most famous collaborations are with guitarist Eddie Lang.
But often he recorded blues after winning a contest in St. Louis in 1925 and being awarded a recording contract with Okeh Records. Many of his records featured a blues number with Johnson on vocals. Here we have an instrumental composition that could be said to represent a bridge between his jazz and blues roots.
Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee on Tuesday, February 21, 1928.
Released as Okeh 8575.
Credits:
Lonnie Johnson – guitar
Leave a Reply