Results for "guitar, electric"

John Primer

Born: March 3, 1945

y any yardstick, Chicago guitarist John Primer has paid his dues. Prior to making The Real Deal for Mike Vernon's Atlantic-distributed Code Blue label, Primer spent 13 years as the ever-reliable rhythm guitarist with Magic Slim & the Teardrops. Before that, he filled the same role behind Chicago immortals Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. All that grounding has paid off handsomely for Primer. His sound is rooted in the classic Windy City blues sound of decades past: rough-edged and uncompromising and satisfying in the extreme. He's one of the last real traditionalists in town. By the time he came to Chicago in 1963, Primer was thoroughly familiar with the lowdown sounds of Waters, Wolf, Jimmy Reed, B.B

Les Paul

Born: June 9, 1915

Les Paul is a unique blend of musician and inventor. His performing career started at the age of 13 and by the early 1950s he was the greatest jazz guitarist of his generation. As an inventor, Les Paul's breakthrough creation of the solid-body electric guitar paved the way for electric music made the sound of rock and roll possible. In 1953 while performing with Bing Crosby, he perfected the first multi- track recording machine, allowing separate lines of instrumental music and vocals to be blended together. His many recording innovations--including sound-on-sound, overdubbing, reverb effects, and multi-tracking--greatly accelerated the advancement of studio recording

Calvin Newborn

Born: April 27, 1933

Calvin Newborn - electric guitar, vocals In Memphis Tennessee, the lines between blues and jazz have always been blurred. From the great bandleader Jimmie Lunceford (who taught at Manassas High School in the 1920s), on through phenomenal musicians like Fred Ford, Frank Strozier, Hank Crawford, Herman Green, George Coleman, James Williams, and Charles Lloyd, the local blues scene provided an entry into a full-time musical career; the hard-earned admission to the jazz world came later. For good reason, one family the Newborns became known as Memphis’ “First Family of Jazz.” Drummer Finas Newborn, the family’s patriarch, played drums with Lunceford’s Chickasaw Syncopators at the height of the Depression; later, he backed Lionel Hampton and led his own group, which featured his sons, pianist Phineas and guitarist Calvin Newborn, and opened his own musical instrument store on Beale Street. Finas’ sons literally grew up with musical instruments in their hands

Kenny Neal

Born: October 14, 1957

Kenny Neal - guitar, vocals “Let Life Flow” marks the return of multi-instrumentalist and modern swamp-blues master Kenny Neal, with an inspired set that draws musically from the sizzling sounds of his native Louisiana, while striking a deep, emotional resonance in response to the personal trials he has recently endured. For the past few years, health problems forced Kenny away from the studio and touring, and his first release since signing with Blind Pig Records finds him returning with a renewed vigor and outlook on life. “Let Life Flow” reflects his optimistic sense of perseverance, set to the soulful grooves that have garnered him a solid fan base over the past 20 years. Neal, born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, began playing music at a very young age, learning the basics from his father, singer and blues harmonica player, Raful Neal, Jr

Larry McCray

Born: April 5, 1960

Larry McCray - guitar, vocals Larry McCray, the second youngest of nine children, was raised on a small farm in Magnolia, Arkansas. His father played the blues on harmonica and guitar, and his older sister Clara was a guitarist and disciple of Freddie King. The family had records by John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters, among others. McCray cites the musical influence of the three blues Kings - B.B., Albert and Freddie - on his guitar playing, as well as Albert Collins, Elmore James and Magic Sam. Larry McCray is one of a handful of talented young blues performers leading the genre across boundaries and into the new century

Bob Margolin

Born: May 9, 1949

oston native BOB MARGOLIN was born in 1949. Inspired by Chuck Berry, he started playing guitar at age 15 and immediately started performing in local rock and blues bands. Margolin was hired by Muddy Waters in 1973. Muddy’s band toured the world and jammed with many great blues and rock musicians, “but the biggest thrill was playing Muddy’s Blues with him.” Muddy brought Margolin with him to special shows and recordings, when he sometimes didn’t use his whole band, to give him a familiar sound when working with other musicians. In 1975, they recorded Grammy Award-winning “Muddy Waters Woodstock Album”, Muddy’s last for Chess Records, which featured Paul Butterfield, and Levon Helm and Garth Hudson from The Band

Russell Malone

Born: November 8, 1963

Russell Malone's first guitar was a plastic green toy his mother bought him. Only four years old, Malone strummed the little guitar all day long for days on end trying to emulate the sounds he had heard from guitarists at church in Albany, Georgia. As a child, Malone developed an interest in blues and country music after seeing musicians on television like Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Son Seals, and B.B. King. Then, at age 12, he saw George Benson perform with Benny Goodman on Soundstage.

Malone has said, "I knew right then and there that I wanted to play this music." A self-taught player, Malone progressed well enough to land a gig with master organist Jimmy Smith when he was 25. "It made me realize that I wasn't as good as I thought I was," Malone recalls of his first on-stage jam with Smith. After two years with Smith, he went on to join Harry Connick Jr.'s orchestra, a position he held from 1990-94, appearing on three of Connick''s recordings.

Magic Sam

Born: February 14, 1937

The late Magic Sam was a brilliant guitarist and a soaring, urgent vocalist. Dead from heart failure at the untimely age of thirty-two in 1969, Samuel Maghett was a pivotal figure whose memorable originals, like "All of Your Love," expanded the parameters of the blues with fresh melodic lines and rich, modern-sounding chord voicings. By transcending the twelve-bar song structure, Maghett made a major break from the Fifties style of Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers. This paved the way for such soul-drenched blues stylists as Jimmy Johnson and Lonnie Brooks, as well as contemporary songsmiths like Robert Cray

Barbara Lynn

Born: January 16, 1942

Barbara Lynn was well ahead of her time in being a triple threat singer, songwriter, and guitarist. It was in 1962, while just turning 20, that she had the number one hit on the charts with her original penned “You’ll Lose A Good Thing.” Singing while playing an expressive left handed guitar on her records and live performances, Barbara Lynn weaved a masterful sound between blues and soul which went on to influence a horde of imitators. Barbara Lynn Ozen was born on January 16, 1942 in Beaumont, TX. Though she started out playing piano as a child, she quickly switched to guitar after falling under the influence of the Elvis and growing rock and roll craze. Inspired by electric bluesmen like Guitar Slim and Jimmy Reed, by her teen years Lynn was winning talent shows leading her all-female band, Bobbie Lynn and the Idols

Johnny Littlejohn

Born: April 16, 1931

Blues guitarist Johnny Littlejohn was born John Funchess in Mississippi on April 16, 1931. A brilliant singer, songwriter and soloist, both on regular and especially slide guitars. John worked at plantations when he was young, and his father gave him his first guitar. Johnny learned quickly, with family friend Henry Martin as his initial mentor. Henry was an influential Jackson Mississippi bluesman. Johnny left Mississippi around 1946 and wound up in Gary, Indiana by 1951. Johnny played with Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and others before going solo