Lonnie Johnson (1894 - 1970) - Another Night To Cry
We’re going to kick off the list with Alonzo “Lonnie” Johnson, born on February 8, 1894 in New Orleans.
“On many of his early recordings he played 12-string guitar solos in a style that influenced such future jazz guitarists as George Barnes, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt giving the instrument new meaning as a jazz voice.
He excelled in purely instrumental pieces, some of which he recorded with the white jazz guitarist Eddie Lang, with whom he teamed in 1929. Much of Johnson's music featured experimental improvisations that would now be categorized as jazz rather than blues. According to the blues historian Gérard Herzhaft, Johnson was "undeniably the creator of the guitar solo played note by note with a pick, which has become the standard in jazz, blues, country, and rock". Johnson's style reached both the Delta bluesmen and urban players who would adapt and develop his one-string solos into the modern electric blues style.” (thanks Wikipedia)
Here he’s playing “Playing With The Strings” in 1928 (will definitely be transcribed at a later date):
The track I actually transcribed is from a 1963 video recording of the song “Another Night To Cry”.
I transcribed the instrumental parts (i.e. the intro and the solo), here they are timestamped.
The Intro
The Solo
And here’s the pdf if you want to download it:
In the next installment we’re going to have a look at the man credited as “the father of jazz guitar” (I didn’t know that myself): Eddie Lang.