Eddie Lang & Lonnie Johnson Guitar Duets 1928-1929

Hello class,

As we all are nestled away hard at work on our final papers I thought some music might be called for... Specifically, the guitar duets of Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson of which I spoke in class earlier this semester. I meant to post these at the time, but cruel fate had other plans for my efforts.

Anyhow, to refresh your memories, I brought up these recordings during our class discussion on Claude McKay's Banjo. The decade of the 1920s was a period of transition for the guitar. Amplification and electric guitars were not yet on the scene, rendering the guitar useless in the jazz bands of the day. The guitar simply could not be heard over the horns and percussion prevalent in the bands and orchestras of the day. As such, most jazz outfits contained a banjo player amongst their midst. The percussive sound of the banjo was able to cut through the din of the band unamplified, and as a result the banjo was much more common throughout the jazz world in the 1920s than we might suppose based on the jazz bands of the last eighty or so years.

Technology played its part in the rise of the guitar through the medium of records and the introduction of the microphone to the recording process. As the 78rpm record began to be seen as the standard format of the day, guitar players began to make recordings solely featuring the guitar. Many of the early jazz guitar players were skilled banjo players (as was necessary in making one's living at the time) who, as technology allowed, began to feature the guitar over the banjo.

Eddie Lang

Pick almost any thread of modern guitar playing and begin tracing it backwards and one inevitably arrives at two names: Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson. There were other players at the time making guitar recordings, but none elevated the guitar in prominence as Lang and Johnson did. When they came together at the end of 1928 to record together they were unknowingly making history. The recordings they made would go on to become much treasured documents of guitar artistry - the roots of many, many fruits.

The recordings were also among the first integrated jazz recordings ever made. Society not being quite ready for such a thing, however, the recordings were credited to "Lonnie Johnson and Blind Willie Dunn."


I've probably gone on too much already, but I wanted to attempt some context for the recordings presented here. Feel free, however, to cast context aside and simply enjoy the recordings on your own terms. Wherever you are, however you take it, I hope you enjoy! A little slice of heaven from my world to yours.

Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie Johnson and Blind Willie Dunn:

Two Tone Stomp b/w Have To Change Keys To Play These Blues (Okeh 8637, recorded 1928)

A Handful Of Riffs b/w Bull Frog Moan (Okeh 8695, recorded 1929)

Guitar Blues b/w Blue Guitars (Okeh 8711, recorded 1929)

Hot Fingers b/w Deep Minor Rhythm Stomp (Okeh 8743, recorded 1929)

Midnight Call Blues b/w Blue Room Blues (Okeh 8818, recorded 1929)