A previously unissued Sol Hoopii cut from 1927

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 9 Feb 2022 5:03 am

Thanks to Christo Ruppenthal for the link ... Great performance with excellent sound quality! Some of the licks remind me of Django.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fICQm8qKk

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Feb 2022 5:31 am

Fantastic track. An absolute giant.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 9 Feb 2022 5:52 am

Thanks for sharing, Andy. What a talented man!

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 9 Feb 2022 6:20 am

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

Glenn Wilde · Post by **Glenn Wilde** » 10 Feb 2022 10:49 pm

The Master! Awesome stuff, he's 100% the reason why i wanted to play steel in the first place.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 11 Feb 2022 6:19 am

The astonishing thing is that Sol was making this up as he went along, assimilating both the Hawaiian music in which he was steeped along with the hippest blues and jazz music of the period and creating something entirely new.

Ryan Matzen · Post by **Ryan Matzen** » 11 Feb 2022 4:11 pm

Very cool!

Joe Cook · Post by **Joe Cook** » 11 Feb 2022 4:18 pm

So good!

Glenn Wilde · Post by **Glenn Wilde** » 11 Feb 2022 5:59 pm

Andy Volk wrote:The astonishing thing is that Sol was making this up as he went along, assimilating both the Hawaiian music in which he was steeped along with the hippest music blues and jazz of the period and creating something entirely new.

Yes! I know he must've practiced non stop but the sound of reckless adventure always seems to be lurking, so much excitement in his playing, the comparisons to Django are well founded imo, those two are in their own category.

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 11 Feb 2022 7:01 pm

Reminds me of a Dylan line:"Some things get too late to learn."

Mike A Holland · Post by **Mike A Holland** » 12 Feb 2022 2:23 am

fantastic playing. A real talent. People who listen to this will think it is nice and quirky and from its time. Musicians will say that it is cool and clearly the guy can play. Players that will play a little slide or steel will say Sol is a really good player and is important to the development of playing steel guitar. The really good players that have worked hard and developed their playing to a high level will understand the nuances, touch individual feel, musicality, wonderful phrasing, Lyrical feel, etc. I cannot verbalise how good Sol Hoopii's playing is........ except that he is one of the few very gifted and top players in the world of steel guitar. A true giant.

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 12 Feb 2022 7:01 am

Amazing how he seems to have access to any part of the fretboard at any moment, and his intonation is just stunning. I'm guessing he's playing a tricone, is that High A bass tuning?

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 12 Feb 2022 8:35 am

When I first heard Sol on the old Hula Blues LP, shortly therafter my D-10 went back in its case for most of two decades. Sold my beautiful birdseye Pro 1, and used the dough to obtain a Style 1 that I played nearly non-stop for those decades. Finally pulled that old D-10 out of the closet during the first decade of this century, but it doesn't get the seat time that it once did.

Sol Hoopii set the standard that has been achieved by very few others since. His mastery no doubt helped sell a boatload of Nationals back in the day; Bakelites and Dickersons as well. A true master. And his voice is equally sublime.

Bill Bradford · Post by **Bill Bradford** » 18 Feb 2022 4:24 pm

Wow. He could have gotten together with the young Louis Armstrong. Imagine what that would've been like.

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 18 Feb 2022 10:21 pm

Really great playing. He could easily hold his own today with any band. Nice and loose, and really tight, at the same time.