About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Lonnie Johnson was arguably the first guitar gunslinger. Throughout his prolific 40-year career, he was continually amazing as a player, having single-handedly invented the concept of the lead guitar solo, both in a country blues context and in jazz settings (he worked with both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, for example), and his playing pre-shadowed the work of Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker, and many others. His pivotal role in the development of blues and jazz guitar often overshadows his equally striking abilities as a vocalist and songwriter, and he was a pure musician, equally proficient on violin, piano, banjo, mandolin, harmonium, and bass as well as guitar. Johnson's life as a professional musician began in the mid-'20s and stretched all the way into the '60s, when his career was given an autumnal boost during the folk/blues revival With an elegant guitar style that helped bridge country blues and the more modern urban R&B sound while at the same time keeping a dialogue going between jazz and the blues, Lonnie Johnson was simply one of the most important guitarists of his generation. Even so, he is hardly a household name these days, even for contemporary guitarists whose very musical path was plowed by Johnson as far back as the 1920s. It's that relative obscurity that Philadelphia-based producer Aaron Luis Levinson sought to address with this tribute to Johnson's life and career. Using Philly musicians, including members of the bands Blues Anatomy and Real Live Horns, and with some vocal help from veteran Geoff Muldaur, Levinson has assembled a nice little set list of some of Johnson's key pieces, including the ragtime-inflected instrumentals "Playing with the Strings" and "Swing out Rhythm" (handled here by guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, himself a player who straddles the jazz and pop worlds), and "Careless Love," a song Johnson recorded originally in 1928 and returned to again at his final session 40 years later (here it is sung by Eddie Davis of Blues Anatomy). Throughout the set Jay Davidson's horn arrangements pay homage to period details on these songs without attempting to replicate the sound of a bygone era, and the result is a nice hybrid of then and now, modernizing Johnson's musical feel and tone without seriously distorting it into a foreign realm, a trick that is much easier said than done. Nothing, of course, can replace Johnson's original recordings, but this warm-sounding set does a nice job of paying homage to a truly remarkable musician. Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

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