#GuitarHeroes
Thanks again to Abie Budgen and also to Dan Wilkins for recommending the following folk to add to the Guitar Heroes post!
Thanks again to Abie Budgen and also to Dan Wilkins for recommending the following folk to add to the Guitar Heroes post!
Rocking out a hot guitar solo about 4 mins 30 secs into the following video clip is none other than Mary Osborne, jazz guitar pioneer: Art Ford's Jazz Party: Part 1 The Round Table. I particularly like this clip for showing her playing, respected and accepted, with her contemporaries - who happen to be male. It reflects the philosophy of this blog, that there are, will be and have always been female peers for all the esteemed male artists, scientists, sportsfolk etc.; and that, in an ideal world, there would be no segregation in the celebrating of their achievements. Read more about Mary here, in this Vintage Guitar article. It's a good read but the fact that it calls her "the only female guitarist to realize a significant impact on jazz in the 1940s and ’50s" backs up the need to have something like this blog!
As I read more and more about these heroes, I'm starting to sense a theme - prodigality: Mary Osborne was playing guitar by the age of four; Sister Rosetta was playing guitar at four and touring by the age of six; and our next artist also picked up those infamous six strings tied to a box when she was only four years old. Now famous for taking the ukulele (and resonator uke) to a 'new level of musicianship', Del Rey is not only a fantastic musician in her own right but could probably give me a few tips for this blog with her talks on Women in American Music. I'll be looking up her recommends! Here are some tracks to whet your appetite:
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteMay I also add a recommendation?
Joan Baez - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Baez
Awesome folk guitarist, who helped launch Bob Dylan's career, but is generally less well remembered than her (male) contemporaries of the 1960s American folk-protest era.
She sang at the March on Washington and was arrested for her protests against the Vietnam War. She remains politically active and can still pick out those tunes! (Also has an amazing voice and plays piano pretty damn well).