"Lonely Bull" Guitarist?

[lilrickey]

I'm a regular on Billy Strange's forum, and a question has come up about who is playing the Duane Eddy-like guitar on "The Lonely Bull." I figured that this would be the place to get the answer.

Great news about the CD releases in February! I'm really looking forward to them.

Thanks,

Rickey

 

[Tom]

Hi Rickey,

You've come to the right place to find your answer. The folks here at the corner are some of the most informed people on topics like this one. It has been my understanding that the late Tommy Tedesco was the guitar player on the first 3 albums or so. But, I could be wrong. Please, someone, set us straight.

Tom

 

[lilrickey]

Tom,

Thanks -- Tommy certainly sounds like a strong possibility.

Rickey

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Unfortunately, there's no real way of knowing, since there are no credits with the early TJB albums. We can always guess, but there's no way to verify anything unless Herb does it himself (or someone who was also on the session).


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Herb is contributing liner notes to the upcoming new CD releases, so it's likely there will be musician credits too. We can hope.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Leslie Pfenninger sent me an email a couple of years ago regarding this very subject, and I think it might have been Billy...I don't really remember, and I can't find the email...I printed it and thought I filed it...but I can't find it. I'll look for it, might take a couple of days to have the time to check through my filing system. The list was incomplete, but Herb, Julius and a drummer and guitar player were listed. Records of who played what were very sketchy and incomplete, but Billy's name sounds very familiar.


Dan

 

[lilrickey]

Dan,

Billy doesn't remember doing it, but he says it "could" have been him. Or Tommy Tedesco, or Barney Kessell, or Howard Roberts -- those guys worked so many sessions, and over the years much of whatever written documentation existed has disappeared.

Rich

 

[DAN BOLTON]

It wasn't Tommy, and the other names don't ring any bells...maybe Carol Kaye would know...


Dan

 

[DAN BOLTON]

Well, I found the email from Leslie, and the only guitarist listed was Billy Lee Riley. There were only 4 names on the list...Riley, Julius on marimba, Mel Taylor on drums and Charles Underwood was the engineer. There is no way to confirm if Riley did in fact play at the session in which the song in question was recorded or if he played on any others...just the names were listed, along with the instruments. It wasn't broken down song-by-song...Hope this helps.

BTW, the group photo shot on the back of the album was a "posed" shot...



Dan

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

On the Lonely Bull Track: (Which started A&M)
This is from a very reliable source...
Hal Blaine was the drummer, Guitars were Tommy Tedesco and Bud Coleman. The session was a non-contract session where each guy got $25. A normal session was $35. Remember, this was 1962.

Now I don't remember any marimbas on The Lonely Bull, and I can't listen to the CD because my kids borrowed it and lost it. Yikes! So Julius must have been the one playing the gong, and timpani etc.

Later............Jay

 

[DAN BOLTON]

You could very well be right...the listing I have was very incomplete, and didn't say who played on which session...Julius played marimba on DESAFINADO, and maybe on CRAWFISH. Hal would probably know...unfortunately, both Tommy and Bud [whose first name was Ervan,BTW...] are no longer with us.

Purely out of curiosity, who is your source, Juan?


Dan, saying make those kids spring for the TLB reissue...