When His "Singing Guitar" Talks, People Listen
Famed Bandleader Alvino Rey Helped Introduce Electric Steel Guitar To Music World
The following article on Alvino Rey was originally published in the May 2000 issue of Jazz Connection Magazine.
When bandleader Alvino Rey first started picking on the guitar as a young man, he never thought that his instrument of choice would be as popular as it is today.
"I had no idea," Rey said via telephone from his home in Sandy, UT. "Ever since rock 'n roll came on the scene, it seems like now every kid wants to play the electric guitar."
Rock 'n roll may have popularized the guitar, but it was musicians like Rey, who led a family-oriented commercial dance band during the late 1930s and '40s which featured his "Singing Guitar" and the female quartet, The King Sisters, that helped introduce the electric guitar to the music business as a solo instrument.
"It (the electric steel guitar) was something new at the time, so I guess I could be called an innovator of sorts," said Rey, now 88. "Originally, it was a Hawaiian steel guitar and over the years I added pedals to it in order to make the chord changes."
This was during the time when plectrists such as Rey as well as Les Paul and the late Charlie Christian were considered by many to be the top guitarists during the Swing Era.
Rey was born Alvin McBurney of Scotch-Irish ancestry on July 1, 1911, in Oakland, CA. Some sources list the year of his birth as 1908. While growing up in Cleveland, OH, Rey first took up playing the banjo for several years before switching over to guitar.
"I then heard a few wonderful guitar players and that's when I got interested in the guitar," he said.
One of those wonderful guitarists that Rey heard was Eddie Lang. Along with jazz violinist Joe Venuti, Rey became enamored with both men's artistries, he said.
As a teen, Rey even put together a little jazz combo similar in style to that of Lang and Venuti.
But it wasn't until a trip made to New York City when the young 18-year-old budding guitarist met his idol for the first time and as a result, got a damaged guitar out of the encounter.
"Lang was the first person I went to see when I got to New York," Rey recalled. "I went up to his hotel. He was very nice. He had two guitars in his room. He was going to send one back to the manufacturer because it had a crack in it. I asked him if I could have the guitar. He gave it to me."
It was while working as a solo act that Rey adopted his new stage name.
"The entertainment people thought that McBurney wasn't a good name," Rey said. "It's different now. All the funny names come in as big as anything. My Spanish teacher called me Alvino for Alvin. That's how it started out. I made the name legal in 1946 when I got out of the Navy."
Rey soon found a spot in Phil Spitalny's orchestra during the late 1920's. This was before Spitalny surrounded himself with a bevy of girl musicians for his Hour Of Charm radio series in the late 1930s.
Soon after the stock market crashed in 1929, Spitalny's band broke up and Rey returned to his native San Francisco and worked for the three years as a staff musician at NBC radio.
It was while working on radio that Rey introduced the electric steel guitar.
Rey love to tinker. While tinkering with Hawaiian or "lap" steel guitars, he added pedals to the instrument to get shifts in the tuning. That eventually led the Gibson Guitar Company to conduct research-and-development work that evolved into the pedal steel guitar that is widely used in country music.
The unusual instrument also caught the attention of bandleader Horace Heidt. Heidt was a smart businessman who led a successful show band during the 1920s through the1950s. He was astute enough to recognize fine talent and had the savvy to know what would draw public interest to his shows.
"When I wasn't working with the radio orchestra, I did a solo act playing the Spanish guitar and the electric steel guitar at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco," Rey recalled. "No one had ever heard of the electric steel guitar and people made a big fuss over it. After seeing how the instrument was accepted by listeners, Horace then asked me to join his band."
That was in 1933. During his five-year stay with Heidt, Rey, along with pianist Frankie Carle, alto saxophonist and arranger Frank DeVol, trombonist Ernie Passoja, and the vocal foursome of the King Sisters - Alyce, Luise, Donna and Yvonne - helped to establish Heidt as a dance band rather than just a stage band.
Heidt was always looking for talent that was new and different to present to his public and he insisted that his musicians be full of musical tricks and gimmicks. Rey, for instance, created all sorts of novelty effects with his electric guitar, he said.
Heidt was a hard-nosed bandleader who could be difficult to deal with, especially with members of his band. He is also credited for nurturing, at least on the surface, a "family feeling" among his band - and he never let anyone forget his paternal role in that family.
"Horace was strict but he was very personable with the public," Rey said. "He had his symptoms with the band. He'd like some musicians and there were some he didn't like. I always got along fine with him."
