Alvino Rey passes

Jeremy Steele · From: Princeton, NJ USA

Alvino Rey, Virtuoso of the Steel Guitar, Dies at 95
By WOLFGANG SAXON

Published: February 27, 2004

lvino Rey, a bandleader of the swing era who made the steel guitar sing and led many talented young musicians in honing their signature sounds, died on Tuesday at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 95.

His death was confirmed yesterday by his son Jon.

Mr. Rey, who styled himself King of the Guitar in those days, originated the singing sound of the electrified instrument, controlled with a pedal and called the pedal steel guitar. He could coax good, solid rhythmic swing from it as well as pleasantly sweet tones for dancing.

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He led his own ensembles for more than 40 years, starting in 1939 in New York with the Alvino Rey Orchestra, accompanied by the Four King Sisters. The sisters, who were six altogether, performing in various combinations, stayed with his ensemble, and Mr. Rey married one of them, Luise, in 1937.

The band had an early hit in 1942 with "Deep in the Heart of Texas," which brought national stardom. Aside from the King Sisters, its lineup of musicians included Neal Hefti, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Don Lamond and Johnny Mandel, who was also an arranger.

Over the years Mr. Rey's bands employed a remarkable array of arrangers, including Ray Conniff, Billy May, Frank Devol and Skeets Herfurt, who also played clarinet. Other fledgling arrangers were Nelson Riddle and a very young George Handy.

Alvino Rey was born Alvin McBurney in Oakland, Calif., on July 1, 1908, his son said, and grew up in Cleveland. His first instrument was a banjo, a birthday gift. He tinkered with it, attaching electric wiring to amplify its twang through his radio loudspeaker.

He made his professional debut in 1927 and the next year joined the Phil Spitalny Orchestra when it played in Cleveland. He switched to the guitar and, studying it with the virtuoso Roy Smeck, chose the new electric guitar and its offspring. He changed his name to Alvino Rey in 1929 to help fit in with a Latin music craze.

In 1934 he joined Horace Heidt's Musical Knights and, as their steel guitarist, became one of the best known — and best paid — sidemen in the country. He also met Luise King, then one of the band's singing quartet.

He left Heidt in 1940, taking the King Sisters with him. His band broke records at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles, became the resident orchestra for the Mutual Broadcasting network and made many recordings.

The 1943 recording ban, imposed by the musicians' union, and World War II broke up that first group. He served in the Navy until 1946, while the King Sisters toured with Artie Shaw and headlined at the Copacabana. He assembled another Alvino Rey Orchestra in 1946 and toured with it until 1950. Among that band's hits was the novelty item "Cement Mixer."

He played with small groups and also led a band that appeared at Disneyland into the late 1980's.

Starting in January 1965 Mr. Rey appeared on television with the King Sisters and dozens of other members of their talented family on "The King Family Show," which began as a replacement for "The Outer Limits" and ended up running on ABC for several seasons.

In addition to his son Jon, of Salt Lake City, Mr. Rey is survived by another son, Robert, of Bountiful, Utah; a daughter, Liza Butler of Southwest Harbor, Me.; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Mr. Rey's final appearance with a group came in 1994, when he formed a jazz quartet in Salt Lake City. Luise, then 80, took her last bow in public with it as the "girl singer." She died three years later, in 1997.

Reece Anderson · From: Keller Texas USA, R.I.P.

This news is very sad. Alvino was a great musician who was also an innovator. All steel players will forever be in his debt because of his contributions to the instrument we all love so much.

I'm very fortunate and proud to have known him and considered him a friend. My prayers go out to his family, and may he rest in peace.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I echo Reece's statements. Alvino was one of "ledgends" of the pedal guitar, as well as all other electric guitars. You see, it was Alvino who first designed the electro-magnetic pickup!

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

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Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Alvino Rey was the Father and Grandfather of the pedal steel guitar. We all learned from him. I also knew him well. The first time I met him was around 1936, at a club near Cleveland. I was living in Cleveland at the time. I am sorry now that I hadn't called him lately.

What he accomplished in the Steel and Guitar world will not be forgotten. He can now "Rest in Peace". Mission Accomplished!

al.............

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

From the obit in the LA Times:

"For Rey, however, electronics competed with his love of music. He built his first radio at the age of 8 and became one of the youngest licensed ham operators in the country.

He loved to tinker. As early as 1927, Del Fiorentino said, "Rey took the needle mechanism from his mother's Victrola and put it in his banjo to increase the volume. In 1934, the Gibson Guitar Co. hired Rey to help work on its guitar pickup based on that same idea."

Guitar historian Lynn Wheelwright told the Deseret News in Salt Lake City in 1999 that Rey "is really the unsung hero of innovating the electric guitar."
"He was either the first or one of the first musicians to play electric guitar on the radio," he said. "Alvino owned the second production model electric guitar ever built and he started using it immediately."

But, Wheelwright said, Rey's contribution to the development of the pedal steel guitar was even more significant.
Rey started tinkering with Hawaiian, or "lap," steel guitars, which were popular with big bands, by adding a pedal or two to the instrument to get shifts in the tuning. That, he said, led to research and development work with Gibson that evolved into the pedal steel guitar that is widely used in country music.
"Gibson sent Alvino the first pedal steel guitar the company built," said Wheelwright."

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Charles- Thanks for the news article. Yes, he was a innovator of the mechanical part of steel guitar as well as the playing. \

I remember when I saw him in 1936, I was 15 + and he was 29.

He had a Gibson Gonsole Grand double neck with 9 strings on each neck.

He had a Viloin tuner on one of the strings and 2 or 3 wires going down on the right out side of the steel, going to little spoons for pedals.

He had E7-9th tuning and I am sure one of the pedals raised the 2nd string C# to D. sort of like your 5th pedal on C6 with the D on top.

Gives a lot of chords, min,min6th,dim, 9th,7th,maj,...etc.I copied that tuning on my D8 and later to my 6 pedal Electra-Harp, still one of my most used pedals. He also hd on his Pedal guitar, what we have on C6 P7, the maj 7th pedal. This was in 1939 way before anybody. So he was the inventor of the "Bob White " Pedal.

He sure had a big influence on my life in those early days. ..His contrbutions to the development and advancement of the Guitar and Steel Guitar will not be forgotten...al

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

Mark Krutke · From: Tomahawk, WI USA

My respect for Alvino is great not only because of his contributions to the steel community, but to the individual as well. I sent a CD I made to Alvino a couple of years ago and didn't expect anything back, but Alvino sent me a hand-written note of thanks for it. It's something that I'll ALWAYS cherish. My sympathies to the forumite friends who were close to him...Mark

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