Don't Leave Me Baby - Rabon Tarrant with T Bone Walker

Recorded: Los Angeles, September 30, 1946 T-Bone Walker (vcl) (g) Joe „Red" Kelly (tp), Jack McVea (ts), Tommy „Crow" Kahn (p), Frank Clarke (b), Rabon Tarrant (d) A "y" in this drummer and bandleader's first name seems to be optional as far as credits are concerned, not something that could be said for the magical backbeat Rabon Tarrant glued onto the rhythmic pages of many a Jack McVea side. Tarrant also wrote songs, staying so solidly in the jump blues genre that the song titles themselves even seem to have the blues, be it the "Lonesome Blues," the "Naggin' Woman Blues," or even just the plain old "Slowly Going Crazy Blues." Tarrant began playing drums for an uncle who ran a brass band in Wichita Falls, KS. His professional drumming career began with a bandleader who played the banjo, Otis Stafford. That was in the mid-'20s, and by 1927 he had shifted his rhythm section allegiance to the sometimes stormy, sometimes breezy Roy McCloud. Lafayette Thompson's Golden Dragon Orchestra may sound like a group that would stay put inside a Chinese restaurant, but actually provided Tarrant with work in both Colorado and Texas in the late '20s and early '30s. During the latter decade this drummer continued popping up in various parts of the country. In 1936 he worked with Edith Turnham's Orchestra, based out of San Diego, following a period roaming on the other side of the Rockies with Bert Johnson's Sharps and Flats -- an ensemble that can certainly be said to have been named accidentally. The California presence continued in 1940 as the drummer ascended onto the throne of a Hollywood big-band attraction, Cee Pee Johnson's Orchestra. A long tenure with the hipster McVea was next, ending only when Tarrant cooked up his own combo in the early '50s, a group that remained active performing for nearly two decades. Tarrant's discography largely documents his relationship with McVea, the importance extending well beyond the accepted supremacy of a drummer in a blues group. Tarrant not only brought in his original songs but was allowed to sing them as well, a distinct and powerful feature of the McVea presentation. There are about 100 songs recorded by McVea; Tarrant is the singer on about a third of these. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Bye Bye baby - Chuck Berry and T Bone Walker

So much great footage continues to surface...here with Chuck Berry and the Aces featuring TBone Walker.

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Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the electric guitar. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked him at #47 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Walker was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Chuck Berry named Walker and Louis Jordan as his main influences. B.B. King cites hearing Walker's "Stormy Monday" record as his inspiration for getting an electric guitar. Walker was admired by Jimi Hendrix who imitated Walker's trick of playing the guitar with his teeth. "Stormy Monday" was a favorite live number for The Allman Brothers Band.
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The Blues Aint' Nothin' But a Woman - Helen Humes

This is a top notch lineup with Helen Humes : vocal,Sonny Terry : harmonica,Brownie 'Kazoo' McGhee : vocal, guitar,Willie Dixon :vocal, bass,T-Bone Walker : vocal, guitar,Memphis Slim : vocal, piano and Jump Jackson : drums.

Helen Humes (June 23, 1913 - September 9, 1981) was an American jazz and blues singer.

Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.

Humes was born in Louisville, Kentucky, was spotted by the guitarist Sylvester Weaver and made her first recordings in 1927, her true young voice consorting oddly with bizarre material like "Garlic Blues"

She moved to New York City in 1937 and became a recording vocalist with Harry James' big band. Her swing recordings with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream Can't I", Jimmy Dorsey's composition "It's The Dreamer In Me", and "Song of the Wanderer".

Humes became one of the vocalists with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1938, replacing Billie Holliday as lead female vocalist. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Moonlight Serenade".

During the 1940s and 1950s, Humes became a solo performer and worked with different bands and other vocalists including Nat King Cole. She sounded very sprightly on the jump blues Be-Baba-Leba (Philo, 1945) and Million Dollar Secret (Modern, 1950).

In 1950 Humes recorded Benny Carter's "Rock Me to Sleep". She managed to bridge the gap between big band jazz swing and rhythm and blues. She appeared on the bill at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1960.

She moved to Hawaii and then to Australia in 1964, returning to the US in 1967 to take care of her ailing mother. Humes was out of the music industry for several years but made a full comeback in 1973 at the Newport Jazz Festival,[citation needed] and stayed busy up until her death, performing all over Europe, for instance, including at the prestigious Nice Jazz Festival in the mid-70s. She received the Music Industry of France Award in 1973, and the key to the city of Louisville in 1975.

