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Topic: T-Bone Shuffle |
Johan Jansen
From:
Europe
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 4:30 am |
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Did some of you record it?
I'm looking for a good steelguitarexposure from this song.
Thanks, Johan |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 4:39 am
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| I know Boz Scaggs and Albert Collins recorded it, but I don't know of any others. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 6:46 am
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I think T-Bone Walker may have...
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Steve Feldman
From:
Central MA USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 9:07 am
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If you check out T-Bone Shuffle, I recommend the version recorded on 'T-Bone Blues' (Atlantic, 1959 or 1960). These songs were T-Bone at the height of his powers, IMO, and this recording is simply terrific, IMNSHO....
_________________
"...An admission of interest in protracted commentary is certainly no reason to capitalize on surmised aberations that do not exist." - BH
Last edited by Steve Feldman on 31 Dec 2008 11:01 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 10:08 am
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I have a recorded version of it from a rehearsal I did with Boz earlier this year. It's the fourth song down on my Myspace track list. I play an early 50's Stringmaster. Boz plays Gibson 335 and takes the first solo after the vocals come in. It was the first time I heard that song and really dug it. Forgive my rough spots of intonation. Since it was rehearsal I thought it was a good time to experiment with some three note slants! 
Last edited by Dave Zirbel on 31 Dec 2008 11:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 31 Dec 2008 10:49 am
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Sounds good, Dave. I think I hear a couple of spots, but I think you're well within "the parameters" for blues and your parts add a lot to the tune - which has, shall we say, been played "a lot", if not beat to death on the blues circuit. 
I've played the song many times on gigs - much more on guitar than steel - but nothing is recorded. It's always an impromptu thing where someone says, "Hey, how about T-Bone Shuffle?" It's been recorded so much that nobody I know thinks about recording it.
I also second Steve's suggestion about "T-Bone Blues", Atlantic 8020 (1959) or Atlantic SD-8256 (1970 reissue). To my tastes, this is one of the best electric blues albums ever recorded, and that version is definitive to me. They swing so hard they almost fall off the merry-go-round, but don't. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 8:38 am
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What Dave said...and it's played WRONG as well 90% of the time, with players going to a V lick playing the hook...which actually is played EXACTLY like the I while most of the band goes to the V. It's one of the trademarks of the song and I cringe when I hear bands start playing it, because I KNOW what's gonna happen. Even Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland played it wrong on the "Showdown" album.
If most players listen to the T-Bone Walker original (which most, I've found, have NEVER heard - they've always heard 2nd generation versions) they flip out.
T-Bone Walker and I share the same birthday...err, not the same year...so I HAVE to play it right. And I've actually had bands stop the song in rehearsal and "correct" me.
So I keep it on my iPod. It's a great "I told ya' so!"
Ps it works nicely on the B6 tuning a lot of the Fender guys use...I'm posting because we actually played it during soundcheck last night, and it wasn't a blues gig. Weird coincidence!
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 6:15 pm
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Damn! Busted by the Blues Police! 
I'd tell Boz that he messed up but I doubt I'll ever hear from him again.
Happy New Year everyone!
Dave |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 7:44 pm
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Yeah, Dave - around my parts, we call them the "Tweed Police". In fact, I guess I'm one of the charter members of my local chapter. 
Even though I revere T-Bone's original approaches to his tunes, making that one move to the V doesn't bother me on T-Bone Shuffle. I figure if it's OK for Collins, Copeland, and Cray, it's fine with me. Boz rates high with me too.
One bugaboo for me is that hardly anybody well known plays T-Bone like T-Bone. The most glaring example is the Allman Brothers version of Stormy Monday, where the turnaround is significantly altered from anything I ever heard T-Bone do. It's gotten to the point where I really think the vast majority of musicians and listeners alike think the Allmans' version is the gospel and original approach. The only reasonably well-known version I recall hearing done correctly is on the first Roomful of Blues album 30 years ago with Duke Robillard playing guitar. No doubt the great west coast jump and blues musicians like Rod Piazza, Junior Watson, and James Harman are also well aware of the distinction, but they got even less airplay in this part of the world than Roomful.
