[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 56, Issue 2

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

The black New Orleans musicians, many of whom had no banjos, shrugged
bought them because there was demand for them (and not the electric
guitars they did own).
--------------------------------------

Wasn't the electric pickup invented by Les Paul sometime in the late 30's or 
early 40's.  I didn't think that they were even available until after the 
war sometime.  I suppose they could have miked them before that but I didn't 
think it was possible to own an electric guitar before the war.

Maybe someone else has a slant on the early electric guitars.  The first 
electric I ever heard was a steel guitar about 1950.  I was only 10 or 11 
then.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 56, Issue 2


>I basically agree with you, Steve, except that there were many white
> groups that used a guitar (Eddie Lang, Al Biondi, Carl Kress, etc).
> Also, banjos coule be better recorded acoustically, but the
> introduction of electric recording changed that.  Nevertheless, the
> banjo stayed for a while (personally, I usually prefer the guitar, but
> there are exceptions).
> Banjo is a louder instrument, and as ballrooms grew larger, there was
> a need for an instrument that could be heard, and that gave the banjo
> (and the brass bace) an edge over the quieter guitar (and double
> bass).
> And if "contemporary" traditional bands more often use banjos rather
> than guitars, that's because: a)Lu Watters preferred it that way, and
> b)the white critics who "invented" the "original" New Orleans sound
> (and would have neither guitars nor saxophones) wanted it that way.
> The blask New Orleans musicians, many of whom had no banjos, shrugged
> bought them because there was demand for them (and not the electric
> guitars they did own).
> Cheers
> SUPPORT LIVE JAZZ (tomorrow we're going to hear a Gypsy jazz violinist
> Vitali Imerelli in Tel-Aviv).
> On 03/08/07, Steve Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote: