The coolest-ever Alvino Rey pic?

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 14 Feb 2011 9:48 am

Check out the article on the Smithsonian website:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cult ... c=y&page=1

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 14 Feb 2011 10:20 am

he was such a heavyweight..

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 14 Feb 2011 4:21 pm

He certainly had a lot of good photos. Here's another favorite.

Mark Roeder · Post by **Mark Roeder** » 15 Feb 2011 11:35 am

He really has a photogenic mystic about him

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 15 Feb 2011 2:32 pm

The double neck looks like the one when he was playing in the Horace Height Orchestra. I wonder if Gibson made it ?

Here is another picture from my old Alvino Rey Instruction book.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 15 Feb 2011 7:29 pm

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 15 Feb 2011 7:32 pm

Billy Tonnesen wrote:The double neck looks like the one when he was playing in the Horace Height Orchestra. I wonder if Gibson made it ?

Yes, it says Gibson on the headstock.

I think he had a very Dracula-esque look about him--love the hair. But the lighting was so extreme and effective in those early photo sessions.

BTW, I knew a guy who had a Super 400 that was made for Alvino and he didn't find out about it until Alvino died. Needless to say, he sold it for six figures.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 15 Feb 2011 9:24 pm

Mike:

I wonder what he sounded like when playing the double neck Gibson with no pedals. Maybe there was some old Horace Height records he played on !

I missed seeing the "Gibson" on the head stocks. I have Macular Degeneration and I really have to look close for small words and print.

Jason Hull · Post by **Jason Hull** » 16 Feb 2011 4:42 am

In the photo with the Super 400, he reminds me of John Cusack.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 16 Feb 2011 5:26 am

The sensibility regarding lighting was very different than today as were the film stocks and grain patterns. High contrast and drama was the aesthetic. In addition, there was less media saturation in those days - even less amateur photography so people have a look in their eyes that differs from modern shots. Within a formula, early pro studio photographers were masters of their craft (often looking to master painters like Rembrandt & Caravaggio for inspiration). Alvino was also a very photogenic person. Agree he looks like a young Cusak. He's an interesting figure who deserves a good full-length bio. Somebody else write it!

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 16 Feb 2011 5:29 am

By the way, I just read somewhere that the 2 brothers in the band Arcade Fire are the grandchildren of Alvino Rey.

Fred Kinbom · Post by **Fred Kinbom** » 16 Feb 2011 7:56 am

Jason Hull wrote:In the photo with the Super 400, he reminds me of John Cusack.

I agree. He also reminds me of Peter Lorre and Jacques Tati!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 16 Feb 2011 8:58 am

Jason Hull · Post by **Jason Hull** » 16 Feb 2011 5:09 pm

Fred Kinbom wrote:I agree. He also reminds me of Peter Lorre and Jacques Tati!

Peter Lorre, yes!

James Williamson · Post by **James Williamson** » 16 Feb 2011 10:19 pm

Is that a fact Mike....wow, so Alvino was photogenic in Peter Lowry kind of way, successful on steel for his day and had good genes that spawned a band with the album of the year for 2010...what a guy.

Todd Weger · Post by **Todd Weger** » 18 Jan 2013 2:25 pm

Does anyone know what type of steel A.R. played on the Esquivel sessions? Some of the tunings are kind of weird. I read somewhere he played a doubleneck PSG, but nothing on the recording that I can hear sound like PSG in 1968. They sound much more like a non-pedal to my ears, but I could be wrong.

I'm playing the steel parts on those tunes in a couple months in Mexico City. A friend transcribed ALL of the tunes for 23 piece orchestra, since the charts are either lost or were destroyed.

Anything anyone know about that? I think I'll post this again in a new subject heading, too.

THanks!
TJW

Jerome Hawkes · Post by **Jerome Hawkes** » 18 Jan 2013 3:17 pm

I had a chance to buy that very super 400 about 10 years ago for $5k - the music store up in New England that had it assumed it was refinished, as Gibson didn't make a blond 400 until '39 - this was a '35. I asked for the serial number and sure enough, in a copy of Gibsons shipping ledger records I had .... Shipped to one Alvino Rey.
Stupid, stupid move - I wonder if whoever got it realized - I sure didn't tell them.

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 25 Jan 2013 12:26 am

In this one, the cartoonist even picked up on the spot in the middle of
the steel where Alvino cut it in half and inserted a piece to make it a
longer scale length!

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 25 Jan 2013 12:44 am

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures, most especially Doug Beaumier's stunning studio shot.

Steve Blazek · Post by **Steve Blazek** » 28 Jan 2013 7:38 am

My father used to play sax in that band, can you steer me to any more photos?

Michael Lee Allen · Post by **Michael Lee Allen** » 28 Jan 2013 8:57 am

deleted

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 28 Jan 2013 1:43 pm

Alvino was married to one of the King Sisters, Luise.
She preceded him in death in 1997. Alvino died in 2004.

We, at the Aloha International Steel Guitar Club in Winchester Indiana, were fortunate to have Alvino as as our featured guest artist in 1998.

Here is a photo of the Alvino and Luise in later years.

Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 28 Jan 2013 8:29 pm

Win Butler of Arcade Fire looks a lot like granddad Alvino...

The Steel Guitar Forum

The coolest-ever Alvino Rey pic?

The coolest-ever Alvino Rey pic?

Alvino Ray and Arcade Fire

Esquivel?

alvino's grandson