This show marks an even dozen shows dedicated to the development of guitar styles in America, and this may be as good a time as any to cover just how deep and wide the guitar had become.

We started our series in the mid-twenties, at a time when the guitar was virtually a novelty instrument, or something used for accompaniment for street singers. Here we are now, approximately twenty years later (in the mid-‘40s, approximately), and just look (or listen) to how the instrument has developed!

The sound, volume and variety of guitar styles are unlike anything that could have been imagined two decades earlier, but just as impressive is the range of its conquest. Virtually every type of music was yielding to this instrument, and today’s show will hopefully point out not just the stylistic scope of the instrument, but also its diversity. It’s only the mid-to-late forties, and already the guitar is starting to saturate everything that it touches.

Featured tracks include:

I Love Paris – Mary Osborne

How High the Moon – Mary Osborne

Bumble Boogie – Alvino Rey & His Orchestra

Saint Louis Blues – Alvino Rey

Ain’t That Just Like a Woman – Louis Jordan (w/ Carl Hogan)

Beware, Brother, Beware – Louis Jordan

Intuition – Lennie Tristano

Duet for Saxophone and Guitar – Lee Konitz and Billy Bauer

Sugarfoot Rag – Hank Garland

Sugarfoot Boogie - Hank Garland

This Train – Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Didn’t It Rain – Sister Rosetta Tharpe