Bobby Gibbons - I can't find anything on him!!!

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Does anyone know if there is anything available featuring this great guitar-player? He was a part of Guitars Inc which also featured Tommy Tedesco and Howard Roberts, but they were probably only assembled in the studio to make albums for the jazz/easy listening market in the late-1950s.

I was first aware of him - his playing, not who it was(!!) - when we had a copy of Tennessee Ernie's 'Sixteen Tons' on 78 rpm back in 1955. On the B-side was a song called 'You Don't Have To Be a Baby To Cry', and I was immediately captivated by the fluid guitar-fills on the track. (Even though I hadn't yet started to learn to play, I heard something special in the inventive accompaniment on that B-side.)

A year or so ago, a couple of our resident Forum music-history buffs were kind enough to inform me that those tracks were cut at Capitol with the Jack Fascinato group, and that this included Bobby Gibbons on guitar. I acquired a Tennessee Ernie compilation CD - which is splendid, because it also has tracks with Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West - and was able to confirm some of the background info.

Bobby also did some Elvis sessions, as well as Sarah Vaughan, so he was clearly one of those prolific Hollywood studio players who was able to cover a wide range of styles. This fascinates me; I was also delighted to discover the identity of another unsung 'great', the New York-based George Barnes, who, while being an accomplished jazz-player, cut an amazing solo on Connie Francis' 1958 'Lipstick On Your Collar'.

In Britain in the 1950s we had one notable jazz-virtuoso who was able to comfortably 'live' in both camps - the extraordinary Denny Wright, but there seems to have been any number of such fine players in the US at the time; Hank Garland and Johnny Smith were two more 'notables'.

Does anyone out there know of any material featuring Bobby Gibbons? I'd love to know more about him, but even the ubiquitous 'Google' isn't very forthcoming....
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Roger:

I did a little googling and found this:

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/credits/0,,435396,00.html

which lists 40 or 50 different CDs, including Anita O'Day, Les Brown, Nat Cole, Nancy Wilson, Elvis, Joe Venuti, Sinatra, Mel Torme, Pete Fountain, and many more. Apparently he dates back to at least the late 40s.

Full name Joseph Robert Gibbons, but I didn't have any luck with that name.

Yeah, Denny Wright! I know he recorded with Lonnie, but can you rattle off a few things he was on other than Cumberland Gap?? Is there a thorough discog of Lonnie online?? About 25 years ago, I used to correspond with a guy in the UK who was a Lonnie authority and I provided him with a lot of info on US releases. I still have some of the cassettes he sent me. You probably know the guy, but I can't place his name right now.

Barnes: another guy who was all over the map. Check out:

Sweet Violet Boys: I Love My Fruit (George in his teens)

Jazz Gillum: Reefer Head Woman

Patsy Cline: Too Many Secrets

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Thanks, Mitch!

Denny Wright was with Lonnie from his first LP ('L. D. Showcase') until just after 'Cumberland Gap'. For me, his stand-out work was on 'Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O', 'Dead Or Alive' and the live cut of 'Muleskinner Blues' (Conway Hall concert, Feb '57). Denny was the (unofficial) arranger on all the Donegan recordings in which he was involved.

After losing his job (there's an illuminating tape of LD live at the Albert Hall doing a BBC-Radio concert during which he has to give the solo on 'Cumberland Gap' to the bassist because Denny was 'over- medicated'!) he took his talents to Lonnie's only rival in the UK market at the time, Johnny Duncan (not to be confused with the country singer of the same name); once again Denny works out a terrific arrangement and adds one of the great solos of the 1950s to Duncan's major hit, 'Last Train To San Fernando'.

Denny did return to Donegan's group in the early-1960s, but found his real niche with jazz violinist Stephan Grappelli, where his mastery of Django Rheinhardt's style was a real boon.

Here I am pestering Denny - one of my earliest heroes - at the TV studio where they recorded a 'This Is Your Life' on Lonnie Donegan in 1991. Denny played one more gig with Lonnie shortly after this was taken; I was there, too, and he played his Gretsch 6120. He passed away not long afterwards.

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Mitch,

Here's Dave Moore's discography on Lonnie Donegan (maybe it was Dave who you corresponded with?).

http://www.lonniedoneganinc.com/images/davemoorediscography.pdf

There are a handful of us, Dave included, who are still gamefully digging up whatever we can on Lonnie. Donegan was a notoriously 'difficult' chap, and getting at the truth could sometimes be exhausting!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Roger:

Thank you for the info. I know there has been 2 or 3 CDs in the last 5 or 6 years of live Lonnie and I think I have that Conway Hall thing stored away somewhere. I will have to dig it out and rip that track.

Re Lonnie: I read where he had a residence at Lake Tahoe for some years (60s? 70s) and I often wondered if he actually lived there or if it was only a vacation place which he rarely visited. I lived in Reno, 30 miles away, at the time and wondered if he was secretly gigging up there and I missed out on seeing him.

I should also be summarily slapped around for only recently discovering Ottilie Patterson with Chris Barber. Luckily, I downloaded that youtube video of Ottilie and Lonnie on "When I Move To The Sky".

Mitch Drumm · From: Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake

Roger:

I was just rooting around on my hard drive and discovered I had scans of the LD discography from the Bear Family box.

I looked at them and see that the guy I had corresponded with is credited: Dave Radcliffe. I have not been in touch with Dave for at least 20 years. If by chance you know him, give him a nod on my behalf. He may or may not remember me, but we exchanged tapes.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Mich

Dave, sadly, is not at all well. I will try and pass your greetings on to him via another of 'Lonnie's Loonies' who is in closer touch with him.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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