On June 16, 1937, Heidt and His Brigadiers began recording for Brunswick after a nearly eight-year absence from the recording studios. The four sides waxed that sessions were Hot Lips (vocal by The King Sisters), Gone With The Wind (vocal by Larry Cotton), The Bells Of St. Mary's and The Farmer's Daughter, Marianne (both vocals by Bob McCoy and The Glee Club).
In a thirteen-month period to July 8, 1938, Rey helped Heidt record 83 tunes for Brunswick.
In May 1937, Rey married Luise King.
The following year, Rey left Heidt to form his own band, taking the King Sisters with him as his prime attraction. They settled in California. The Kings came from Utah, making their home in Los Angeles was a lot closer than New York.
Radio station KHJ asked Rey to form a studio band. Assured of work, Rey sent for DeVol to create a new library for the band and asked friend and saxophonist Arthur "Skeets" Herfurt to leave Tommy Dorsey in order to assume the lead alto chair.
Rey's new band quickly gained popularity with West Coast audiences as a result of transcribed radio shows.
"We started out as more of a swing band and played more jazz," Rey said. "We played a lot of pieces what the musicians liked."
Rey and his band only stayed on the West Coast for about a year before being booked in New York's Biltmore Hotel and at the Rustic Cabin across the Hudson River in Englewood, NJ.
"We took only two of the L.A. musicians with us to New York because they had musicians' union cards for New York," Rey said. "We then formed a new band made up mostly of East Coast musicians."
Rey's East Coast debut at The Biltmore Hotel didn't fare well as hotel management insisted that the band play soft, quiet background music for its customers instead of its big swing arrangements. As a result, the band was fired. But the Rustic Cabin engagement a week later, proved to be a completely different experience. College kids came out in droves to hear the band and they loved what they heard. The band broadcasted nightly over WOR radio and gained a huge following.
It was during this time that Rey developed his "singing guitar" trademark.
"The name sort of fit us," Rey said. "The talking guitar bit was more of a style, too. We tried to build all our music around the guitar. As you would hear the band on the air, you'd also hear the guitar. Then we'd get carried away with jazz and forget about the guitar. The band was made up of such fine musicians that sometimes we'd get a little too far out and loud for the customers."
For the band's opening theme, Rey employed a weird but successful effect that sounded like electronic voices.
"We had some microphones that were the opposite of throat microphones," Rey described. "It was like a loud speaker unit fastened to your throat. The guitar would play musically into it and the voice, usually done by my wife, Luise, would mouth the words and it would come out with an eerie effect almost like an alien."
In 1940, Rey signed on with RCA Victor to make records with its affiliate label, Bluebird. The band's first recording session took place in New York on Nov. 18 with St. Louis Blues, Tiger Rag and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (all three vocals by The Four King Sisters), and Rose Room.
In the band at the time were Frank Strasek, Paul Fredericks and Danny Vannelli, trumpets; Jerry Rosa and Wallace "Blue" Barron, trombones; Kermit Levinsky and Bill Sine, alto saxophones: Skeets Herfurt and Jerry Sanfino, tenor saxophones; Milt Raskin, piano; Dick Morgan, guitar; Gene Traxler, bass; and Bunny Shawker, drums.
From Nov. 18, 1940 thru July 24, 1942, Rey and company recorded 70 commercial sides for Bluebird and Victor, including the band's closing theme song, Nighty Night, with a sultry vocal by Yvonne King on Feb. 3, 1941.
Joining the band in early 1941 was pianist Edwin LeMar Cole, better known as Buddy Cole. He would later marry Yvonne King.
On Nov. 21, 1941, the band recorded its playful version of Deep In The Heart Of Texas. The piece became a huge hit for Rey, due to the energetic novelty singing styles of sax man Skeets Herfurt and trombonist Bill Schallen. The record's "B" side, I Said No!, a provocative-sounding vocal by Yvonne King, also recorded that same day, also became a chart-topper. In fact, during February 1942, both songs were listed on Billboard's Top Ten Chart, along with the bands of Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Sammy Kaye, Jimmie Lunceford, Harry James and singer Kate Smith.
Other popular recordings comprising the Rey canon during this time include the flag-waving Tiger Rag, The William Tell Overture, Parts 1 & 2 and Where You Are (vocal by Alyce King, both on Feb. 3, 1941), In The Hall Of The Mountain King (June 10, 1941), The Skunk Song (vocal by Dick Morgan, Oct. 24, 1941), Little Hawk (Jan. 27, 1942), the surreal Picnic In Purgatory (vocal by Charles Brosen, March 12, 1942), and a care free version of Strip Polka (vocal by The King Sisters and Chorus, July 24, 1942).
