George Barnes (musician)
Encyclopedia
George Barnes was a world-renowned swing jazz guitarist, who claimed he played the first electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 in 1931, preceding Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...

 by six years. George Barnes made the first recording of an electric guitar in 1938 in sessions with Big Bill Broonzy.

Biography

George Barnes was born in South Chicago Heights, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. He started his career accompanying blues vocalists such as Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...

. In the mid-1930s, Barnes toured throughout the Midwest. By 1938, he was working as a musician on the staff of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 studios. After a stint in the Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

, Barnes recorded with his octet
Octet (music)
In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or a musical composition written for such an ensemble.-Octets in classical music:Octets in classical music are one of the largest groupings of chamber music...

 and worked as a studio musician for Decca.

In 1940, Barnes released his first recording under his own name on Okeh Records, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" backed with "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me".

He did not receive national acclaim until he recorded an album called Two Guitars with Carl Kress
Carl Kress
Carl Kress was an American jazz guitarist.-Musical career:Kress began his career with Paul Whiteman in 1926, and thereafter launched a successful career as a studio guitarist...

. After the death of Kress, Barnes recorded several albums with Bucky Pizzarelli
Bucky Pizzarelli
John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli is an American Jazz guitarist and banjoist, and the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and upright bassist Martin Pizzarelli. Pizzarelli has also worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett and also ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in...

. Their partnership lasted through the early 1970s. He also worked as a session musician for The Jodimars
The Jodimars
The Jodimars was an American rock and roll band that was formed in the summer of 1955 and remained active until 1958. The band was created by former members of Bill Haley & His Comets who had quit that group in a salary dispute...

 in the late 1950s.
Before his death, Barnes also made well-received albums with Joe Venuti. He also contributed an album entitled Guitars a'plenty, under the name The George Barnes Guitar Choir, for Mercury Records in 1962. It was part of a series of recordings known as "Super Stereo Sound" as technical "state of the art" techniques.

First jazz recording with electric guitar

While several Western Swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...

 guitarists were recording with electric guitars earlier than 1938, The first recording of an electric guitar in jazz was by Barnes. He recorded two songs, "Sweetheart Land" and "It's a Low-Down Dirty Shame" with Big Bill Broonzy, in Chicago on March 1, 1938. Many historians incorrectly attribute the first recording to Eddie Durham, but Durham's recording with the Kansas City Five was not until 15 days later.

Style and technique

Barnes formative guitar years preceded the be-bop era therefore his playing style was more swing. His lines were usually short, very melodic, bluesy and "inside" (e.g. diatonic) as compared to the chromaticism and long lines of be-bop era guitarists (such as Pat Martino). His improvisation employed "call and answer" extensively — e.g. playing a line in one octave (call) and repeating the exact or similar line in another octave (answer). His lines swung, were well articulated and often cleverly posed. Barnes' tone was brighter than most jazz guitarists (such as Joe Pass
Joe Pass
Joe Pass was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century...

 or Jim Hall
Jim Hall (musician)
James Stanley Hall is an American jazz guitarist.-Biography:Educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he began to attract national, and then international, attention in the late 1950s...

) and reflected his "happy" approach.

Barnes died in Concord, California
Concord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...

 in 1977. Not long before his death he recorded two live albums at a San Francisco club. The albums are good examples of his swinging, happy and often mischievous technique. The albums also include his banter with the audience, introduction of tunes and his band, giving you a brief look into his sense of humor.

In a review of the album Don't Get Around Much Anymore (material from a 1977 Concord, California concert that was recorded a little more than a month before Barnes' sudden death at the age of 56), Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson
Jim Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, music educator, author, and music journalist/editor.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jim Ferguson began his early music education playing the trombone at age 7, and then after eight years of study, switched to the guitar at age 15...

 wrote: "Often overlooked in a sea of more modern-sounding, bebop-oriented guitarists, George Barnes could swing like mad and spin out intricate, frequently bluesy phrases with awesome precision and musicality.... From start to finish, this well-recorded performance demonstrates the qualities that qualify Barnes for a position among the most elite players in the annals of jazz guitar."

