Jazz on the Steel - great tune ! Thanks Margie Mays !

[Larry Lenhart]

Margie Mays showed me this great tune on D9th tuning,an easy retune from the C6th tuning E C A F# D C high to low. What a great tune that is and her playing of it is top shelf ! I couldnt find it on youtube but she has it on her cd titled "This and That". She said that a man named Wes Dunn showed it to her and if I am not mistaken, wrote it. I cant play it with anywhere near the touch and tone she has...I am sure most of you are familiar with her, but if not check her out on youtube. I am lucky that 5 months of the year I live about 5 minutes away from her in Mesa Az and go over for a lesson...she can show me enough in an hour to keep me busy for months !! Just a plug for a fine steel player and a wonderful woman !

[Jim Cohen]

Larry, can you provide the link to the YouTube you're referring to? I searched on her name and only saw various Hawaiian tunes, but nothing that appeared to be jazz. Would like to hear this for sure.

Best,
Jim

[Larry Lenhart]

Jim, thanks for your response. I didnt state it well in my post, but i couldnt find it on you tube either ! Sorry about that. I could post a sound bite of it on here, but since its her cd, I dont think that would be appropriate of me to do so. So i guess my post just served to tempt and frustate. I admire your jazz playing on steel and guitar both !

[Jim Cohen]

Thanks Larry. Actually if I had read your post more carefully, I would have noticed that you already had stated that you could not find it on youtube yourself.So my bad. I look forward to hearing this track sometime in the future. Perhaps Margie will play it at the next steel show.

Thank you for the compliment too.

Jim

[Larry Lenhart]

Here is a youtube of Margie playing "Just Doodlin" which is very similar to "Jazz on Steel" that I talked about earlier...this one she does on B11 tuning, which I "think" was written by the same guy Wes Dunn. Anyway, it gives you an idea of her great tone and touch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdC0cLvXesA

[Len Amaral]

Very nice tune and great technique. Nice rhythm guitar also with Leaonard T. Zinn.

[Nic Neufeld]

Hi Larry...this is fascinating, if only because yesterday I was rummaging through some old records my parents had in storage. My grandfather, before joining the Signal Corps in WWII, had a small recording studio in Southern California. This very poor recording I copied from one hand-marked record had a Hawaiian style steel guitarist playing "South of the Border". Marked 12-25-1939, by "Wes and MaryLou D[couldn't read]". The style was distinctly "Sol"-ish, down to the C#m7 tuning. Last night I mentioned it to my dad and uncle, and they said, Wes Dunn, who was a friend of my grandfather's and had been recorded by him, and played at their church.

Then I google his name last night, and find this snippet:
https://books.google.com/books?id=WlDSD ... &q&f=false

Student of Sol Ho'opi'i, unsurprisingly!

Anyway, if I ever get to a convention I intend to ask Mrs. Mays about him! She is a wonderful player, I initially learned Hana from watching that video of her playing it at a convention recently. But it's fun to find an old connection to this music in my family.

Here's the recording: https://clyp.it/bwl1choh

Other things I found were recorded voice messages to from my great uncle and (possibly) grandfather back to their family back stateside during the war. They were stationed in Hawaii, I found out, while in the Signal Corps...my grandfather transferred to the MPs and went to Europe (getting a Bronze Star for a role escorting Queen Wilhelmina across the channel, I heard) and my great uncle served in the Pacific, in the Phillipines.

A fun surprise this Christmas, anyway.

[Jim Mckay]

Hi Larry.
I tried my own attempt recording "Jazz On The Steel" about 3 years ago. Recorded in my home studio using "Band in a box" for rhythm.
Not near the level of Margie May's version, however I will try to post a link for this on Sound cloud. (haven't tried posting sound tracks to here, so I hope this works )
https://soundcloud.com/jimjam1952/jazzing-the-strings

[Bill Groner]

Very nice Jim.

[Jim Mckay]

Very nice Jim.

Thanks Bill. I heard Margie Mays play that song At the H.S.G.A. at Waikiki. I think it was 2013 or 2014, anyhow Margie is great player and very nice person. Margie is the only person I have heard play that song so I thought I would record it for fun.
Anyhow I am sure that's the song that Larry is referring to that is on Margie's CD.
Jim

[Larry Lenhart]

I finally found a tube where Margie plays this great tune...many of you have heard it, I am sure, but just in case, its worth bringing up again, IMHO. Its the very first song on her set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAiteDfwoQ&t=2s

[Bert Farroach]

Hi Larry, this topic keeps feeding itself !
I got excited reading the whole thread, and it's amazing to see
how C6 is changing to this D9 "big tension-chord" with just 2 little changes!
But a little panic too ... how to find my way on this "new fretboard"?

I used the link to Jazz on the Steel you gave in your last reply above, and after a long evening of staring
at the playing of this sympathetic lady, I have transcribed the theme of this first tune,
and I'll post it today in the tablature section, as a hommage to her, and as a sort of thanks to you!

By the way, when you watch the video, you see her tuning back from this D9 to C6 from 4'15" to 4'50",
and even explain to someone in the audience ! Very nice!

[Larry Lenhart]

Bert
I am glad that you enjoyed her video so much...she really has a great touch and tone and there are many videos on youtube of her playing...some from the TSGA show and some from the ISGA show in St Louis.

I will enjoy seeing the tab...thanks !