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I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all original) in Hollywood and
they easily hit the top of my all time favorite shows list. All guitar players
will be blown away by Frannie Beecher whose 83 year-old fingers fly around the
guitar neck as fast and effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman
Band before he joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a lot
of his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole band is
excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed. Understand that the
Comets also did one of the early instrumental rock and roll albums called
"Strictly Instrumental".
-Marty
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I just love Frannie's playing and sound. He, along with Cliff Gallup
incorporated much jazz into rock'n roll guitar. Chuck Berry, on the other hand,
introduced the full tone bend, which is fine, but it took the jazz element out
of the picture and pointed rock'n roll guitar towards the 60's British blues
sound. I'm not about to knock 'ol Chuck and all he accomplished, but I'll take
the solos from "13 Women" and "Catman" over "Maybelline" any day of the week.
Speaking of Cliff Gallup, I often wonder if he didn't influence the sound of
surf guitar somewhat. His tone was totally clean, not at all bluesy. He played
through a Standell amp just cranked. He must have recorded it in a big room
because you can hear reverb on his guitar. Not outboard reverb, but reverb
nontheless.
Cheers
Dan
Marty Tippens <> wrote:
I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all original) in Hollywood and
they easily hit the top of my all time favorite shows list. All guitar players
will be blown away by Frannie Beecher whose 83 year-old fingers fly around the
guitar neck as fast and effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman
Band before he joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a lot
of his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole band is
excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed. Understand that the
Comets also did one of the early instrumental rock and roll albums called
"Strictly Instrumental".
-Marty
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yeah, Frannie's bebop style was so much fun. I really like "Razzle
Dazzle" and an instro he did called "Goofin' Around".
As a bit of trivia, it's not Frannie doing the Rock Around the Clock
solo. I have to look it up but I'm purdy sure the guy who did that
solo was Danny Cedrone who was just brought in when Frannie was
unavailable for the session.
-Marty
--- In , Dan Bartley <bigtwangguy@y...>
wrote:
> I just love Frannie's playing and sound. He, along with Cliff
Gallup incorporated much jazz into rock'n roll guitar. Chuck Berry,
on the other hand, introduced the full tone bend, which is fine, but
it took the jazz element out of the picture and pointed rock'n roll
guitar towards the 60's British blues sound. I'm not about to
knock 'ol Chuck and all he accomplished, but I'll take the solos
from "13 Women" and "Catman" over "Maybelline" any day of the week.
>
> Speaking of Cliff Gallup, I often wonder if he didn't influence
the sound of surf guitar somewhat. His tone was totally clean, not at
all bluesy. He played through a Standell amp just cranked. He must
have recorded it in a big room because you can hear reverb on his
guitar. Not outboard reverb, but reverb nontheless.
> Cheers
> Dan
>
> Marty Tippens <mctippens@e...> wrote:
> I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all original) in
Hollywood and they easily hit the top of my all time favorite shows
list. All guitar players will be blown away by Frannie Beecher whose
83 year-old fingers fly around the guitar neck as fast and
effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman Band before he
joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a lot of
his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole band is
excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed.
Understand that the Comets also did one of the early instrumental
rock and roll albums called "Strictly Instrumental".
> -Marty
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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I agree too, Marty. The Comets are great. I saw them in Central
City afew years ago. It's about 8500 feet above sea level. They
were really huffing and puffing after a few of the songs, but they
were still fantastic. Fran Beecher is a guitar god. licks for
days. he was freakin' me out with some of the jazzy chords he'd
play over the root chord.....
They claimed the day I saw them it was all the guys who played
on "Rock around the Clock", including Frannie. I dunno....
i also saw The Beloved Invaders that day (really great) the
Fireballs with George Tomsco (sp?) (not so great, too bad...) and
High Noon ( three piece Rock-a-billy - fantastic!) The Comets
blew 'em all away that day.....
Chris
--- In , "mctippens" <mctippens@e...>
wrote:
>
> Yeah, Frannie's bebop style was so much fun. I really like "Razzle
> Dazzle" and an instro he did called "Goofin' Around".
>
> As a bit of trivia, it's not Frannie doing the Rock Around the
Clock
> solo. I have to look it up but I'm purdy sure the guy who did that
> solo was Danny Cedrone who was just brought in when Frannie was
> unavailable for the session.
