Slim Gaillard

Slim Gaillard, hmmm…this guy is a tough one to explain. I found this website that has some good information, it’s a good place to start.

A cult hero, Slim Gaillard was a frequently hilarious personality whose comedy (inventing his own jive language with a liberal use of the words “vout” and “oreenee”) generally overshadowed his music. In the mid-’30s he had a solo act during which he played guitar while tap dancing! In 1936 Gaillard began teaming with bassist Slam Stewart as Slim and Slam. Their very first recording became his biggest hit, “Flat Foot Floogie.” Slim and Slam were a popular attraction up to 1942 with such other songs as “Tutti Frutti” and “Laughin’ in Rhythm.” By 1945 Gaillard had a new bassist, Bam Brown (whose frantic vocals matched well with Slim’s cool if nonsensical voice), and “Cement Mixer” and “Poppity Pop” caught on. Gaillard, who played electric guitar influenced by Charlie Christian, fairly basic boogie-woogie piano and vibes-Scott Yanow

That’s a pretty good description there, Scott Yanow. Slim Gaillard was one of those guys I would see, from time to time, on TV variety shows when I was growing up. He was an entertainer. He had an act. The act overshadows the music a lot of times, as Yanow points out, especially when there is humor involved. The other side of this coin is, a performer that does develop an act that employs humor, can get away with a level of musical sophistication that sometimes, another artist playing it straight, will not. You used to see a lot more of this kind of stuff, it’s sort of a lost art.

I found a few YouTubes of Gaillard. Both of these appear to be from the same appearance which, according to the info at YT, features Bam Brown on bass and Scatman Crothers on drums. Yeah, that’s right, the Scatman Crothers.

As always…hit Pause, on the music player, to your left, in the sidebar before playing the YouTube.

This next one shows some of Slim’s guitar chops and showmanship. You will notice that, at the start, there are promotional graphics from the 80s TV show, “Night Music”, which was a very neat little, eclectic musical smorgasboard that was, going from memory, hosted by Jools Holland for a while and David Sanborn later. I remember seeing Gaillard on the show. They pulled out a couple of vintage clips like the one here but, he played a few songs on the set too. On one song, when he was playing piano, he did this trick that I’ve never seen anyone else do. He was played a pretty complex altered chord sequence for several measures then, he played the same sequence with backs of his hands! And, it was all very musical. But, I couldn’t find any clips of that performance. Check out the guitar licks though.