Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley was born Otha Ellas Bates in McComb, Missisippi, on 28^th December 1928 but he grew up inChicago where he was exposed to post-war blues. As a boy he played violin before switching to guitar.

Diddley was a contemporary and stablemate of Chuck Berry, both recording for the Chicago-based chess label. His music was heavily influenced by post-war Chicago blues, but what separated him from blues performers were his unique “Jungle rhythms”, as he called them. Diddley rarely played twelve-bar blues, choosing instead to make the verses oh his songs long and based around on chord, changing only for the chorus or hook lines.

His distinctive rhythmic style largely relied on the line-up of his band. It featured Diddley on guitar and vocals, Jerome Green on maracas, Otis Span on Piano Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica and Norma Jean Wofford (the “Duchess”) on guitar and backing vocals. Jerome’s maracas, the bass, drums and piano fused together with Diddley’s rhythm guitar to create the rhythms. Diddley was a major influence on a number of his contemporaries. His first record release, “Bo Diddley” has been recorded and preformed by a wide spectrum of artists. The Rolling Stones, among others, have featured note-for-note arrangements of many of his songs on stage and on record. Diddley’s influence is further underlined by the fact that David Bowie used the basic structure of Diddley’s “Cops and Robbers” when he recorded his own song “jean Genie” in 1972.

In the best tradition of the early rock’n’roll performers, BO Diddley had a visual gimmick: Gretsch built his guitars for him in an wide assortment of shapes and finishes, including oblong and fur-covered.

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Berry was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 18^th October 1931 or alternatively in San Jose, California, on 15^th January 1926. Interviewers who have tried to ascertain which date is correct have always been told byBerry, “that’s personal and nobody’s business”.

Chuck Berry is the single most important founder-figure in the story of rock’n’roll guitar playing. His instantly recognizable guitar riffs, solos, and rhythm playing complement perfectly the witty scenarios of teenage life inAmericaduring the fifties and sixties contained within his lyrics.

His most important early guitar influences were T-Bone walker, Carl Hogan and B.B. King. He also listened to jazz and mentions a liking for Charlie Christian’s work with the Benny Goodman band.

Berry had “played around” on guitar while at High School but had not takedn the instrument seriously until a local R&B performer by the name of Joe Sherman made him a present of a Kay electric. In the early fifties,Berryhad a trio which played at small local functions. He had studied and, at that time, was working as a hair dresser in case his guitar playing could not always pay the rent. In fact, he hung on to his hairdressing booth right up until time he was paid an advance on his recording contract. He used to perform a wide range of material in his efforts to get work, playing ballads and country music alongside his first love, the blues. His repertoire included compositions by Nat King Cols and Hank Williams.

One night during 1955, Muddy waters letBerrysit to play one song with his band. Waters was impressed byBerry’s guitar playing and told him that he should visit Leonard Chess at the Chicago-based Chess label and “get him to record you”.Berrywent to Chess courtesy of the waters introduction and took with him a demo tape of six songs that he had written and recorded on a cheap mono tape recorder. Chess was Impressed and immediately offeredBerryhis first recording contract. ThoughBerrywas apparently keen to promote himself as a blue singer and guitarist, chess saw greater sales potential in the up-tempo song “Maybellene” which brought elements of country music and the Blues together in a new and accessible way. Chess released “Maybellene” as an A-side, and it became a top-ten hit immediately.

The importance of “Maybellene” cannot be over-estimated. Its success was obviously good for Berry, but it was also good for Chess Records. The sales of their previous records had been limited to a mostly black audience. “Maybellene” became one of the very first rock’n’roll songs to break through to white audiences on a large scale. It was not until the following year – 1956 – that Elvis Presley had his major national hit with “Heartbreak Hotel”.

Charlie Christian

Although there were guitarists who had played amplified guitars before him, it was jazz musician Charlie Christian who established the electric guitar as a serious proposition.