Helen Humes died of cancer at the age of 68 in Santa Monica, California. She is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
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Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong - T-Bone Walker

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 — March 16, 1975) was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the electric guitar. In September 2003, Rolling Stone ranked him at #47 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
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Sweet Sixteen - T- Bone Walker and B B King

My first introduction to T - Bone Walker was through the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore Album. Have been a great fan ever since. This is a great little video of Tbone Walker playing with B B King on BB's birthday. At this point BB was quite agile at playing and T-Bone was in top form.
Check it out!

Aaron Thibadeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 — March 16, 1975) was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound.[1] He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the electric guitar. In September 2003, Rolling Stone ranked him at #47 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong

This is a really great song first introduced to me by Mike Bloomfield on Super Sessions. Check out T-Bone... but don't miss Mike Bloomfield. They both got something to say!
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the electric guitar. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked him at #47 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
T-Bone Walker is the stage name for Aaron Thibeaux Walker was born in Linden, Texas, of African American and Cherokee descent. Walker's parents, Movelia Jimerson and Rance Walker, were both musicians. His stepfather, Marco Washington, taught him to play the guitar, ukulele, banjo, violin, mandolin, and piano.

Early in the 1920s, the teenage Walker learned his craft among the street-strolling string bands of Dallas. His mother and stepfather (a member of the Dallas String Band) were musicians, and family friend Blind Lemon Jefferson sometimes joined the family for dinner. Walker left school at age 10, and by 15, he was a professional performer on the blues circuit. Initially, he was Jefferson's protégé and would guide him around town for his gigs. In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with a single for Columbia Records, "Wichita Falls Blues"/"Trinity River Blues," billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone. Oak Cliff was the community he lived in at the time and T-Bone a corruption of his middle name. Pianist Douglas Fernell was his musical partner for the record. Walker married Vida Lee in 1935 and the couple had three children. By the age of 26 Walker was working the clubs in Los Angeles' Central Avenue, sometimes as the featured singer and guitarist with Les Hite's orchestra.
By 1942, with his second album release, Walker's new-found musical maturity and ability had advanced to the point that Rolling Stone claimed that he "shocked everyone" with his newly developed distinctive sound upon the release of his first single "Mean Old World", on the Capitol Records label. Much of his output was recorded from 1946–1948 on Black & White Records, including his most famous song, 1947's "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)". Other notable songs he recorded during this period were "Bobby Sox Blues" (a #3 R&B hit in 1946), and "West Side Baby" (#8 on the R&B singles charts in 1948).

Throughout his career Walker worked with top notch musicians, including trumpeter Teddy Buckner, pianist Lloyd Glenn, Billy Hadnott (bass), and tenor saxophonist Jack McVea.

Following his work with Black & White, he recorded from 1950-54 for Imperial Records (backed by Dave Bartholomew). Walker's only record in the next five years was T-Bone Blues, recorded over three widely separated sessions in 1955, 1956 and 1959, and finally released by Atlantic Records in 1960.

By the early 1960s, Walker's career had slowed down, in spite of a hyped appearance at the American Folk Blues Festival in 1962 with Memphis Slim and prolific writer and musician Willie Dixon, among others. However, several critically acclaimed albums followed, such as I Want a Little Girl (recorded for Delmark Records in 1968). Walker recorded in his last years, from 1968–1975, for Robin Hemingway's Jitney Jane Songs music publishing company, and he won a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1971 for Good Feelin', while signed by Polydor Records, produced by Hemingway, followed by another album produced by Hemingway; Walker's Fly Walker Airlines which was released in 1973.
T-Bone Walker at the American Folk Blues Festival in Hamburg, March 1972

Persistent stomach woes and a 1974 stroke slowed Walker's career down to a crawl. He died of bronchial pneumonia following another stroke in March 1975, at the age of 64. Walker was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California
Walker was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Chuck Berry named Walker and Louis Jordan as his main influences. B.B. King cites hearing Walker's "Stormy Monday" record as his inspiration for getting an electric guitar. Walker was admired by Jimi Hendrix who imitated Walker's trick of playing the guitar with his teeth. "Stormy Monday" was a favorite live number for The Allman Brothers Band.
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Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker

If most of you are anything like me, you never heard of T-Bone Walker until Duane dedicated this song to him of the Fillmore Album. This song always stood out as one of the best songs that they ever did. Well, there was a reason that Duane called everyone's attention to him. He had all of the acrobatics with the guitar behind his head and all before Jimi but the man could really play. Check it out!