NICK LUCAS - Teasing the Frets (1922)
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- NICK LUCAS - Teasing the Frets (1922)
Nick Lucas - Guitar
Phil Boutelje - Piano
Recorded July, 1922
(Pathe Actuelle Record # 020794)
Born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese on August 22, 1897, the son of an Italian gardener, in Belleville, New Jersey. Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese later changed his name legally to Nick Lucas. At an early age he learned how to play the guitar, mandolin and banjo.
His recording career spanned from test cylinders for Thomas Edison in 1912 to the stereophonic age in 1980, with total disc sales in excess of 80 million copies. It is doubtful that anyone in popular music had a longer recording career, one that spanned seven decades.
It is important to remember that, though the height of his popularity came in the late 1920's, Nick Lucas' style was set by the time he moved to Chicago in 1922. Before electrical recording, before Louis Armstrong ever found his way into a recording studio, Nick Lucas had found his voice, and used it in much the same way for sixty years.
In the early days Nick's forte was as an instrumentalist. That would change, Lucas would become one of the first popular crooners on the radio. He is actually credited as creating the "intimate style" of entertaining after beginning his vaudeville career accompanying himself with his guitar. His was the first custom-made guitar and even today one of the best selling type picks bears Nick Lucas' name.
In 1924 Frank Campbell, who was general sales manager for Gibson was looking for an endorsement by a well-known star to push an expensive guitar. Nick Lucas, who had the first guitar instrumental hit record in 1922, [Picking The Guitar/Teasing The Frets (Pathe Actuelle 020794)] was an obvious choice, since he was already playing a Gibson L-5.
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This is American pop music. If you really want to hear guitar vituosos listen to classical guitarists. In the 1830's the guitar was booming with men like Sor and Guliani writing and playing music so incredible it is still played and studied today in universities all over the world. BTW, I love Nick Lucas, I learned to play guitar in the 50's from the Nick Lucas guitar method. I still have the method today at 82 years old, and I still play.
Nice.. Nick a legend for sure..
Thanks for the lead. I've never heard of Lonnie Johnson, so it should be a treat to hear an unfamiliar artist.
I've heard Robert Johnson. Race never seemed to limit his talent.
For those arguing whether Lucas or Johnson did it first, they're both picking up heavily from Portuguese influenced music in Hawaii in the early 20th century. Here's a 1914 recording from a Hawaiian musician:
ruclips.net/video/jzvdNZOmbzE/видео.html
This is a great track by Nick Lucas. As far as Lonnie Johnson is concerned, the stuff he recorded with Eddie lang is simply wonderful. No need to compare. Comparisons are odious and guitar playing is not a competitive sport. However, pieces such as 'to do this you have to know how' are not 'boring, drab 12 bars'. They are virtually unplayable by any other guitarist and rank alonside Django as some of the most exciting guitar playing ever recorded. That's my opinion...
@thatsthesameoldshit The world'd be a boring place if everybody thought the same way and had the same tastes and preferences... clearly yours are different to mine...what we both have in common is a love of music and that transcends any minor differences and enriches both our lives in a way most people will never be lucky enough to experience. There are only 2 kinds of music, good and bad, and good music didn't stop when amplification arrived; it's still very much alive...Have a great 2012...
This is a pretty sophisticated track for the guitar in 1922, by any standard. Not sure what all the debate is about. Popular music is where my interests lie, and this is one of the early singles that would have raised interest in the instrument. 'Nuff said.
Just picked up on this comment. As regards the wonderful Johnson/Lang duets, I have to concede Lang, Kress etc had more sophisticated chord progressions and so on, but Johnson flies when he solos, not bound by the constraints of the more "schooled" musicians, a free spirit and a far better improviser. I would say Lang sounds pedestrian by comparison.
Sorry...ran out of space....try Lonnie Johnson's "Playing with the Strings" from 1931 if you want to hear a true guitar virtuoso at work...and it's just a spur of the moment solo guitar improvisation ...no one else on the record.....just him and an old Lyon & Healy 12 string guitar, strung with only 10 strings...and obviously no overdubs...it's on RUclips
Agree with "thatsthesame...". Lang is far more interesting, musically. Johnson, admirable as he was, remained a blues guitarist for all his life, always the same licks. And his "To do this you have to know how" virtually unplayable by any other guitarist? No, it's difficult, but in no way a virtuoso piece.
I agree, Blind Blake was absolutely exceptional. So was some nowadays quite unknown guitarist, Snoozer Quinn.
Well before Django. However this recording just emphasises how limited the leading white guitarists of the era were in terms of technique, imagination and just plain talent, compared to their coloured counterparts. If you don't believe me,listen to some of the stuff Lonnie Johnson recorded between 1926 and 1931...and he'd been playing in the same style and at the same level for well over 10 years before he got his first chance to record...try Johnson's 1931 completely improvised and completely
"he'd been playing in the same style and at the same level for well over 10 years before he got his first chance to record" Sure, sure.