For you Allmans' fans out there - I like their version just fine. No need to send hate-mail. I just wish T-Bone wouldn't get lost in the shuffle, no pun intended. How many times have I irritatingly listened to countless clone-like Allman imitators announce "that great Allman Brothers' tune, Stormy Monday".  |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 9:56 pm
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i'm not familiar with the song, but is there a chance it was played wrong on the first recording?
i'd guess there are many tunes that when originally recorded had mistakes.....which were then left in and then became the official version, wrong notes and all!
just a thought. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 11:45 pm
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Chris, T-bone Walker was a bluesman with a swing to his style...and a very advanced player. Considering he WROTE the thing, I doubt his version is wrong.....
Dave - my sentiments exactly on Stormy Monday. The Allman's version was superb - but I always end up making "mistakes" when I play it, because I don't play their "original" version either.
I get a kick out of "blues fans"....or worse, blues "musicians"...who learned their catalog by listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Allman Brothers recordings. Among the more "modern" players, I prefer Bloomfield...and Clapton's "blues" recordings are tremendous, because he actually explains in print what is and isn't "blues", and he's the real deal when he blues is what he's playing (as opposed to "blues rock"). And I could listen to B.B. King for days and never get bored.
For those who are not familiar with T-Bone and are blues fans, you owe it to yourself to hear him. A good sampling is "Blues Masters - The Very Best of T-Bone Walker" on Rhino. 16 tracks, including T-Bone Shuffle and Stormy Monday. When you realize it was recording in the 1940' and 50's it's pretty darned astounding compared to other early guitar recordings. Outside Django and Charlie Christian in the jazz world, there aren't a lot of guitar-based recordings of his era or earlier that come close (and hardly any guitarists who also handled lead vocals).
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Johan Jansen
From:
Europe
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Posted 1 Jan 2009 11:59 pm
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Hi Dave,
I like your version a lot!
Thanks all!
Happy 2009
Johan |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 3:32 am
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| Quote: |
| 'm not familiar with the song, but is there a chance it was played wrong on the first recording? |
The tune is "T-Bone Shuffle", by T-Bone Walker. It was first recorded on Black and White, BW662 in Los Angeles in 1947, and then again in around 1957 on Atlantic 8020. They are basically the same. It's just a blues shuffle by T-Bone Walker. That defines what it is. Why would anybody argue that later artists knew better than he did how it goes? I don't get it. Tell you what - I'll bet cover versions weren't reading charts from an original "score" - if one even exists.
It's basically the same for "Call It Stormy Monday", BW637 in 1947, and then again on Atlantic 8020. He may well have done other versions, but those are probably the two most commonly heard ones. Either way, I've never heard T-Bone do either of them any other way. Again, it's his tune, done decades before the Allmans - or anybody else, for that matter.
There are lots of examples of this kind of modification of original tunes by later artists. For example, Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't". I must have a half a dozen versions by Monk over a period of decades where the head goes one way. Then other people make some modifications to the head, and when the Real Book picks it up, it gets transcribed from one of those versions. Then, somehow, that becomes the de facto "official" version and practically everybody starts doing it that way. When I point it out, they refer to the Real Book, as if that's the original source.
Sometimes it's reasonable to change tunes - they frequently get reharmonized. I usually prefer to play heads as written, but as long as it's done knowingly, changes don't bug me too much either. But I get annoyed when musicians insist to stay ignorant of and especially refuse to acknowledge original sources when they are pointed out. I just don't like rewriting history.
