Louis Speiginer - Jazz & rhythm and blues guitarist

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

30 years ago I bought some compilation records by Jay McShann, Buddy Tate and Jimmy Witherspoon and for the first time became aware of Louis Speiginer whose playing I would describe as somewhere between Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker and early Lowell Fulsom.

Today I started to do a little research on the guy:

His discography (he played also with Ray Charles apparently).

Here is a quote from another website I found on the Speiginer family website (his ancestry was German, African-American and Cherokee):

"The second disc -- Guitar Boogies, Sax Screamers, Gospel Roads -- includes classic songs from great singers who influenced Fifties rock'n'roll and the British blues boom of the early Sixties: it opens with Arthur Crudup's That's All Right Mama from '46 (which Elvis famously kicked off his career with), moves into Big Joe Williams' Baby Please Don't Go (which Van Morrison and the Animals covered) and Louis Speiginer's Guitar Boogie was adapted by every plank spanker from Chuck Berry to Jeff Beck."

Recollections by his daughter:

Recordings in the Internet Archive

Enjoy & steal some licks!

[AllanAllen]

[Hep To The Jive]

Yea, beautiful, my kind of jazz!

[Hep To The Jive]

30 years ago I bought some compilation records by Jay McShann, Buddy Tate and Jimmy Witherspoon and for the first time became aware of Louis Speiginer whose playing I would describe as somewhere between Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker and early Lowell Fulsom.

Today I started to do a little research on the guy:

His discography (he played also with Ray Charles apparently).

Here is a quote from another website I found on the Speiginer family website (his ancestry was German, African-American and Cherokee):

"The second disc -- Guitar Boogies, Sax Screamers, Gospel Roads -- includes classic songs from great singers who influenced Fifties rock'n'roll and the British blues boom of the early Sixties: it opens with Arthur Crudup's That's All Right Mama from '46 (which Elvis famously kicked off his career with), moves into Big Joe Williams' Baby Please Don't Go (which Van Morrison and the Animals covered) and Louis Speiginer's Guitar Boogie was adapted by every plank spanker from Chuck Berry to Jeff Beck."

Recollections by his daughter:

Recordings in the Internet Archive

Enjoy & steal some licks!

Baby Please Don't Go was also covered by AC/DC, which I think was the best of them all.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Yeah, that's on my "The band that jumps the blues" vinyl on Black Lion Records.

Interesting connections: Parker played with McShann who played with Witherspoon who later played with Robben Ford who later played with Miles who had played with Parker.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Baby Please Don't Go was also covered by AC/DC, which I think was the best of them all.

I did not know the version and it is a little too hectical for me being used to an old John Lee Hooker version. BTW Speiginer did not play with Big Joe Williams AFAIK. They just appear on the same compilation mentioned in the quote.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Yea, beautiful, my kind of jazz!

The nice thing about doing this kind of research is that you always end up with something new, a singer you did not know mentioned in an article on the musician you are researching on, a sideman who did interesting recordings as well etc. etc.

And today with YouTube, Spotify etc. you will most probably find a recording mentioned somewhere immediately.

[Jordanspeiginer]

Please let me know if you would like more info on my great Uncle Louis. I remember him fondly, he and my grandfather were brothers and played together. Lots of history here...