Robertj711 - Posted - 03/31/2010:  18:02:14

I was working on a lick from the "complete country fiddler " based on Tommy Jacksons style and noticed in what was an example of an A7th turnaround to D,it goes from using an A7th scale,to an A major pentatonic scale,back to an A7th scale and resolves to a D,is this a common approach to improvising a turnaround?

RobBob - Posted - 03/31/2010:  19:46:18

Sounds like a long turn around. What is the complete country fiddler? A book or CD or? I have some of his LPs from a lifetime ago.

Leon Grizzard - Posted - 03/31/2010:  20:01:41

Are you are referring to Stacy Phillip's Complete Country Fiddler example on p. 63?

Robertj711 - Posted - 04/01/2010:  02:46:11

Yes,it is the book Stacy Phillip's Complete Country Fiddler,and it is ex 224,I transposed it to A7th,a string lower,I went through this book a few years ago and decided to look it over again,its amazing after learning a fair amount of theory,how the examples make more sense to me,I wish there was more out there on Tommy Jackson's style,like a real breakdown of his influences,approaches to his solo's and backup techniques etc

Robertj711 - Posted - 04/01/2010:  09:49:38

Just noticed on another post you wrote the book "hokum",a great book that sits permanently on my music stand,I'm currently on the minors section,I found putting the chords for the examples into band in a box and playing along to them till I was improvising past the basic ideas really helpfull to.

coelhoe - Posted - 04/01/2010:  11:00:13

Here's a bio for Jackson: answers.com/topic/tommy-jackso...ry-artist

It does not mention who might have influenced his playing, but Jackson grew up in Nashville before WW2, and was playing professionally by the time he was 12. Everybody in that generation was influenced first and foremost by Howdy Forester, who not played for decades with Roy Acuff, but also managed the band and acted as record company executive as well. The majority of Jackson's solo performances were for square dance records for which he made over two dozen albums and 30 singles. Almost any CW studio recording made after 1945 for the next twenty years featured him on fiddle, including the fine double fiddle styles developed for Ray Price. He died in 1979.

Dick Hauser - Posted - 04/01/2010:  14:24:25

If you like Tommy Jackson's fiddling, there is something you might be interested in buying. A Maine based fiddler sells a 3 CD set of Tommy Jackson's fiddle tunes. I bought the set but forgot the name of the guy I bought them from. If you are interested, I am sure a listmember can provide the sellers name. I read about them in the "FIDDLE-L" newsletter some years ago.

Leon Grizzard - Posted - 04/01/2010:  15:40:03

Here's the lick. (I wish I understood how to make my photobucket images larger) Seems like a regular D7 deal to me. You have to slice it in pretty thin segments to say it starts D7, then goes pentatonic, then back to D7.

M-D - Posted - 04/01/2010:  20:57:24

Here's a little Stone County trivia for ya':

My friend Sam knew Tommy when they were both in the South Pacific, and played together there. He said Tommy was as good then as he ever was. Tommy tried and tried to get Sam to go to Nashville with him when they got home, but all Sam wanted to do was get home. He has some great stories about Tommy, and their playing. Sam was a dance-fiddler, too. After the war, he was stationed in Hawaii, where he played a dance that had 24 sets, doing the Texas Star.

Billy Bob Burns knew Tommy, and wrote and sings a song, "I Was There"; the last line of which is "And they done Tommy Jackson wrong." Only one who was there would know to what he refers.

Aint life funny?

mateo - Posted - 04/02/2010:  04:20:41

Robert,

I think you are over analyzing what Tommy is doing here. If you look first at a D7 arpeggio you will see that the key tones of the lick fall on the notes of the arpeggio, if you take it one step further and look at a D9 arpeggio, which is just a jazzed up D7th in my book you will see he is working around that chord (if I can see that little jpg well enough). The notes that are not in that chord are just ornamentation or passing tones. I think if you, like the sounds of it, wish to learn how to improvise solos like this then I would look at the arpeggios associated with the chords being played and you will sound like Tommy.

