I received an email yesterday from Tom, a member over at the Yahoo Jazz Guitar Group, with additional information on Jazz Guitarist turned Pedal Steel player Alvino Rey. I asked tom for permission to post what he emailed me and he agreed, so here’s further info on Alvino Rey…and thanks Tom…:)

“Thanks for featuring Alvino on one of your blog pages. I wish you could have met him; you would have liked him. In fact, I never met anyone who didn’t like Alvino Rey. A wonderful gentlemen - one of the founding members of the Guitar Foundation of America, BTW. He did a lot to champion both Christopher Parkening and at the beginning of their careers.

Over a decade after he won the Life magazine poll, he realized that his technique could use some additional refinement and studied the classical guitar with Andres Segovia in When I would go over to his house here in Salt Lake City, he still had a number of guitars, though his hands were so palsied that playing was a challenge. He had a 50’s era Gibson L-5, an Antonio Torres from the 1880’s that was once owned by Migue  Llobet, and an early 60’s - era spruce/Brazilian Ramirez. Tucked back in the corner was a strange little contraption - an aluminum plate with rounded corners connectired to a fretboard and small headstock. Attached to the plate was a little contact mike. He told me this was one of the original prototypes of the electric guitar.”

Wow! If you have any comments or any more information on Alvino Rey, I would love to hear it. Keep pickin’!

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