Lonnie Johnson, Guitar, 1889, New Orleans, LA
Lonnie came from a large musical family and thus influenced, he was playing guitar and violin professionally by the time he reached his teens. By 1920 he was working on the riverboat, St. Paul, with Charlie Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs. He made his first recordings with this band in 1925. Many of Johnson's first recordings were as a blues singer under his own name, accompanying himself on violin, but it was as a guitarist that he became famous. He recorded many duets with the great Eddie Lang. While Lonnie was essentially a blues player, he managed to record with such jazz musicians as; Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and King Oliver. Although he preferred sentimental blues themes, he did a significant amount of work as a jazz singer. Johnson made some 500 recordings over a 40 year career. He was not a profound artist, but a very professional one. Lonnie Johnson died in 1970.
Buddy Morrow, Trombone/Leader, 1919, New Haven, CN
Buddy began learning the trombone at the age of 12, and by 1933, at the age of 14, he was playing with local bands. In the mid '30s he moved to New York and studied at the Institute of Musical Art. He made his first recordings with the singers Amanda Randolph and Sharkey Bonano and went with Artie Shaw in 1936 for two years. During the latter '30s he worked with Bunny Berigan, Eddie Duchin, Tommy Dorsey, and Paul Whiteman. In the early '40s he worked as a studio musician and then went with Bob Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Lee Wiley, and Red McKenzie. In 1950 RCA decided to promote Morrow as a bandleader and he achieved a certain amount of success. His band played a rocking style of rhythm-and-blues rather than jazz. In the 1960s Morrow again worked as a studio musician and from the late '70s into the '80s he led Tommy Dorsey's ghost band.
Joe Maini, Saxophone, 1930, Providence, RI