George Barnes wrote the instructional manuals George Barnes' Living Guitar Method; The Easy Way to Learn All the Chords and Rhythms and How to Arrange for Solo Guitar.

Major recordings

  • "Sweetheart Land"/"It's A Low Down Dirty Shame", with Big Bill Broonzy, March 1, 1938, Acc. by Bill Owsley (ts); BJ Davis (p); George Barnes (el/g).
  • "It's Too Late Now"/"Down At The Old Village Store"/"The Gal I Love", with Washboard Sam, March 14, 1938, Acc. by Big Bill (g); George Barnes (el/g); Black Bob (b).
  • "New Shake 'Em on Down
    Shake 'Em on Down
    "Shake 'Em on Down" is a country-style blues song recorded by Bukka White in 1937. It is his best-known song and "became part of the repertoire of Chicago blues".-Background:...

    "/"Night Time Is the Right Time", with Big Bill Broonzy, May 5, 1938, Acc. by Bill Owsley (cl/ts), Joshua Altheimer
    Joshua Altheimer
    Joshua Altheimer Although some sources give his date of death as February 18, 1940, that cannot be correct as he is known to have recorded later that year. was an American pianist who is remembered for accompanying Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and others on influential...

    (p), George Barnes (el/g), unk (b).
  • "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"/"I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me", George Barnes, February, 1940, George Barnes (g); Duney Warren (ts); Bill Huntington (g); Ernie Newton (b).
  • "Lula From Honolulu", Sweet Violet Boys, February 15, 1940, Alan Crockett, vocal/fiddle; Augie Klein, accordion; George Barnes, electric guitar; Chick Hurt, mandolin; Salty Holmes, guitar; Bob Long, guitar; Jack Taylor, string bass. Vocalion 05498.
  • "Kilroy Is Here"/"Zebra's Derby"/"At The Jazz Band Ball"/"Starlight Interlude", George Barnes And His Octet, 1946, George Barnes (g) and various woodwinds.
  • "A Good Night For Murder"/"Suite For Octette", 1946, George Barnes Octet.
  • "Movin' Easy"/"Pick Yourself Up", 1959, George Barnes (g); Billy Bauer (g); Hank D'Amico (cl); Jack Lesberg (b); Cliff Leeman (d).
  • "Something Tender"/"The Eel's Nephew", 1963, George Barnes (g); Carl Kress (g); Bud Freeman (ts).
  • "Blue Skies"/"Eleanor Rigby"/"Here There And Everywhere"/"Rose Room"/"Love Story Theme", Town Hall Concert, 1971, George Barnes (g); Bucky Pizzarelli (g).
  • "Blue Moon"/"The Lady Is A Tramp", with Tony Bennett, 1973, George Barnes (g); Ruby Braff (cornet); Wayne Wright (g); John Giuffrida (b).
  • "I Want To Be Happy"/"I'm Coming Virginia", with Joe Venuti, 1975, Joe Venuti (v); George Barnes (g); Bob Gibbons (g); Herb Mickman (b); Jake Hanna (d).
  • "Moonglow"/"Fascinatin' Rhythm", 1977, George Barnes (g); Duncan James (g); Dean Reilly (b); Benny Barth (d).

Compositions

George Barnes' compositions included "Kilroy is Here", "Starlight Interlude", "South Side Blues", "Suite for Octette", "Zebra's Derby", "Frolic for Basses", "It's Like the Fourth of July", "Floatin'", "Duet for the Three Guitars", "Dawn at Midnight", "Jumpin' Jack", "Sunday Drive", "Misty Morn", "Girl in a Picture Hat", "A Good Night for Murder", "Guitars Galore", "Movin' Easy", "Something Tender", "Frisky", "Fast and Fancy", "Hot Guitar Polka", "Hawaiian Hop", "The Purple Monster", "Private Blend", "Sugar Loaf", and "Sunny Day in May".

External links

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