were on a plane and he said ‘I’ll give you a bit of advice
about playing. It’s a piece of advice that Maurice Chevalier
gave me. He said ‘Start well, and end well, and the middle
will take care of itself.’ ”
Tommy Crook
During an appearance Chet Atkins made on “The
Tonight Show” in the early 1980s, Johnny Carson asked
Mr. Guitar if he knew of anyone who played as well or better
than he did. As guitarists around the country who were
watching held their breath, Atkins uttered the following
endorsement: “Yes Johnny. Tommy Crook in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.”
Watching Tommy Crook play the four classic jazz
standards included here, it’s easy to see why Atkins was
impressed by his mastery of the instrument. Playing a 1957
Gibson Switchmaster modified with two heavy gauge
strings tuned an octave below regular pitch, Crook often
sounds like a bass and guitar duo. His creative, fully
harmonized arrangements make full use of the fingerboard,
with pyrotechnic flourishes such as artificial harmonics that
push the range of the electric guitar further than Charlie
Christian ever dreamed of.
Music seems to come naturally to Crook, whose father
played guitar in a weekend square dance band. Around
1950 Crook began learning chords from his dad, who
eventually taught him his entire repertoire of old songs
from the 1930s and 40s. By the early 60s Crook was in
high school and had a band of his own with three other
budding musicians – David Gates, J.J. Cale, and Leon
Russell.
“We played a lot of supper clubs,” Crook says. He also
recalls the group playing as an opener for national acts at
the local roller skating rink.
Growing up in Tulsa, Crook heard plenty of Western
Swing music and undoubtedly learned a lick or two from
Eldon Shamblin, who spent many years with Bob Wills and
the Texas Playboys. Crook says he got serious about the
guitar when he heard Chet Atkins play “Country
Gentleman.”
“I probably wouldn’t be playing the guitar today if I
hadn’t heard Chet,” he says. “I knew then what I wanted to