T-BONE WALKER, COLLECTION. TABLATURE
Series: Guitar Recorded Version TAB
Artist: T-Bone Walker
This terrific collection features 20 tunes from wildly influential (B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix, to name but a few) blues legend T-Bone Walker, to whom electric blues and rock music owe their existence. Includes an introduction by Dave Rubin and a selected discography. 96 pages. Songs include:
INTRODUCTION
T-Bone (Aaron Walker, Sr.) was born in Dallas, Texas on May 28, 1910, and died in Los
Angeles, California on March 16, 1975. In his life span, he saw blues develop from the quaint,
parlor blues of the early twenties to the roaring rock of the fifties and sixties. In between he
witnessed first-hand raw country blues that fought its way out of Texas and the Delta, a highly
emotional and driving music that would later become electrified in the hands of Muddy Waters.
Most significantly, along with Charlie Christian and Eddie Durham, he was one of the first to
acquire Gibson's new electric Spanish guitar shortly after it was introduced in 1936. With
amplification, the guitar could now compete on an equal footing as a chordal instrument with the
volume pumped out by pounding pianos and blaring horn sections. Even more importantly, T-
Bone grasped the soloing potential of the electric guitar as he learned to spin out jazzy, lyrical
single-note lines on a par with horn players. Musical history turned on its heels. Electric blues
and, by extension, rock music, owe their very existence to the power and finesse of Mr.T-Bone.
Music was everywhere in the world ofT-Bone's youth. His mother sang blues at home and
gospel in the church. His father was a share-cropper, but his mother remarried to a man who
was fluent on several instruments, who passed his knowledge on to his stepson, encouraging him
to perform professionally. As a lad, T-Bone was one of the chosen few who had the honor of
leading Blind Lemon Jefferson around the dry, dusty streets as he played for tips. Indeed, both the
legendary Jefferson and the great Leadbelly were often guests in his mother's home.
By 1934 T-Bone was an experienced musician, married and out on the road with his own
group. He was singing and playing and, when he could not be heard in those pre-amplification
days, he would dance. Showmanship and entertainment would always be part and parcel of his
gig, as he was a graceful and agile performer.
Eventually the rough life and violence of the juke joints, lumber camps and barrel houses
became wearisome. T-Bone headed west in 1934 to urban Los Angeles and the unpaved streets
of Watts. It was there that he came under the influence of the still-developing jazz and blues of
southern California, what would later be referred to as "club blues." Pianist and silken vocalist,
Charles Brown, was one of the pioneers of this upscale music, and the ambitious T-Bone joined
right in. Still unamped, he became a singer and dancer with Jim Wynn's band.
By 1940 he was with Les Hite's big band, singing jazz and blues and starting to create sparks
with his electric guitar in his off hours away from the bandstand. When Hite's touring band
stopped in New York in June of that year, "T-Bone Blues," with Walker on vocals only, was
recorded and released to minor acclaim. Apart from "Wichita Falls Blues," a Bessie Smith-like
acoustic blues cut in 1929 under the sobriquet "Oak CliffT-Bone," this was his official debut on
record. Though he had been woodshedding on his new axe for several years, it was not until July
1942 that the electric T-Bone was finally recorded on "I Got A Break Baby" and "Mean Old
Bye Bye Baby
Don't Leave Me Baby
Evenin'
Go Back To The One You Love
Hard Pain Blues
I Got A Break Baby
I Know Your Wig Is Gone
It's A Low Down Dirty Deal
Low Down Dirty Shame Blues
Mean Old World
No Worry Blues
She Had To Let Me Down
She's My Old Time Used To Be
So Blue Blues
(They Call It) Stormy Monday (Stormy Monday Blues)
T-Bone Blues
T-Bone Boogie
T-Bone Jumps Again
The Time Seems So Long
Vida Lee
Italiano
English