T-Bone was "the man", IMHO. I spent quite a bit of time in my "T-Bone period", learning to pick a particular way to try to get that plunky tone and angular line that was so strikingly his. Sometimes imitated well - I think Duke Robillard gets it as good as I've ever heard it - but never equaled. Sorry for the sermon - like I said earlier, it's a bugaboo for me. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 9:23 am
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I hear you Dave. Same here. I learned T-Bone Shuffle and Stormy Monday as a teenager off records my grandfather gave me (I wish I knew where those were!) - as I vaguely recall they were both 78's (for those who were born after 1970 or so, that was the main speed used for early records - 78rpm. Big, stiff platters with one song per side. 45's and 33 1/3...the standards for "singles" and "albums"...came later and had much better sound.).
I could not figure out what the heck was wrong when I got to college in 1970, and by '71 blues/rock bands playing at lunch in the quad were doing both those songs, but wrong. I didn't know squat about the Allman brothers; I was listening to an odd mix of stuff - Byrds/Burritos et al, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson and other jazz drummers, a huge amount of progressive rock (mostly obscure...at the time...British bands like Yes, Gentle Giant, Soft Machine, etc) plus T-Bone, Robert Johnson, and the Kings - B.B., Freddie and Albert.
When I finally heard the Allman brothers I thought they were pretty good, but obviously doing their own arrangements when they did covers. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the cover doesn't become the defacto standard and the original lost somewhere in the shuffle. Also went to see them live at the LA Forum after hearing "Fillmore" and was really disappointed; one of the most boring and disjointed concerts I ever saw (30 minutes sets followed by 20 minutes breaks...4 or 5 set, I forget.).
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 9:53 am
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Doug Sahm did a pretty tasty version of "T-Bone Shuffle" back in 1969 with the Sir Douglas Quintet on "Together After Five". Maybe not virtuoso guitar playing, but true to the Texas shuffle tradition in a way that 98% of the white-boy blues bands then had no clue about. Doug would almost always do at least one T-Bone style tune in every set...
And he played the "head" right! |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 10:23 am
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I agree, Pete. Doug Sahm was great, and an encyclopedia of great American musical styles. To me, he's the the forerunner of the entire "Americana" movement.
I never cared about guitar virtuosity in blues. It's about conveyance of feel and emotion, and basic respect for the tradition that has been getting handed down for quite a while now. That doesn't mean no modifications are permitted or new branches should be stifled. But new directions should never obscure the tradition. Probably goes for a lot of styles, including country and jazz too. IMHO. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 11:46 am
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Thanks Johan, although it's not really MY version.
Yes Doug Sahm was real cool. Gritty and soulful!
After getting busted by the Bluz Police I'm thinking it would be fun for someone start a thread, maybe under "Music" with newer versions of songs compared to original versions. I thought of Ray Prices version of Night LIfe(is that the original?) compared to BB's. I saw a youtube of Willie and BB performing it together in BB's style and Willie wasn't cringing.  Growing up in the 70s I heard tons of blues rock songs before I heard the original versions, or even new they existed. It happens a lot. Same with folk and old timey traditional ballads. I think even lyrics get added or rewritten. I don't think it matters too much although I always like to discover the original version and usually end up appreciating it more than someone's cover. Even when the blues legends perform tunes by other blues legends they sometimes seem to have their own interpretation. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 12:29 pm
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I agree on all counts, Dave. I came to a lot of older music the same way that you describe. Music evolves, and I don't think anybody was really trying to "bust" Boz. I'm a fan all the way back to his days with Steve Miller, who was strongly influenced by T-Bone.
What does bother me, though, is intentionally obfuscating the source of material. People like Bloomfield, Sahm, BB, Clapton, the Allmans, SRV, and many others have tried to bring earlier progenitors to light. I found out about T-Bone by reading an interview with BB in the 60s - Guitar Player, I think - who described him as his most important early guitar influence. Evolution is totally fair game if it's done honestly and in the spirit of the tradition.
But not everybody is so intellectually honest, even to the point of taking songwriting credit for old tunes. I won't name names, since it's all pretty well hashed over in the history of rock and roll and would take us even further off-topic. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2009 12:40 pm
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You mean Jagger and Richards?  |
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