Sep 9, 2023
Lonnie Johnson (~1930)
"There was music all around us, and in my family you'd better play something, even if you just banged on a tin can."
Alonzo "Lonnie" Jonhson, born in New Orleans in the final months of the 19th century, pioneered note-by-note guitar solos, an influence that rippled through the 20th century. The erstwhile tin can banger - who also learned to play the violin, piano, banjo and mandolin - ended up playing with the likes of Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.
