The Original Guitar Hero and the Power of Music: The Legendary Lonnie Johnson, Music, and Civil Rights (Volume 8) (North Texas Lives of Musician Series) - Hardcover

Alger, Dean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574415468 ISBN 13: 9781574415469

Publisher: University of North Texas Press, 2014

Synopsis

Lonnie Johnson (1894–1970) was a virtuoso guitarist who influenced generations of musicians from Django Reinhardt to Eric Clapton to Bill Wyman and especially B. B. King. Born in New Orleans, he began playing violin and guitar in his father’s band at an early age. When most of his family was wiped out by the 1918 flu epidemic, he and his surviving brother moved to St. Louis, where he won a blues contest that included a recording contract.  His career was launched.

Johnson can be heard on many Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong records, including the latter’s famous “Savoy Blues” with the Hot Five. He is perhaps best known for his 12-string guitar solos and his ground-breaking recordings with the white guitarist Eddie Lang in the late 1920s. After World War II he began playing rhythm and blues and continued to record and tour until his death.

This is the first full-length work on Johnson. Dean Alger answers many biographical mysteries, including how many members of Johnson’s large family were left after the epidemic. He also places Johnson and his musical contemporaries in the context of American race relations and argues for the importance of music in the fight for civil rights. Finally, Alger analyzes Johnson’s major recordings in terms of technique and style. A new Lonnie Johnson music CD will be released by the author to coordinate with the publication of this book.

About this title

About the Author

DEAN ALGER’s writings and presentations on blues and jazz for the new Grove Dictionary of American Music and others have been widely praised. Also a public affairs consultant, he is the author of five acclaimed books on democracy, elections, and media. He lives in St. Paul where he leads a trio.

Reviews

Though recognized by B. B. King and others for his strong influence, blues- and jazz-guitar pioneer and singer Lonnie Johnson is an underappreciated giant of the music, a precursor not only of King, but also of jazz great Charlie Christian and rockers such as Eric Clapton. In often-minute detail, Alger recounts Johnson’s long—if interrupted—career, from his early solos and duets (with his brother and with guitarist Eddie Lang and blues singer Victoria Spivey) to his accompanying Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington on classic recordings, and into the blues revival of the 1960s. Alger insistently seeks to correct the relative lack of recognition of Johnson by the music-loving public. Although some of Alger’s claims are strained, Johnson’s seminal role is abundantly substantiated, not merely by the author’s claims (and King’s) but by the music itself, a CD of which is to be issued separately. By bringing the music back along with this commentary, Alger makes a substantial contribution to the history of early jazz, of the guitar’s preeminence in twentieth-century music, and of Johnson’s major, but regrettably forgotten, role. --Mark Levine

Edition details

• Publisher: University of North Texas Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574415468
• ISBN 13: 9781574415469
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384