Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 57

with numerous singers including Lee Barnes, Billy
Valentine (who sang on the
hit "Walkin' Blues"), Floyd
Dixon, Mari Jones, Nelson
A lexander, and Frankie
Ervin. They recorded for
various small labels until the
early '60s and scored a few
minor hits like the novelty
track "Dragnet Blues" in
'53 and "My Last Letter" in
'55. Charles Brown reunited
briefly with Moore and Williams in the mid '50s, and
when Nat Cole disbanded his
original trio, Oscar returned
to the Blazers' lineup first as
an occasional guest, then as
recurring fourth member
until '54. They also enlarged
the group to include drummer Buzz Daniels, singer
Mari Jones, who served as
both lead and auxiliary vocalist, and tenor saxophonist
Maxwell Davis on tracks like
"Dragnet Blues," "Playing
Numbers" and "Last Letter."
Moore experimented with
expansions of the urbanblues format in the Blazers'
'50s incarnations. He applied Latin dance grooves
"Johnny's After Hours (Lazy Blues)" was a landmark
cated LA style. He continues with a familiar rhythmically
to several notable tracks;
outing of his '50s period. Many of his most identifiable
displaced E minor riff with quarter-step string bends over
exploiting an R&B mambo
traits are in full flower in this example. Note the opening
E7. The final measures find Moore alternating between
feel in "Gee, It's Rough" and
passage over A7 that depicts his idiosyncratic slurred
a jazzy F#m7 arpeggio superimposition on B7 and a
cha-cha rhythm in "Johnny,
simple but insistent two-note hammer-on riff that builds
neighbor-tone licks in two arpeggio figures (Em6) that
Johnny." The latter suggests
momentum to the final cadence on E7 where he closes
convey a ninth-chord sound in the phrase - a common
an embryonic "Tequila" riff
with a familiar G#-E phrase ending. Blues 101, indeed.
jazz-informed aspect of the more harmonically sophistithroughout and features a
mildly overdriven guitar solo
hinting at the blues grit to come in the sounds rangement. Moore also experimented with labels but failed to recapture the group's
of B.B. and Freddie King, Buddy Guy, and reappraisals of the trio's legacy hits; re-casting earlier momentum. He passed away in early
Otis Rush. Though "Johnny, Johnny" failed "Drifting Blues" and "Merry Christmas Baby" 1969 and remains an unsung hero to countless
to chart, it clearly inspired Little Richard's in updated settings and with Jones' lead vocals. appreciative blues and rock musicians.
"Jenny, Jenny," which did chart. Moore further
Cocktail blues... sounds good on the surface.
showcased his presaging of "Tequila" in the However, by the late '50s and early '60s, the INFLUENCES
swinging Latin-inflected "Down in Texas." He Blazers' urbane R&B hipster approach fell
In his youth, Moore received training and
flirted with pop blues in the lighthearted "Be out of favor with emerging youth culture experience in his violinist father's string band.
Cool (a.k.a. Keep Cool)," sentimental balladry and rock-and-roll audiences seeking brasher, Like most amplified guitarists of his generain "Too Bad," "My Song" and "So Long," and aggressive, and more rhythmically animated tion, he bears the influence of T-Bone Walker
overdubbed layered harmony vocals a la Les sounds. Urban blues was epitomized by the and other seminal electric-blues players like
Paul and Mary Ford in "Lonesome Train." more-visceral approach purveyed by Muddy Gatemouth Brown and Pee Wee Crayton.
"Nightmare Blues" was a quintessential Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, and the
sonic experiment employing Mari Jones' Chicago scene, while the Los Angeles cool- STYLE
double-tracked unison vocals and a unique blues strain passed through the portal of
Johnny Moore is a pioneer of cool blues
juxtaposition of Latin and swing beats and history to become something of an artifact - what historians dubbed "the West Coast
double-timed ensemble riffs in what may in the chronology. Johnny Moore's Blazers style" of the '40s - an important transitional
be the genre's first polyrhythmic blues ar- recorded into the early '60s on various small figure in the evolution of electric-guitar music.

February 2018

57

VINTAGE GUITAR



Vintage Guitar - February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vintage Guitar - February 2018

Contents
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - Cover
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - IFC
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 3
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 4
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 5
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Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 7
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 8
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 9
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - Contents
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - 11
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Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - IBC
Vintage Guitar - February 2018 - BC
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