The Lost Pioneers of Rock 'n Roll

#4-"Boogie Woogie"-Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra

This song,a staple of Dorsey's band and also of many other travling Bands during
the second World War and after is for all intents and purpose's nearly identical to most
Rock 'n Roll song's that came along later in the 50's{excepting it's an instrumental}.It's
based on the 12 bar blues musical proggression which originated from Black Blue's Piano
Player's like "Pinetop Perkins" before it morphed into rock 'n roll.Even Chuck Berry who,
without a doubt,is the person most responsible for the invention of rock 'n roll,played his
great rock 'n roll song's in chord arrangements that were suited much better for piano than
for Guitar.In the 1960's i used to buy songbook's with Chuck Berry song's that had chord
charts.All his songs were in key's that even an expert jazz guitarist would have a hard time
figuring out.F-sharp was one of the key's most often used by Berry.F-sharp is a very easy
key to play Chuck Berry's song's on piano;but on the guitar it's a very difficult and ackward
key to play in.This tends to back-up Kieth Richard's Theory that much of the musical parts of
Berry's song's came from his piano player-The Great Johnny Johnson.Isn't that just like life
that a man who had so much to do with the invention of Rock 'n Roll is nearly completly unknown by the Public.

Souce:Kieth Richard's wanted to get at least one great live performance by Chuck Berry on Film.
In order to achieve that goal he assembled a great band including Richard's himself on Guitar
and they performed live at a really nice Theatre in St. Louis which during the film Berry reveals
that he couldn't go into-as a child-because he was black.Later after the concert Richard's is being
interviewed when he make's the comment about the strange piano key's that Berry used and his
theory that that came from Chuck's piano player-Johnny Johnson being invoved with the writing
of the music.The Film is called "Hail Hail Rock 'n Roll" and is one of the the greatist rock and 'n roll concert films ever made.A must see for anyone who love's Rock 'n Roll Music.
Features:Chuck Berry,Kieth Richards,Linda Ronstat,Eric Clapton,Julien Lennon{in his best ever live performance}Etta James and more.....
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