I was listening to a cassette made from a friends old 78's of a Hawaiian Steel player who was playing acoustically and did a lot of fast picked glisses like a dixie land banjo player might do, sliding up to the note picking like crazy. He also
played with a sense of humor if that makes any sense.
Any thoughts on who this might be. Definately 1930's or so.
Who was this player?
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Bob Stone
- Posts: 1800
- Joined: 7 Aug 1998 12:01 am
- Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Hi Mike,
When you say "sense of humor" two early steelers come to mind: Roy Smeck and King Bennie Nawahi. Even when playing for schmaltzy luau records later in life, Smeck had a hard time keeping the "novelty" licks out--and he was a banjo player too. I just gave my King Benny LP (Yazoo 1074) a very quick listen for the tenor banjo flavor you speak of and didn't hear exactly what you describe, but did hear some things pretty close. He certainly was hot and definitely humorous. Great stuff! An essential recording, in my opinion.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 10 May 2000 at 07:16 AM.]</p></FONT>
When you say "sense of humor" two early steelers come to mind: Roy Smeck and King Bennie Nawahi. Even when playing for schmaltzy luau records later in life, Smeck had a hard time keeping the "novelty" licks out--and he was a banjo player too. I just gave my King Benny LP (Yazoo 1074) a very quick listen for the tenor banjo flavor you speak of and didn't hear exactly what you describe, but did hear some things pretty close. He certainly was hot and definitely humorous. Great stuff! An essential recording, in my opinion.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 10 May 2000 at 07:16 AM.]</p></FONT>