Lonnie Johnson Records Influential Blues and Jazz Guitar for Okeh

New Orleans guitarist Lonnie Johnson—winner of an Okeh Records talent contest in 1925—recorded prolifically through the late 1920s, producing sophisticated single-string guitar work that bridged jazz and blues. Johnson recorded duets with Eddie Lang, appeared on records with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and developed a guitar vocabulary that directly influenced Robert Johnson, B.B. King, and ultimately rock and roll guitar.