Chicagoan George Barnes (1921 - 1977), was the first professional electric soloist in jazz guitar. In the first half of the Thirties, using an amplifier and pickup handbuilt for him by his brother, he was already experimenting the possibilities of the electric instrument and, still a teenager, he joined the Musicians' Union as a professional player. In 1940 he recorded his first sides as a leader, which showed not only a mature and complete soloist but also a skilled and advanced arranger. Inspired by clarinet players, Barnes' style is totally personal and shows no influence deriving from Christian or Django. Barnes' career has been one of the busiest in the music business, mainly as arranger, producer and studio musician. Unfortunately, 'business' work put in shade his jazz side: Barnes' records are hard to find and only few of them are on Cd. In this video we see him in 1974 together with Ruby Braff on cornet, Wayne Wright on rhythm guitar and Michael Moore on bass (I decided to cut Braff's solo to concentrate on Barnes' one). Notice the 'old school' down picking, the way he holds the pick and the abundance of blues feeling. In case you've never heard of George Barnes, I hope this will make you want to know more about him.
Hi...I'm George's daughter Alexandra Barnes Leh, a writer-producer in Los Angeles, and I've just launched THE GEORGE BARNES LEGACY COLLECTION http://georgebarneslegacy.com, a transmedia project that dynamically tracks the untold history of my father's indelible influence on American popular music — from 30′s blues, to 40′s swing, to 50′s & 60′s rock and country, and jazz throughout, until his untimely death in 1977. The GB Legacy Collection is designed to bring my father to new generations of musicians and music lovers. My mother and I own many rare and wonderful recordings and writings; the first release from The Legacy is GEORGE BARNES: THE METHODS, a collection that includes his beginners' course, as well as the masters' course he was producing when he died. There'll be much more to own, and much more to enjoy on the site. I hope you'll join us in the long-overdue celebration of this guitar master!
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Alexandra. Your father was really a great musician and an innovator. Although few people knows it, he was the very first to introduce the electric guitar in the blues, recording (I guess at a very early age, 16 or 18?) striking solos behind Big Bill Broonzy, Jazz Gillum, Washboard Sam, Merline Johnson and many others Bluebird blues stars of the era.
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