Dick McDonough: jazz guitar virtuoso from the 30's

Dick McDonough (1904-1938) was one of the top guitarists of the 30's jazz scene. His style stemmed directly from Eddie Lang's one and he was probably the truest follower of Lang's ideas. One of the busiest studio musicians of those days, McDonough is present on dozens of recordings but (as with all the guitar players of that era) the space reserved to his solos was generally limited to eight or sixteen bars. So, in order to enjoy his great talent and virtuosity we need to listen to the wonderful guitar duets he recorded with Carl Kress. But here (1934) he is totally alone with his personal rendition of a Fats Waller's classic. McDonough was not the first one to record an unaccompanied guitar solo: both Lang and Lonnie Johnson did it around 1927/1928. But Lang's ones (we're excluding here the works with piano comping) were Rachmaninoff's Prelude op. 3 n.2 and 'A little love, a little kiss', a sort of folk-flavoured serenade while Johnson's sides were basically blues-based improvisations. So, this recording of McDonough has to be considered the first 'guitar solo' rendition of a jazz standard (it seems that New Orleans' guitarist Snoozer Quinn did the same in the 20's before everybody else: but those recordings were never issued and, until now, are considered totally lost). The 'guitar unaccompanied solo' tradition went on with (among others) Carl Kress, Oscar Aleman, Django Reinhardt, George Van Eps, Al Viola; in the 70s, Joe Pass brought it to a new level and, since then, so many others refined this particular side of guitar playing. But all of them did it after 1934, when the great Dick McDonough with his acoustic L5 gave to guitar a new dimension.

100 years of Django

One hundred years ago, a gypsy family in Belgium was celebrating the birth of a baby called Jean Baptiste Reinhardt, nicknamed Django. They didn't know then, but their baby was destined to be different from the others: he was a musical genius, who would have become one of the greatest guitar players in history. Everything has been said and written about Django and today his artistic heritage is still alive and beating. Hundreds of guitarists all over the world play in Django's style, groups inspired by the 'Quintette du Hot Club de France' are everywhere, not to mention the 'Manouche' musicians that worship him as a god. We'd like to remember him with three minutes of his 'solo guitar' music.

It is hardly possible to be more expressive, poetic and touching than this.

Lenny Breau: a timeless genius

This is another example of Lenny Breau's unique and unbelievable 'vision' of the guitar. The pianistic approach, playing melody and chord at the same time, is very clear here. This is also due to the seventh string (on top, tuned as high A) which allows him a wider range. Anyway, as we can see in the other post, this approach has been with him since the beginning, using a normal six string instrument. Every Breau's fan is waiting for a DVD release of the documentary ' The Genius of Lenny Breau' produced and created by Lenny's daughter, Emily Hughes (you can see parts of it on Youtube). For now, we have a stellar guitar meeting here. Hope you enjoy it.

Garoto

As mentioned in the previous Baden Powell post, Brazilian guitar is a world in itself. Here, we'd like to remember the art of Garoto (1915-1955; born Anibal Augusto Sardinha) with a rare recording he made in 1950. Considered by many as the 'father' of Brazilian guitar, Garoto had his roots in the choro tradition and in the Thirties his work was shared mainly between radio and recordings. During his 1939 tour in the U.S.A. with Carmen Miranda, his guitar playing caught the attention of great jazz musicians like Duke Ellington and Art Tatum. As a composer, he blended the Brazilian tradition with jazz harmonies, anticipating by years the bossa nova conception. This is a brief but exquisite example of his art.