Weekly Southern Media Presents Tom, Jerry, Eddie & Sydney
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Sidney Bechet (1886 - 1952) was among the most gifted and mercurial of the early jazz pioneers. He recorded before Louis Armstrong by a few months and his wide vibrato and beautiful phrasing on Clarinet and Saxophone made him a model for a diverse range of players, including Johnny Hodges and Benny Goodman. Bechet was inducted into Downbeat's jazz hall of fame in 1968 and is regarded as a central figure in the history of 20th Century music.
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As jazz evolved from Dixieland into Swing the guitar took the place of the banjo as the rhythm instrument of choice. Most guitarists, however, were relegated to the role of comping chords behind the soloist and were kept in the background. Two guitarists changed that forever. They were Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang. Eddie Lang (Oct. 25, 1902 - March 26, 1933) was more than a background player, he was jazz guitar's first great virtuoso. He was also Bing Crosby's primary accompanist in the early days of Derbingle's reign as the preeminent crooner of the day. Lang, along with Joe Venuti, formed a guitar-violin duo that became the model for Django Rheinhardt and Stephan Grappelli. He is also created the first interracial guitar duo with Lonnie Johnson, performing under the pseudonym of Blind Willie Dunn in order to work around the racial segregation of the time.
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Since we already featured Jerry in a previous installment of WSA we thought it only fitting to continue with some more of his one-of-a-kind talent. Here, the master pays homage to the genius of soul, Mr. Ray Charles, with "Hallelujah I love her so" from 1969!
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It seemed reasonable to keep Tom and Jerry together for one more gig, even though they aren't really playing together in this video. This was from a performance of a few years ago for the "Tiny desk concerts" put on by public radio in their studio. Sir Tom performing with only guitar accompaniment, that big muscular voice in full throttle, filling the room in a way that he and very few other singers ever could. On guitar is Brian Monroney, his musical director, showing how to sound like a band all by his lonesome!
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