> -Marty
>
> --- In , Dan Bartley
<bigtwangguy@y...>
> wrote:
> > I just love Frannie's playing and sound. He, along with Cliff
> Gallup incorporated much jazz into rock'n roll guitar. Chuck
Berry,
> on the other hand, introduced the full tone bend, which is fine,
but
> it took the jazz element out of the picture and pointed rock'n
roll
> guitar towards the 60's British blues sound. I'm not about to
> knock 'ol Chuck and all he accomplished, but I'll take the solos
> from "13 Women" and "Catman" over "Maybelline" any day of the week.
> >
> > Speaking of Cliff Gallup, I often wonder if he didn't influence
> the sound of surf guitar somewhat. His tone was totally clean, not
at
> all bluesy. He played through a Standell amp just cranked. He must
> have recorded it in a big room because you can hear reverb on his
> guitar. Not outboard reverb, but reverb nontheless.
> > Cheers
> > Dan
> >
> > Marty Tippens <mctippens@e...> wrote:
> > I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all original)
in
> Hollywood and they easily hit the top of my all time favorite
shows
> list. All guitar players will be blown away by Frannie Beecher
whose
> 83 year-old fingers fly around the guitar neck as fast and
> effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman Band before
he
> joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a lot of
> his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole band
is
> excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed.
> Understand that the Comets also did one of the early instrumental
> rock and roll albums called "Strictly Instrumental".
> > -Marty
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > .
> > Visit for archived
> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> > To visit your group on the web, go to:
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> >
> >
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> Service.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
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> > Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Well Chris, they honestly may not remember but it's well documented that
Frannie did not play on Rock Around the Clock, it's Danny Cedrone. They also
claimed that Rock Around the Clock sold 45 million copies. It think that's
greatly exaggerated.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 6:46 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Comets
I agree too, Marty. The Comets are great. I saw them in Central
City afew years ago. It's about 8500 feet above sea level. They
were really huffing and puffing after a few of the songs, but they
were still fantastic. Fran Beecher is a guitar god. licks for
days. he was freakin' me out with some of the jazzy chords he'd
play over the root chord.....
They claimed the day I saw them it was all the guys who played
on "Rock around the Clock", including Frannie. I dunno....
i also saw The Beloved Invaders that day (really great) the
Fireballs with George Tomsco (sp?) (not so great, too bad...) and
High Noon ( three piece Rock-a-billy - fantastic!) The Comets
blew 'em all away that day.....
Chris
--- In , "mctippens" <mctippens@e...>
wrote:
>
> Yeah, Frannie's bebop style was so much fun. I really like "Razzle
> Dazzle" and an instro he did called "Goofin' Around".
>
> As a bit of trivia, it's not Frannie doing the Rock Around the
Clock
> solo. I have to look it up but I'm purdy sure the guy who did that
> solo was Danny Cedrone who was just brought in when Frannie was
> unavailable for the session.
> -Marty
>
> --- In , Dan Bartley
<bigtwangguy@y...>
> wrote:
> > I just love Frannie's playing and sound. He, along with Cliff
> Gallup incorporated much jazz into rock'n roll guitar. Chuck
Berry,
> on the other hand, introduced the full tone bend, which is fine,
but
> it took the jazz element out of the picture and pointed rock'n
roll
> guitar towards the 60's British blues sound. I'm not about to
> knock 'ol Chuck and all he accomplished, but I'll take the solos
> from "13 Women" and "Catman" over "Maybelline" any day of the week.
> >
> > Speaking of Cliff Gallup, I often wonder if he didn't influence
> the sound of surf guitar somewhat. His tone was totally clean, not
at
> all bluesy. He played through a Standell amp just cranked. He must
> have recorded it in a big room because you can hear reverb on his
> guitar. Not outboard reverb, but reverb nontheless.
> > Cheers
> > Dan
> >
> > Marty Tippens <mctippens@e...> wrote:
> > I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all original)
in
> Hollywood and they easily hit the top of my all time favorite
shows
> list. All guitar players will be blown away by Frannie Beecher
whose
> 83 year-old fingers fly around the guitar neck as fast and
> effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman Band before
he
> joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a lot of
> his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole band
is
> excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed.
