The Ventures had a hit in 1960 with "Walk, Don’t Run." They heard it from Chet Atkins, who had a hit with it in 1956. Chet heard the 1954 original by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Johnny based his song on "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it at #82 on their 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time list. This story was in the comments for the video: "[A] music industry guy introduced Johnny to the Ventures. