Pee wee crayton dont go en vogue

Record collecting back then was like being an archaeologist, you couldn't just Google somebody and get their life story and discography. What I would eventually put together is that most of the material on the Crown and Kent albums was originally released on 78 and 45 RPM singles by the Modern, R. The Bihari's labels were among the most influential in the history of rock'n'roll, equal to that of Chess, Sun, Specialty, Imperial, Aladdin, Atlantic, etc.

Pee Wee Crayton released at least twenty 78's on Modern between the years ofmaybe more. Few made it to 45 rpm, although I have stumbled across some Modern 78's re-issued on Flair 45 over the years. He would go on to record for at least ten more labels over the years. His story goes something like this. Connie Curtis Crayton b. He was almost thirty and his only other musical experience was a ukulele he had as a child.

Having relocated to the California Bay Area to find work during World War II, Crayton, who was known to all by his childhood nickname Pee Wee, managed to go right to the top for lessons. Crayton went out and bought an expensive Gibson hollow bodied guitar and amp, and took to practicing what T-Bone was teaching him. First just chording behind Walker, then learning the single string leads that made Walker the first and at the time virtually only electric blues guitar star.

Until this time rhythm and blues was a saxophone driven music, the guitar, when present at all was well in the background. Guitar at that time was the instrument of hillbillies and country blues players. The only other place guitar players were prominent were in the west coast "cool" blues trios such as Cole's group and Oscar Moore's Three Blazers whose guitarist Johnny Moore would become another early, influential electric guitarist the Three Blazers' singer and pianist- Charles Brown would become a huge star on his own in a few years with Drifting Blues.

Collins would teach Crayton the big jazz chords, the diminished 7ths and 9ths, chords that take all four fingers imagine that? Pee Wee Crayton joined his first group in the early 40's, playing with Count Otis Mathews' House Rockers, the same group that Johnny Otis had started with a few years earlier. Soon he formed his own trio in the classic west coast style and made his first records for the Laurent and Gru V Tone labels around A local record distributor clued in the Biharis down in L.

Rock Island Blues, and Rosa Lee. All good sellers. Many of these were good regional sellers, especially on the West Coast. By the way, for these sound samples, on the tunes from the Crown LP, I used samples taken from the vinyl since I like the cheesy echo effect they added to the LP, although Ace's remastered CD's are actually much better sounding.

Pee wee crayton dont go en vogue: Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin

It was while stranded in San Francisco with a down and out mambo band that Mickey "Guitar" Baker encountered Crayton's electric blues guitar act and women showering him with dollar bills. Legend has it that Pee Wee Crayton, who had relocated to the L. He appeared at the Apollo in Harlem and was a favorite in the sepia joints on L. A's Central Avenue.

Guitar players of the era were often showmen, T-Bone Walker was known for playing guitar behind his head and doing splits while taking solos, and Crayton adopted a lot of his moves, even getting a foot chord at one point so he could walk around the club while played. By the hits started drying up and Crayton was disillusioned with the Bihari's who rarely paid royalties and padded out the songwriting credits with fake names to steal writing credits and song publishing royalties.

In the wake of Crayton's success, electric guitarists were coming out of the woodwork and more aggressive players like Guitar SlimGatemouth Brown and B. King were scoring hits with a more violent, distorted, sonic attack. King's success was especially a problem for Crayton since he recorded for Modern's R. It was time for Pee Wee to update his sound, and in he paid a visit to Leo Fender who gave him a prototype of his new solid body electric guitar-- a thing he dubbed The Stratocaster.

The very same guitar seen on the cover of the Crown LP. These were probably the first recordings to ever feature a Stratocaster, which Fender wouldn't start mass producing for another six months. Many collectors over the years have wondered if the latter title didn't somehow find its way into John Lennon's record collection since it sounds exactly like the Beatles' Revolution.

This session didn't produce any hits but a second session in New Orleans was held in January of '55 and a third in April of ' The best of these sides were I Need Your LoveRunnin' Wild actually a cover of Bartholomew's Country Boy and Blues Before Dawna twangy guitar instrumental update of Texas Hop with a pronounced New Orleans feel-- dig how the horns kick in after Pee Wee's solo, then how Salvador Doucette's rolling piano which doesn't appear until halfway through, drives the tune home.

Pee Wee Crayton would have no more hit records and soon gave up his band, traveling as a solo, using pick-up bands. He recorded for many more labels, usually one or two singles before moving on. By the early 60's Pee Wee Crayton was a forgotten man and he took a day job, music would be a weekend hobby from then on. His playing was always excellent, but somewhere along the way that candy apple red Stratocaster disappeared, replaced by a Les Paul.

Pee wee crayton dont go en vogue: None of these artists made

Crayton stayed in the L. They both died the same week in June of ' Pee Wee Crayton, despite being well served in the re-issue world, is a name that rarely comes up today. It's a shame, since he was not only a pivotal figure, and the second in the line of blues guitar stars that carries on to this day, but he made some unique and excellent music, especially the Modern and Imperial sides.

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Pee wee crayton dont go en vogue: Debut Album (Plak) ·

In other projects. Wikidata item. American guitarist and singer — Crayton at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. Musical artist. Career [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Discography [ edit ]. This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Formatting, non-use of wikitable slaundry list appearance, unreferenced.

Please help improve this section if you can. July Learn how and when to remove this message. LP and CD releases and compilations of note [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Retrieved Archived from the original on December 14, Dubai: Carlton Books. ISBN X. ISBN