PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

Left Handed Guitarists

Left-handed players generally choose a left-handed (mirror) instrument, although some play in a standard right-handed manner, others play a standard right-handed guitar reversed, and still others (for example Jimi Hendrix) play a right-handed guitar strung in reverse. This last configuration differs from a true left-handed guitar in that the saddle is normally angled in such a way that the bass strings are slightly longer than the treble strings to improve intonation. Reversing the strings therefore reverses the relative orientation of the saddle (negatively affecting intonation), although in Hendrix' case this is believed to have been an important element in his unique sound. They come in four catagories as to how the play.

René Didi Duprat

In the 1930s and 1940s there was a left handed guitar player, René Didi Duprat, who wasn’t a manouche, a gypsy, like many French guitar players, but a gadjo, which means in the Sinti-language, that he isn’t a gypsy. He was a great accompanist at the guitar and played with great musicians, like Tony Muréna and numerous others.  George Lankester wrote an article about this unknown French guitar player, titled René Didi Duprat, that was published in Dutch. Today you'll find the English version René Didi Duprat - Maitre de Musette.

Ensemble Tony Murena with Didi Duprat with inverted Grande Bouche Macca.

"Didi" was born on the 12th of October 1926 in Paris. As a kid he learned to play the mandolin and the banjo, but the guitar would soon become his major instrument. Django Reinhardt was his inspiration and soon he played with important manouche guitarists.
At sixteen he played in the Michel Warlop Orchestra and in 1943 he accompanied Gus Viseur, the most important accordion player in those days and also with Tony Muréna, another accordion player with whom he played in the parks and streets of Paris, when he was a kid. He performed with the Orchestra of Louis Ferrari, yet another accordionist and bandleader, until 1952. He became a friend of Marcel Azzola, a well known musette player in those days.

In 1958 Didi replaces guitarist Henri Crolla in some tours of the famous singer Yves Montand and it brings him some fame. He becomes a sought after accompanist for musicians like Dalida, Juliette Gréco and Marléne Dietrich until the mid 1970s.
 

Didi Duprat, Jean Nora, François Parisi, Armand Lassagne and Joe Privat ( photo: Franck Bergerot)

People who enjoy Hot Club Jazz will like to know that the left-handed guitarist Didi Duprat, is to be heard on several recordings of the late 1930s and 1940s, in recordings with Musette musicians like Muréna.
It is remarkable to learn that he also played with musicians like Gus Viseur, the accordion player who was so famous because of his swing and improvisations. His records were released on the Swing label.

Didi also played with the Ferret brothers, guitarists that were famous too. Early 1990s, not long before he became ill, he was at the Paris Musette CD recordings as an accompanist with musicians like Louis Corchia, Lassagne and Azzola.

Although he was to be heard as a soloist now and then, here he was a much appreciated and skilled accompanist, together with Didier Roussin, a great connoisseur of Musette. On two CDs, “La Lichére” and “Vent d’Automne” (Frémeaux LLL 137 and 207) you can find tracks with traditional manouche jazz tunes, but also waltzes, mazurka’s and the Parisian Java. Short after these recordings some great musicians like Jo Privat and Didier Roussin passed away. On the 8th August 1996 René Didi Duprat died, remembered as an amiaible musician, who was labelled in France as ‘Maître de Musette’.
 

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Patrick Saussois

Plays his guitar in the left handed position with strings upside down, but although it looks awkward, it sounds great: his distinctive playing style is very relaxed and melodic

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Al Ferdman - Jazz Guitarist,  1922-2005

Contemporary of the Deniz Bros, Archie Slavin, Freddy Legon, and played with the Vic Lewis Orchestra. Harold (Al) Ferdman was a southpaw Guitarist in the days when such instruments had to be built specially. This bespoke Abbot Victor Archtop Guitar has an added pickup masked by his left hand, with the volume control and Jack socket on the lower F hole and an 'Abbott Victor' engraved Y trapeze.  Block inlays to the fretboard and a scratchplate with binding.  Could be a Music Master edition.

Billy Mackel

As soon as Charlie Christian began to amplify his guitar, audiences became hungry for increasingly more expressive and acrobatic displays of musicianship on the part of guitarists.  As a result, those essential musicians who confined themselves to a rhythmic role were inevitably pushed to the background in the public’s view.  To describe Billy Mackel solely as a rhythm guitarist would be ignorant of the frequent soloing contributions he brought to Lionel Hampton’s music and the way in which he helped steer the maestro’s swinging mayhem.  Mackel’s guitar was not only the solid and consistent binding element in Hampton’s band, but it played a key part in the energy and sonic particularity of Hampton’s music.  As his guitarist from 1944 to 1978, Mackel was the legendary vibist/leader’s most loyal collaborator.
LH Stomberg G3 guitar
He was a precise soloist, developing his well-balanced phrases masterfully, calmly and with an apparent nonchalance and his choruses are rigorously built.  As an accompanist, his pulsation is remarkable in its suppleness and elasticity, and he was one of the first to abandon the regular 4/4 beat for small riffs, short harassed phrases which complement and encourage the improvisations of the other soloists.

Billy Mackel was as essential to Lionel Hampton's Orchestra  as Freddie Green to Count Basie's.

The Photo is from 1952.
The Orchestra: Quincy Jones, Walter Williams, Clifford Brown, Eddie Mullens, Art Farmer, trumpet
James Cleveland, Al Hayse, George Cooper, trombone. Clifford Scott, Clifford Solomon, Anthony 
Ortego, Oscar Estelle, Eddie Pazant (replace Robert Plater), sax. Billy Mackel - LH Stomberg G3 guitar, 
WM Montgomery-el.bass, George Wallington-piano, Alan Dawson-drums. Annie Ross and Sonny
Parker- Vocals,  Curley "drum boogie" Hammer - drums.
Lionel Hampton- Leader, vibraphone, piano, drums and vocals.

Louis Armstrong's Orchestra rhythm section, c. 1935.
Luis Russell, piano, Paul Barbarin, drums, Pops Foster, bass, Lee Blair, guitar. Note the Early Lap 'Steel' guitar on a Stand

He was a self taught musician that played left handed banjo and guitar. He took a few lessons from Mike Pingitore but his natural ability landed his first professional job in 1926 with Charlie Keets. Some of the greats he worked with included Jelly Roll Morton, Luis Russell and Louis Armstrong. The Luis Russell Orchestra became the back-up band for Louis Armstrong during the depression and jazz experts feel that Luis' band may have been the first swing band with Blair playing guitar.  During the 1950's Blair played banjo again performing and recording with Wilbur De Paris.

I first noticed left-handed banjo virtuoso Lee Blair on 1950s recordings with the Wilbur De Paris Band, and only then traced his career back to marvellous contributions to Jelly Roll Morton recordings thirty years earlier. Kansas City Stomps shows off his style well: the light springy beat, the high pitched chord inversions, the trilled glisses, and his varied syncopated rhythm. Later, with the De Paris band, he was featured prominently. ‘Banjoker’ is a splendid example of how a banjo solo can sound in the right hands.

Note the custom made Left Hand Guitar - Gibson L-5
Armstrong must have been really generous to his musicians as the piano, percussion kit and guitars would show.

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Last modified: 13/09/2011