The Guitar in America: Victorian Era to Jazz Age

by Jeffrey J. Noonan

The Guitar in America offers a history of the instrument from America's late Victorian period to the Jazz Age. The narrative traces America's BMG (banjo, mandolin, and guitar) community, a late nineteenth-century musical and commercial movement dedicated to introducing these instruments into America's elite musical establishments. Using surviving BMG magazines, the author details an almost unknown history of the guitar during the movement's heyday, tracing the guitar's transformation from a refined parlor instrument to a mainstay in jazz and popular music. In the process, he not only introduces musicians (including numerous women guitarists) who led the movement, but also examines new techniques and instruments. Chapters consider the BMG movement's impact on jazz and popular music, the use of the guitar to promote attitudes towards women and minorities, and the challenges foreign guitarists such as Miguel Llobet and Andres Segovia presented to America's musicians. This volume opens a new chapter on the guitar in America, considering its cultivated past and documenting how banjoists and mandolinists aligned their instruments to it in an effort to raise social and cultural standing. At the same time, the book considers the BMG community within America's larger musical scene, examining its efforts as manifestations of this country's uneasy coupling of musical art and commerce.

Genres: Music

248 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2007

Reviews

[Ray Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a study of the early development of guitar culture and the guitar's place in American culture. The author explains that most stories of the guitar either begin in the 1920s and 30s with Jazz or Blues. The idea of guitar as a parlor instrument for families that could not afford a piano or as an alternative to banjo is neglected. There were touring guitarists, classical and European virtuosi, educators and publications dating back the the mid nighteenth century in the United States.

Guitar is so dominent in popular music today that it is amusing to think that it was once towered over by banjo. I am a fan of bluegrass and roots music and have nothing but respect for the banjo, but a world where educators argued the merits of one over the other as though there could be only one, is as silly as trumpet and saxiphones fighting for the same seat in a Jazz band. Never the less, that was the case. As guitar gained popularity, the rise of mandolin orchestra and a publishing industry around music for guitar, mandolin and banjo thrived.

Noonan does an excellect job of bringing this world to life and telling the stories of the major players. Sadly for me, none of these names are familiar. Typically a history of music touches on heroes and pieces one knows. In this case, Noonan is shining a light on a world that has been truly lost but sets the stage for what comes next. In the evolution of Jazz to Rock we can follow the electric guitar from Charlie Christian to Eddie Van Halen, or Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton. A similar connection in the actual music is not as obvious from turn of the century arrangements for parlor guitar to anything in pop music today. Never the less, if this foundation of early guitar had not been in place, the instrument would have been alien. Happily, it was not alien, it just needed to be amplified to take it's place in the swing bands of the 30s and 40s and beyond.

[Brandon Reeves · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a complete waste of money. The title of this book should mention that it is only about classical guitar. To say that this is a history of the American guitar from the Victorian Era to The Jazz Age and not give full account of Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Freddie Green, Eddie Lang, or Lonnie Johnson is insane. It does devote about a paragraph to Charlie Christian.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As is to be expected of anything published by a University Press, this is a well-researched, scholarly work. It covers primarily the mid-nineteenth century to the 1920's. The author designated this as the prehistory of the role of the guitar in musical form. It also only alludes to the physical changes made to the instrument as time and usage progressed. It was interesting to learn that the essential difference between English and Spanish guitars was not so much design as whether the strings were of wire or gut. Much referencing is based upon the periodicals of the early twentieth century promoting the mandolin and banjo, with the guitar taking least place. These periodicals were not only biased, but vested in promoting a given manufacturer. In the later years, these publications also lauded and promoted well-known performers of the day.
Once again, Jack Chekijian uses his professional expertise to keep the narrative from becoming boring, yet pacing the work so as to allow ease of note-taking.
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review

[Bruce H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read his endnotes. Some remarkable references here.