The Revivalist (Bunk Johnson)
ink, acrylic, and sawdust on wood
18" x 24"
7.23.09
The Patron Saint of Rhythm (Dave Bartholomew)
ink, acrylic, and sawdust on wood
18" x 24"
7.23.09
All right, all right, all right!! Two more pieces done for the big art extravaganza down in Alexandria, Louisiana. I painted these two gents back to back yesterday. Ol'Bunk was a lotta fun. He turned out real loose with colors going exactly where I wanted them too. Mr. Bartholomew was another story involving sweat, toyle, and a fair amount of cursing...but I figured it out and he looks mighty fine.
Now for a little bit of history (Vague and brief)...Bunk Johnson was the trumpet player all other famous trumpet players of the New Orleans Jazz scene of the 1920's claimed to be the best. We are talkin' King Oliver and Louis Armstrong here, sayin' ol'Bunk was the man. Now not much history or background can be proven about Bunk. Matter of fact he would lie and embellish every aspect of his life as much as possible (so the scholars tell us); so it is hard to say what is real and what ain't with Bunk... hence the name Bunk, as in "that's a lotta bunk"...But what can be proven is that once he got his new teeth Bunk lead the dixie land revival in the 1940's with his mean ol'trumpet blazin' the way until he passed in 1949.
So David Bartholomew wrote and produced a whole lotta hit songs from the New Orleans Canon of 50's R&B, which is really Rock'nRoll. He worked very closely with Fats Domino and several other NOLA artists during that time...he even wrote My Ding-a-ling! (I would have never guessed that) Anyway, I believe he is still alive and blowin' one bad trumpet when the muse calls!
Now for a little bit of history (Vague and brief)...Bunk Johnson was the trumpet player all other famous trumpet players of the New Orleans Jazz scene of the 1920's claimed to be the best. We are talkin' King Oliver and Louis Armstrong here, sayin' ol'Bunk was the man. Now not much history or background can be proven about Bunk. Matter of fact he would lie and embellish every aspect of his life as much as possible (so the scholars tell us); so it is hard to say what is real and what ain't with Bunk... hence the name Bunk, as in "that's a lotta bunk"...But what can be proven is that once he got his new teeth Bunk lead the dixie land revival in the 1940's with his mean ol'trumpet blazin' the way until he passed in 1949.
So David Bartholomew wrote and produced a whole lotta hit songs from the New Orleans Canon of 50's R&B, which is really Rock'nRoll. He worked very closely with Fats Domino and several other NOLA artists during that time...he even wrote My Ding-a-ling! (I would have never guessed that) Anyway, I believe he is still alive and blowin' one bad trumpet when the muse calls!
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