As a side note, most of early 20th century music followed two forms (and the meet at the end of the road). Either strictly following the melody with ornamentation, which is the Ray Price way, which Tommy is known well for and the Jazz approach, which I call tricks around the chords (arpeggios). In the end you have basically the same thing. Modern music has adopted a more melodic approach in playing and chordal accompaniment.

What am I saying? Look at the arpeggios and you will understand whats going on and understand how to recreate it anywhere.

Edited by - mateo on 04/02/2010 04:21:45

Robertj711 - Posted - 04/05/2010:  06:51:22

Thanks for the replys,I really appreciate it,and thanks Mateo for the insight into what was really going on there,I will definitly be lookng into 9th arpeggios.

lrhamp - Posted - 04/06/2010:  22:04:06

Tommy always played for the group that did the square dancing on the Grand Ole Opra. Strangely-----Tommy never learned to square dance.

coelhoe - Posted - 04/07/2010:  08:58:17

Nothing strange about fiddlers not dancing western squares. I took square dance lessons for over a year once as a gift to my wife who loves to dance, but I found western squares really boring and musically uninteresting. Western squares are highly organized around specific callers, costumes, and pre-recorded music and you either get with the program or stayed seated. Frilly skirts with multiple petty coats, matching cowboy shirts and bolo ties. It seemed to me more like close-order drill than any kind of dancing. Those Opry groups were very highly choreographed as well and included clogging steps.

The only T. Jackson album I have left is Decca 78950 "Square Dances Without Calls" by Tommy Jackson, King of the Country Fiddlers. It includes the following tunes"

Snowflake Reel / Little Ida Red / Run, Johnny, Run / Bitter Creek Breakdown / Fiddler's Dream / Clarinet Polka / 14 Days in Georgia / Acorn Hill Breakdown / Bid Sandy / Stay a Little Longer / Done Gone / Jesse Polka (This latter actually a Mexican tune known as "Jesusita en Chihuahua" a song derived from the Mexican revolution in 1912.)

I have not heard this in several years since my last turntable died.

Peghead - Posted - 04/10/2010:  06:11:39

He did several square dance albums, I used to take them out of the public library regularly when I was in Jr. high.! I remember they had the steps printed on the back, they looked like tiny ant tracks. I played guitar then but got interested in the fiddle. I would play Tommy Jackson and Doc Watson albums from the turntable into one of thse small Wallensack reel to reels (borrowed temporarily from school) at 7.5 RPM and tried to learn them at half speed. The original ASD - without the amazing. The low end of the guitar sort of disappeared but I got good at it, Tommy's fiddle was always clear as a bell and much easier. I found one of the albums on line last year for somebody who was looking for the cut titles. Hoedown Polka and Tomahawk were two of them. You can find the discography but you have to search around, I think they were on Mercury Records. The mandolin player was Red Rector who played with Don Stover for awhile. I had the pleasure of meeting and playing with Red briefly at a festival. I think he was from up north. He played ahead of the beat which was fun and gave alot of the drive to those dance tunes (not that Tommy Jackson needed any). Red was a nice person and very funny, he was short and stocky and billed himself as the "Worlds Largest Midget". Tommy also played on one of Doc's albums - "Good Deal" The album cover has Doc at a poker table holding a royal flush and all the cards are actually facing the right way - talk about long odds. Great version of June Apple. Greg

Edited by - Peghead on 04/10/2010 06:46:48

Eric Sprado - Posted - 04/11/2010:  17:10:38

If you can't find it anywhere else, I have the three Cd set of Tommy Jackson fiddling that the fellow on Fiddle-L made. It is a bootleg set and he only charged enough to cover his costs. I'd be glad to make you a copy.. He's a straight up fiddler and I don't think you have to over-analyze him. He is a good one to learn tunes from.. Just listen and play................................ Eric