> Understand that the Comets also did one of the early instrumental
> rock and roll albums called "Strictly Instrumental".
> > -Marty
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > .
> > Visit for archived
> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> > To visit your group on the web, go to:
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
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ADVERTISEMENT
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--- In , "Marty Tippens"
<mctippens@e...> wrote:
> Well Chris, they honestly may not remember but it's well
documented that Frannie did not play on Rock Around the Clock, it's
Danny Cedrone. They also claimed that Rock Around the Clock sold 45
million copies. It think that's greatly exaggerated.
> -Marty
Rock and Roll revisionist history?! Blasphemy!!! I've never met an
older (75 and over) person who didn't remember EXACTLY how it
happened. My grandfather said he played baseball with Pete Rose. (
Pete would have been 9 or 10 when my Grandfather was playing!)
Either way, the night I saw the Comets, Fran nailed the solo.
Scary! I hope I'm that full of life and vibrant when I'm 83! ( I
don't think I'm that vibrant at 35!)
Chris
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Chris
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 6:46 PM
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Comets
>
>
>
> I agree too, Marty. The Comets are great. I saw them in
Central
> City afew years ago. It's about 8500 feet above sea level.
They
> were really huffing and puffing after a few of the songs, but
they
> were still fantastic. Fran Beecher is a guitar god. licks for
> days. he was freakin' me out with some of the jazzy chords he'd
> play over the root chord.....
>
> They claimed the day I saw them it was all the guys who
played
> on "Rock around the Clock", including Frannie. I dunno....
>
> i also saw The Beloved Invaders that day (really great) the
> Fireballs with George Tomsco (sp?) (not so great, too bad...)
and
> High Noon ( three piece Rock-a-billy - fantastic!) The Comets
> blew 'em all away that day.....
>
> Chris
>
>
> --- In , "mctippens"
<mctippens@e...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Yeah, Frannie's bebop style was so much fun. I really
like "Razzle
> > Dazzle" and an instro he did called "Goofin' Around".
> >
> > As a bit of trivia, it's not Frannie doing the Rock Around the
> Clock
> > solo. I have to look it up but I'm purdy sure the guy who did
that
> > solo was Danny Cedrone who was just brought in when Frannie
was
> > unavailable for the session.
> > -Marty
> >
> > --- In , Dan Bartley
> <bigtwangguy@y...>
> > wrote:
> > > I just love Frannie's playing and sound. He, along with
Cliff
> > Gallup incorporated much jazz into rock'n roll guitar. Chuck
> Berry,
> > on the other hand, introduced the full tone bend, which is
fine,
> but
> > it took the jazz element out of the picture and pointed rock'n
> roll
> > guitar towards the 60's British blues sound. I'm not about to
> > knock 'ol Chuck and all he accomplished, but I'll take the
solos
> > from "13 Women" and "Catman" over "Maybelline" any day of the
week.
> > >
> > > Speaking of Cliff Gallup, I often wonder if he didn't
influence
> > the sound of surf guitar somewhat. His tone was totally clean,
not
> at
> > all bluesy. He played through a Standell amp just cranked. He
must
> > have recorded it in a big room because you can hear reverb on
his
> > guitar. Not outboard reverb, but reverb nontheless.
> > > Cheers
> > > Dan
> > >
> > > Marty Tippens <mctippens@e...> wrote:
> > > I just got back from seein' the Comets (5 of 'em, all
original)
> in
> > Hollywood and they easily hit the top of my all time favorite
> shows
> > list. All guitar players will be blown away by Frannie Beecher
> whose
> > 83 year-old fingers fly around the guitar neck as fast and
> > effortlessly as ever. He played in the Benny Goodman Band
before
> he
> > joined Bill Haley in the early '50's so the jazz flows in a
lot of
> > his incredible chops and beautiful chord patterns. The whole
band
> is
> > excellent and really put on a show that is not to be missed.
> > Understand that the Comets also did one of the early
instrumental
> > rock and roll albums called "Strictly Instrumental".
> > > -Marty
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > .
> > > Visit for
archived
> > messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > > To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > >
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > >
> > >
> > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms
of
> > Service.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
> > > Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
>
>
> b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
> c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms
of Service.
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>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
