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Benny Garcia
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This topic was originally posted in this forum: Wanted To Buy |
| Author | Topic: Benny Garcia |
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Gene Jones Member Posts: 5796 |
posted 02 February 2001 03:57 PM
Today there was a great feature in the Daily Oklahoman about Benny Garcia, jazz guitarist,who played with Tex Williams and the Western Caravan with Earl "Joaquin"Murphey in 1948 during Tex's "Smoke,Smoke,Smoke that Cigarette" days, and appeared in several of Tex's movies. He also worked with Hank Penny, Bob Wills, Johnny Lee Wills, Patsy Cline, and Merl Lindsay and the Oklahoma Nightriders. He now works with his own jazz combo at the "Talk of the Town" in Oklahoma City. His son Benny Jr., currently works with Vince Gill and toured last year with the Dixie Chicks. Benny is an important piece of musical history and I am privileged to have known him for 30 years. (and thats not just because when my daughter was small he gaveher two of his pomeranian puppies.) Gene Jones http://genejones.bizland.com |
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Pat Burns Member Posts: 2896 |
posted 02 February 2001 04:15 PM
...never mind, I saw the topic and thought this was about the clarinet player on Teach Your Children... |
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Jason Odd Member Posts: 2665 |
posted 02 February 2001 06:43 PM
Has anyone found any good website stuff on Benny.. I've looked and looked and found very little. The jazz fans really skip over guys like Benny, Jimmie Wymble and other funky cats like them. I heard that Benny is working with Truitt Cunningham's group with various ex-Playboys, Billy Jack Wills and Cooley sidemen.. id that still a regular thing? |
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Jason Odd Member Posts: 2665 |
posted 03 February 2001 03:22 PM
Hey Gene, if you see Benny, can you ask him if he appeared in any of Tex Williams' short Westerns? I'm assuming he was, as the Western Caravan appeared in them as well. In 1949 Williams hooked up Universal-International, a new Western spin-off of Universal, with Universal-International began production on the musical featurettes (shorts), Tex was joined by the whole group, while Deuce Spriggins and Smokey Rogers actually had character roles as well. The early work included Ready To Ride (U-I, 1949), and South Of Santa Fe (U-I, 1949), with actors like Donna Martell, who appeared in six of the Williams shorts. The character scenes and musical portions were all new footage, but most of the action was from stock footage from various past 1930s Universal productions. In 1951, after almost a dozen shorts were released, Universal dropped the series. In a predictable move, Universal-International then took most of the Williams musical featurettes, paired a couple together, and released them again as features titled Tales Of The West (No. 1-2-3-4). Man, you could make a film out of all the footage of Cooley, Wills, Williams and others..maybe one day someone will. |
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Gene Jones Member Posts: 5796 |
posted 04 February 2001 04:06 AM
Jason.....according to Benny, in 1948 he was playing with the staff band at the old Biltmore Hotel in Oklahoma City when Tex Williams appeared at a theater across the street..after hearing Benny play he asked him "do you want to go the California with us?" The Caravan in those days consisted of three long black Packards and one truck that hauled equipment, and each packard carried up to eight band members and since Benny was the youngest at 20, he had to sit in a jump seat. Benny and the Caravan traveled across Canada and the United States for three years. Benny remembers the cameras at Universal Studios in Hollywood,when he made at least six short matinee western movies between 1948 and 1952 with Tex Williams and the Western Caravan..Benny says that because of his Mexican-American ancestry he was often picked to play the "Mexican" guy, once wearing a sombrero and playing a mandolin. [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 04 February 2001 at 04:09 AM.] |
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Jason Odd Member Posts: 2665 |
posted 04 February 2001 06:00 AM
Hi Gene, wow you have a way of making a guy feel good about asking a question that you had already covered in the original post. (ie, whether or not Benny was in the films). I've seen a shot or two of Benny with the Western Caravan, (the films remain elusive here), and there's the famous 1949 promo shot of the whole group. Benny looks so young!.. amazing..because he was. Thanks a bunch, I love the story. |
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Mark van Allen Member Posts: 2458 |
posted 07 February 2001 08:53 AM
There's a great video compilation out on Vestapol (13062) called "Legends of Western Swing guitar". Lots of footage of Benny as well as Eldon Shamblin, Zeke Cambell, Jimmy Wyble and some great songs with Tom Morrell on LEAD Guitar. not too much steel but what there is is great. Homespun has it in stock, I think around $29. I got mine on ebay. Fun stuff. ------------------ |
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