Stark upright and the 1940's

[peterchecksfield]

Pretty cool graphic, though I should point out, we don't know that he has actually rocked through the current decade yet, since he hasn't performed a show yet.

Haha, good point! Nor do we know for sure that he performed in 1949, could quite easily be 1950 or later.

[peterchecksfield]

Nor do we know for sure that he performed in 1949, could quite easily be 1950 or later.

Linda Gail claims to remember Jerry getting his first piano & she wasn't born until 1947! So it's not easy to date things accurately...

[Tony Papard]

Pretty cool graphic, though I should point out, we don't know that he has actually rocked through the current decade yet, since he hasn't performed a show yet.

Haha, good point! Nor do we know for sure that he performed in 1949, could quite easily be 1950 or later.

Both good points, but as a sort of 'spin doctor' most of my life I'm all for stretching the truth a little to make a point. I'm sure he did rock in the 40s, and will still rock in this decade.

By the way, the original montage is clearer than the copy I posted, For some reason it got a little blurred in the conversion to .jpg and downloading.

[Tony Papard]

Nor do we know for sure that he performed in 1949, could quite easily be 1950 or later.

Linda Gail claims to remember Jerry getting his first piano & she wasn't born until 1947! So it's not easy to date things accurately...

But he played his Aunt Stella's piano before that, and the one in the Ferriday Assembly of God Church. Jerry maintains his parents mortagaged their house to buy his first piano when he was 9, which would make it 1944 or early 1945.

Someone's wrong, or Linda's older than she makes out! Ha ha!

[jllWAfan1982]

Another point to consider: when did the Killer start rocking? Even if the first public "concert" performance at the used car dealership was 1949, do we know that he played something that would be considered rock 'n' roll, or even close enough? Or would it have been blues, boogie woogie, or old time country western? I believe it was Peter who suggested on a previous thread about the used car dealership performance that Lewis may not have performed "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" in a rock 'n' roll manner, but in a way more similar to the original recording? (Incidentally, the original recording from 49 by the original artist on youtube sounds like early rock 'n' roll to me, but I freely admit I may not be as capable of making necessary musical distinctions as others.)

Do we know that Jerry was really rockin' or doing stuff close enough to rock 'n' roll back in the 40's? I wonder how probable that is. I have thought about it myself. For what it's worth, t's my gut instinct reaction that he probably played something close enough that we would maybe call it that. However, I may be overestimating Lewis.

[peterchecksfield]

Another point to consider: when did the Killer start rocking? Even if the first public "concert" performance at the used car dealership was 1949, do we know that he played something that would be considered rock 'n' roll, or even close enough? Or would it have been blues, boogie woogie, or old time country western? I believe it was Peter who suggested on a previous thread about the used car dealership performance that Lewis may not have performed "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" in a rock 'n' roll manner, but in a way more similar to the original recording? (Incidentally, the original recording from 49 by the original artist on youtube sounds like early rock 'n' roll to me, but I freely admit I may not be as capable of making necessary musical distinctions as others.)

Do we know that Jerry was really rockin' or doing stuff close enough to rock 'n' roll back in the 40's? I wonder how probable that is. I have thought about it myself. For what it's worth, t's my gut instinct reaction that he probably played something close enough that we would maybe call it that. However, I may be overestimating Lewis.

Personally I'd call boogie woogie or fast early rhythm 'n' blues "rockin'"...

But do we really know what song he performed? Who "remembers" it? Jerry? Cecil? Frankie? Linda? I certainly don't accept this as a "fact" without more proof (a press cutting from the day perhaps?).

[Tony Papard]

I'd say these are all highly unreliable. If Linda Gail really does remember her parents buying Jerry his first piano, then she must have been extremely young at the time surely? Born in 1947, even if she'd only been 2 that would place Jerry getting his own piano in 1949 at the age of 13 or 14.

Jerry always claims 'I was born feet first, came out jumpin', been jumpin' ever since'. Another exaggeration no doubt, but as boogie-woogie was a big influence at the time, along with 'swing' no doubt and of course Country some of which was uptempo, I would imagine Jerry played both Country and uptempo stuff which would be fairly close to rock'n'roll or boogie as it was then called from a very early age, certainly in the late 1940s.

Earliest example we have, of course, is the 1952 recording 'Don't Wait Til Love Grows Cold'/'New Orleans Boogie'.

If Jerry and most of the biographies are correct, he was playing piano before he got his own one, and that's what prompted his parents to buy one because he was so talented. So this would mean he was playing his Aunt Stella's and the church piano long before 1944/45 when he was 9 and, according to Jerry and most of the biographies but not according to Linda Gail, he got his own piano.

If Linda Gail is right and his own piano was bought at the end of the 1940s or even later, then all the biographies and Jerry himself are wrong.

Perhaps we should ask Frankie Jean, as she'll probably have a different version again. I know she claims to have the first piano Jerry ever played in her house/museum - i.e. not the Starck upright, which is at the Ranch.

P.S. 'Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee' was recorded in the 1940s by Sticks McGhee of course, and has a typical early black rhythm'n'blues tempo which developed into rock'n'roll in the 1950s.

[bailbath]

I expect there is a serial number on the piano if it has not perished which give us year of manufacture. Anyone got a picture of the piano as well?
Ian
Interesting topic so I will split the thread

[peterchecksfield]

I expect there is a serial number on the piano if it has not perished which give us year of manufacture. Anyone got a picture of the piano as well?
Ian
Interesting topic so I will split the thread

That wouldn't help, as Jerry's parents bought it secondhand.

[Tony Papard]

I expect there is a serial number on the piano if it has not perished which give us year of manufacture. Anyone got a picture of the piano as well?
Ian
Interesting topic so I will split the thread

That wouldn't help, as Jerry's parents bought it secondhand.

Need a copy of the mortgage (or re-mortgage) agreement for Elmo and Mamie, perhaps Frankie Jean has it?

[jllWAfan1982]

Would the mortgage papers be available at a court house in some records archive? I don't know (and I suppose none of our European friends will either), but I think it is a real possibilitchance. A lot of real estate information is maintained in county court houses, etc., but I don't know if they would keep THAT kind of info. Or, if they kept that information, if it would still be existing in the archives 60 years later? Shit happens; things get lost.