Bob Dunn (musician)

Bob Dunn
Bob Dunn
Birth name	Robert Lee Dunn
Born	February 5, 1908[1]; Braggs, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	May 27, 1971 (aged 63); Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Western swing - Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Steel guitar, Trombone
Years active	1930s-1940s
Associated acts	Panhandle Cowboys and Indians, Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, Bill Mounce and the Sons of the South

Robert Lee "Bob" Dunn (February 5, 1908 – May 27, 1971) was an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer Western swing steel guitarist.[2] Influenced by influential Hawaiian lap steel guitar player Sol Hoʻopiʻi, Dunn played in his own original bluesy style and was one of the first to record an electric guitar, preceding other country & western guitarists following him shortly. He preceded by over three years George Barnes (with Big Bill Broonzy in 1938), Leonard Ware and, slightly later, Eddie Durham.

On January 27, 1935, Dunn became one of the first musicians to record an electrically amplified instrument as a member of Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies.[3][4]

Dunn also played steel guitar in numerous other Western swing groups including those of Cliff Bruner and one of Moon Mullican's earlier bands. Dunn also had his own group, The Vagabonds, featuring Mullican and Cliff Bruner.

Dunn was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1992.

References

Ginell, Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing, p: 108: "Robert Lee Dunn was born near the town of Braggs, Oklahoma on February 5, 1908." NOTE: Birth date confirmed by Social Security Death Index.
DeCurtis, Present Tense, p. 17-18: In San Antonio Rose, his exhaustive study of life and music of western-swing kingpin Bob wills and his Texas Playboys, Charles Townshend [sic] offers fragmentary but suggestive evidence that T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian, the front-runners in the first generation of black electric guitarists, were inspired, at least in part, by the early amplified playing of white musicians such as Dunn and McAuliffe. ... Western-swing and jazz present a similar continuum on the white side of the tracks, with men like McAuliffe a jazzy but heavily country-inflected style, while mavericks like Dunn played a kind of pure, futuristic jazz all their own. And every one of these player, black and white, was solidly grounded in the blues."
Oliphant, "Texas Jazz", p. 23: "Prior to Durham's first recorded performance, Bob Dunn had recorded with the Texas Western Swing unit of Milton Brown and His Music Brownies on January 27 and 28, 1935. On this date, Dunn played an amplified steel guitar, which primarily was utilized for Hawaiian music."
Steve Sullivan (2017). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-4422-5449-7. Dick Spottswood cites this performance [Noi Lane's Hawaiian Orchestra, "Hawaiian Love," from 1933] as the first known recording of an electronically amplified guitar, or indeed of any electronically amplified instrument. Sam Koki is the lead guitarist (on the so-called 'frying pan' guitar), and it's a lovely waltz performance. The same session also included the band's fine foxt-trot Hawaiian Ripple, also with amplified guitar front and center. It would not be until 1935 that the electric guitar became a familiar presence in country music, through Bob Dunn with Milton' Brown's Musical Brownies, and Leon McAuliffe with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. These guitar wizards set the stage for Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker, and the guitar heroes to follow.

Bibliography

DeCurtis, Anthony. Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture. Duke University Press, 1992) ISBN 0-8223-1265-4
Ginell, Cary. Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994. ISBN 0-252-02041-3
Oliphant, Dave. "Texas Jazz: 1920-50". The Roots of Texas Music edited by Lawrence Clayton, Joe W. Specht, pp. 37–65. Texas A&M University Press, 2005. ISBN 1-58544-492-8

External links

DUNN, ROBERT LEE (1908-1971)—Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.
Dunn, Robert Lee (Bob)—Handbook of Texas Online.

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[1] Ginell, Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing, p: 108: "Robert Lee Dunn was born near the town of Braggs, Oklahoma on February 5, 1908." NOTE: Birth date confirmed by Social Security Death Index.

[2] DeCurtis, Present Tense, p. 17-18: In San Antonio Rose, his exhaustive study of life and music of western-swing kingpin Bob wills and his Texas Playboys, Charles Townshend [sic] offers fragmentary but suggestive evidence that T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian, the front-runners in the first generation of black electric guitarists, were inspired, at least in part, by the early amplified playing of white musicians such as Dunn and McAuliffe. ... Western-swing and jazz present a similar continuum on the white side of the tracks, with men like McAuliffe a jazzy but heavily country-inflected style, while mavericks like Dunn played a kind of pure, futuristic jazz all their own. And every one of these player, black and white, was solidly grounded in the blues."

[3] Oliphant, "Texas Jazz", p. 23: "Prior to Durham's first recorded performance, Bob Dunn had recorded with the Texas Western Swing unit of Milton Brown and His Music Brownies on January 27 and 28, 1935. On this date, Dunn played an amplified steel guitar, which primarily was utilized for Hawaiian music."

[4] Steve Sullivan (2017). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-4422-5449-7. Dick Spottswood cites this performance [Noi Lane's Hawaiian Orchestra, "Hawaiian Love," from 1933] as the first known recording of an electronically amplified guitar, or indeed of any electronically amplified instrument. Sam Koki is the lead guitarist (on the so-called 'frying pan' guitar), and it's a lovely waltz performance. The same session also included the band's fine foxt-trot Hawaiian Ripple, also with amplified guitar front and center. It would not be until 1935 that the electric guitar became a familiar presence in country music, through Bob Dunn with Milton' Brown's Musical Brownies, and Leon McAuliffe with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. These guitar wizards set the stage for Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker, and the guitar heroes to follow.