In 1942, Rey was selected top guitarist by readers through Metronome Magazine's readers' poll. On Jan. 16 of that year he became a Metronome All-Star, joining fellow poll winners clarinetist Benny Goodman, trumpeter Cootie Williams, trombonist J.C. Higgenbotham, alto saxophonist Benny Carter, tenor saxophonist Charlie Barnet, pianist Count Basie, bassist John Kirby, and drummer Gene Krupa to cut a rousing recording of I Got Rhythm.
"It was quite an honor being named to the Metronome All-Stars," Rey said. "It was a thrill being able to cut a record with those giants of jazz."
Earlier that same year, a young Kai Winding became a member of Rey's trombone section.
Rey, his orchestra, and the King Sisters also appeared in several movies including Larceny With Music (1943 - starring Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle), Jam Session (1944 - starring Ann Miller and Jess Barker also with Louis Armstrong, Charlie Barnet, Glen Gray, Teddy Powell, and Jan Garber and their orchestras, and The Pied Pipers) and The All-American Band, an RKO film made in response to fan voting, Rey said.
In late 1942, Rey formed what he called "the best band I ever had, it was my favorite." Unfortunately, musicians' union president James Caesar Petrillo called a musician's strike against the record companies that began on August 1 and Rey's "best band" never got to record. In addition to sporting many fine jazz musicians, the band also employed the stellar arranging talents of Neal Hefti, Ray Conniff, Johnny Mandel and Billy May.
"It was large band," Rey said. "We sort of outdid Stan Kenton. We had the best musicians in the country and the band really swung well. We had six saxes, ten brass, with four bass trumpets, and seven vocalists, including Andy Russell."
In addition to singing, Russell also played drums. Other noted Big Band era drummers who passed through the Rey band during this period were Don Lamond, Irv Cottler, Nick Fatool, Davey Tough and Mel Lewis.
Although no commercial studio recordings were made with this 1942-43 band, numerous radio transcriptions of from the Hollywood Palladium and the College Inn do exist. Rey is spending a great deal of time these days preparing them for sale on CDs.
"Because of the record ban at that time, we weren't allowed to sell these radio transcriptions," Rey said. "I'm surprised as to how many of these air checks I have. Some of them are wonderful! In those days we were broadcasting using one microphone. There are very few turn tables that can play these 16-inch records and there is one at nearby Brigham Young University. We are transcribing everything on to CD and we are trying to polish them up to get the "pops" out of everything. It's a big challenge for me but I'm enjoying it."
In 1943, Rey took a war-plant job with Vega Aircraft in Los Angeles where he inspected radio parts for the B-29 Flying Fortresses. Working the night shift, he still tried to keep his band going during the day with weekly radio broadcasts and irregular personal appearances.
"In 1943 everyone was getting drafted," Rey said. "I still played mostly on weekends. Most of the guys did this kind of thing in order to get out of the draft."
Time caught up with Rey and the following year he was inducted in to the Navy, utilizing his specialty in the field of electronics as a part-time instructor at radar school.
"I knew more about electronics than I did about music," Rey said. "For the war effort, I thought I'd be more valuable to be in something that was important like electronics."
After the war, Rey settled in Los Angeles and formed another band while signing on with Capitol Records. During his time at Capitol, he produced his 1946 hit of Cement Mixer (Puddy Puddy) and jazz-oriented pieces such as High Octane, Steel Guitar Rag and Cumana. He also recognized the singing talents of Blossom Dearie, then a member of his "Blue Reys" vocal group.
With the Big Bands quickly fading out, Rey's orchestra didn't stay together for much longer. Rey returned to do studio work only to lead a band occasionally for special television performances and for casuals around the country, he said.
The King Family, whom Rey married into, was large and musical. After their presumed retirement, an unusual extended-family charity performance in the mid-1960s at Brigham Young University led to renewed interest in their careers.
When the three dozen members of the King Family appeared on ABC's Hollywood Palace variety show, they drew more than 50,000 fan letters of appreciation. ABC brought them back into the spotlight as stars of The King Family, a wholesome hour-long program that involved as many as 59 relatives.
"We had tremendous exposure with the TV show," Rey said. "I think it helped revitalized our careers. It certainly kept my name in the limelight."
The King Family television show lasted off and on for about 5 years, beginning in 1965, Rey said.
"It was a family-oriented show," Rey said. "We tried to play good music on it. We had a very good band and wonderful arrangers such as Lennie Niehaus, Ralph Carmichael, Dick Grove and Perry Botkin, Jr. The show caught on for a few years and then began to drop off. We don't know exactly why. Maybe people got tired of seeing the same thing over and over again."
