Minor but interesting figures leading up to 1955.

Harry the Hipster Gibson performing 4-F Ferdinand about a bad school kid who ends up marrying his teacher.

Notable for his boogie woogie and stride playing, he was a more frantic player than Fats Waller who discovered him. His songs were offbeat tales usually involving seedy characters who dabbled in drugs and sex.  Harry himself was a user and it ultimately led to the decline of his career after his song "Who put the Benzadrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine?" got him blacklisted from the industry. Also note that he's got a wild and flamboyant playing style, often standing instead of sitting. His harmonic vocabulary, while deeper than the rock and roll pianists to follow him, leans more towards the I-IV-V blues progression than it does to the harmonic vocabularies of jazz, stride, and big band that were prevalent during WWII when Harry was coming into notoriety in Manhattan. In other words, he was doing Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard at least 15 years prior and he was dirtier and more dangerous as well.

Jackie Wilson - He predates Elvis as he replaced Clyde McPhatter in Billy Ward and the Dominoes before he went solo. He was also unintentionally instrumental in Berry Gordy's career as the future head of Motown by cowriting a song with him that became a hit. Elvis liked his moves. Check out this clip especially at 1:08 on.

What do you think? Could he possibly be an influence on Elvis in terms of stage presence? Maybe vocally too? I think Elvis' croon has more in common with Jackie Wilson than with other early rock and rollers such as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly or Bill Haley.  Check out the first song of three from this t.v. performance on Ed Sullivan... yes it's from the 60s, but keep in mind that Jackie Wilson had been active since the early fifties, and Elvis had gone on record as being exceedingly complimentary of Jackie Wilson.

In the previous blog entry, I linked to Bill Haley and His Comets, but not to the other artists, so here are some choice clips.

Notice how Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis both stand. Also, note Little Richards vocal octave jumps which both John and Paul imitated.  Jerry Lee Lewis really loves to do big greasy slides up and down the piano.

Chuck Berry Duck Walking

Also, just for fun. Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps performing their hit, Be Bop A Lula

That's slightly suggestive, huh?