He developed the style of single-note, melodic electric guitar playing that placed the instrument on a par with the saxophone, trumpet, clarinet a rhythmic percussive style with diminished and augmented chord structure in an original way that gave birth to what he and his co-innovators called “modern” jazz though the form has since become widely known as “bop” or “behop”

It is widely thought that Charles Christian was born inDallas,Texas, in 1919. His father was a singer-guitarist. The Christian family moved toOklahomawhen Charlie was just two years old.

His interest in music began by playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, but he also learned to play acoustic guitar, double bass and piano, though not necessarily in that order. It was a double-bass player that Christian got his first professional gig with Alphonso Trent’s bans in 1934. He played in several other bands before coming into contact with Eddie Durham in 1937.

Durhamwas an arranger, trombonist and pioneering electric guitarist with Count Basie. Christian had been impressed withDurham’s electric guitar work, and also by that of Floyd Smith who had been playing an amplified Hawaiian guitar. When he metDurham, he quizzed him on his playing technique. At the time Christian did nor own a guitar, and whenDurhamtold him to get one of his own, he turned up with an extremely rough instrument for which he paid five dollars.Durhamwas amused by the instrument but impressed with Christian’s desire to learn and his instant ability to assimilate all he was shown.

By 1938 Christian had acquired an “Electric Spanish” Gibson ES-150 guitar, which he most likely used in conjunction with a Gibson amplifier. The guitar was the first model sold complete with a fitted magnetic pick-up.  Suitably equipped, he rejoined Al Trent’s band, but this time as a guitar player. The response to his playing, from both audiences and musicians, combined astonishment with admiration.

By the time he was discovered by the jazz entrepreneur John Hammond, Christian had become something of a local hero inOklahoma.Hammondthought that Christian would be a perfect addition to Benny Goodman’s small group, and flew him toCalifornia. Christian Stayed with Goodman until his death less than two years later.

In July of 1941, following two years of intensive activity – the period in which the majority of his best-known recordings were made – Christian collapsed and was admitted to Bellevue Hospital, New York. He was suffering from tuberculosis. During early 1942, while convalescing as Seaview hospital, Staten Island, he contracted pneumonia. He died on 2^nd march 1942.

 

Django Reinhardt

Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer. Since coming to prominence in 1930s Django has provided inspiration for generations of guitarists. He was born into a nomadic caravan-dwelling gypsy family on 23^rd January 1919.

During his early they travelled through Belgium and France, later Paris became the centre of most of Django musical activities. By the age of thirteen Django was plying banjo at Bal-Musette. At the age of fifteen he heard American Jazz for the first time. He was converted instantly.

The now-legendary tragedy struck when Django was just eighteen, Returning from a performance late one night, Reinhardt apparently knocked over a candle on his way to bed. While his family and neighbours were quick to pull him to safety, he received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. After months of treatment the 3^rd and 4^th fingers of his left hand were left permanently deformed and paralyzed. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate one of his legs.

However, he not only fought to overcome the disability but developed a unique range of techniques and a new style of playing.

In 1933, while Django and the violinist Stephane Grappelli were playing together in the same band at hotel Claridge in Paris, the decided to for, their own band. It featured Django’s brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on rhythm guitars and Louis vola on double bass.

They were to become internationally famous as the Quinet du hot club de France. At their first concert, they created such a strong impression that the newly formed Ultraphone recording company offered them on a trail basis. Their first recording session was so successful that the company gave them a firm contract. The quintet continued to work together until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Its hard to list the qualities that went to make up Django’s ability. The emotional content of his music was just as impressive as the technical skills he had at his disposal. His strong Vibrato individual octave playing and rhythm work have now inspired several generations of guitarists. His compositions rank among the best ever written for acoustic guitar.

Django died in May 1953 at the age of 43. To this day there is a strong interest in his guitar playing, and recordings on which he is featured have sold steadily for the past fifty five years. He left a rich heritage of guitar music that continues to delight, confuse, confound, and stimulate guitarists the whole world over.