Members of the King Family included Karleton Driggs (brother of the King Sisters), his wife, Hazel, and their three children Bill Driggs III, Don Driggs and Raymond Driggs; Bill Driggs, Jr. (brother of the King Sisters) and his wife, Phyliss, and their three children, Stephen Debra and Jonathan; Maxine King and her husband, LaVern Thomas, and their two children, Carolyn and Tom; Luise King (husband Alvino Rey) and their three children, Robert, Liza and Jon; Alyce King and her husband, actor Robert Clarke, and son, Cameron. Alyce was previously married to the late Sydney de Azevedo and has two sons by that marriage, Lex and Ric; Donna King and her husband, Jim Conkling, and their five children, Candy Wilson (who is married to Robert Wilson), Jamie, Christopher, Xandra and Laurette Conkling; Yvonne King, by a previous marriage to the late Buddy Cole, has two daughters, Tina and Cathy Cole. She was married at the time of the show to bandleader Del Courtney; and Marilyn King and her two children, Susannah and Adam Lloyd, she was married at the time of the show to Kent Larsen, now deceased.
Although Rey has been a giant in the jazz and pop music fields, he first love is playing classical guitar. It's his favorite form of music, he admitted.
"My right hand never worked well to play a lot of classical stuff," Rey lamented. "I had some mechanical trouble with my right hand. I have no problems playing with the pick. As much as I love classical music, I never tried to aspire to be a classical guitarist."
But that never discouraged Rey from absorbing as much classical guitar as he could. He even learned from the best: the late great Andres Segovia.
"I spent many years with Segovia both in Spain and at his seminars here in America," Rey said. "It was a big thrill in my life to study with him. I learned a lot of expression from him. Segovia was a determined player. He never did anything but play the guitar. He'd even lay there in bed not even dressed and practice guitar!"
Rey's whole life has been absorbed in music. His enthusiastic interest in music still remains to this day. He continually sharpens his guitar skills by practicing all the time and by performing solos and concerts with symphony orchestras throughout the country, he said.
"I've always been excited about jazz and I love jazz music very much," he said. "Unfortunately, there was never much money in jazz so that's why I went into more commercial things."
With having played so many important and engagements having been played over the years since his band was formed, Rey lists playing for Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial and presidential inaugural balls as his most memorable performances.
In 1979, Rey and his family moved from Southern California to relocate in Sandy, UT, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
In the 1980's, Rey and his band made a tour of college campuses with the King Sisters and former Claude Thornhill star vocalist Fran Warren.
Rey and the King Sisters no longer perform together as a group but they do see each other frequently at family gatherings, he said.
Rey still records with small groups and his latest release, Keep On Smiling, an album of most requested tunes, was recorded on his Alysa Record label three years ago.
His current project, Song Of The Islands, an album of Hawaiian music played on his Hawaiian steel guitar, has not yet been released, he said.
"I'm just waiting to get the album cover made for it," he said.
Many of Rey's CDs may be purchased through Alysa Records at P.O. Box 901321, Sandy, Utah 84090.
Rey has three grown children - a daughter, Liza Butler, who is an international harpist and with whom Rey performs on occasion; and two sons, Robert and Jon, who are musical but are not in the music business, and six grandchildren and a great-grandson, he said.
In 1997, after 60 years of marriage, Luise King Rey died at age 83. She gave her final performance before 15,000 people at a Utah centennial celebration the year before. In 1996, sister Alyce King Clarke died. Today, four King Sisters remain: Maxine, Donna, Yvonne and Marilyn.
In 1983, Luise King Rey wrote Those Swinging Years (Olympus Publishing), a book about Rey's band and the King Sisters' rise to fame.
While Rey continues to make wonderful music, he admits that he is ignorant of what young people listen to these days, he said.
"I don't know that much about it," he said. "I don't why some of the pop music that's out there is so successful. The music seems to fit the kids today as to what they want. The kids I know today are good classical players and there are also a few good jazz players among the bunch."
Playing good music has always been a trademark of Alvino Rey. Having led one of the most successful, popular, and many would even say fun bands during Big Band Era, Rey believes that having given his public years of good musical entertainment would be his contribution to the history of American popular music.
"We always thought we were playing good music," he said. "We wanted a good band and we all agreed that this kind of music is what we liked. I think we were right."
*****
*** In 2001, Rey released his Song Of The Islands CD. Alvino Rey died on February 24, 2004, from complications of pneumonia and congestive heart failure at a rehabilitation center in Draper, Utah, near his home in Sandy, UT. He was 95. ***