From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:56 am Subject: This Is My Story : Edgar Blanchard EDGAR BLANCHARD Born 17 August 1924, New Orleans, Louisiana Died 17 September 1972, New Orleans, Louisiana Guitarist / bandleader Edgard Blanchard was a permanent feature of the New Orleans music scene from 1945 till circa 1965. By 1947 he was in charge of the resident band at the Down Beat Club on Rampart Street, with Roy Brown as one of the vocalists. Blanchard's best known group was The Gondoliers. An early version had a two-guitar line-up with Ernest McLean, while in the 60s the group included Dimes Dupont (alto saxophone), Alonzo Stewart (drums), Frank Fields (bass) and Lawrence Cotton (piano). The band was renowned for its stylistic versatility. Although Blanchard frequently played on sessions, he seldom recorded under his own name. There was one single for Peacock in 1949 and two singles for Specialty in 1956, among them "Mr. Bumps", a tribute to the label's head of A&R, Bumps Blackwell, on which Blanchard duetted with guitarist Roy Montrell. He had two more releases on Ric in 1958-59, which showed his hard R&B style on the instrumentals "Let's Get It" and "Knocked Out", and his cocktail style on "Lonesome Guitar". The flip of "Knocked Out" was the very bouncy and catchy "You Call Everybody Darling", with Blanchard on banjo and Geri Hall in the vocal group. Blanchard supervised all the early Ric sessions before giving way to ex-Specialty man Harold Battiste. His final records were somewhat uncharacteristic raucous blues tracks, such as "Tight Like That". Made for Joe Banashak's Minit label in the late 1960s, they remained unissued until ten years after Blanchard's death (of cirrhosis of the liver) in 1972. Some of the recordings on which Blanchard can be heard as a session player: - Little Richard, Long Tall Sally / Slippiin' and Slidin' - Little Richard, Ready Teddy / Rip It Up - Roy Brown, Good Rockin' Tonight - Professor Longhair, Tipitina, In the Nigght, Ball the Wall, Who's Been Fooling You - Joe Turner, Honey Hush, Crawdad Hole - Ray Charles, Feelin' Sad - Lloyd Price, Woe Ho Ho, I Yi Yi Gomen-A--Sai - Big Boy Myles, Hickory Dickory Dock, Jusst To Hold My Hand - Sam Cooke (as Dale Cooke), Lovable, Foreever, That's All I Need To Know, I Don't Want to Cry And many other Specialty and Ric recordings. Discography: http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/edgarblanchard.htm Dik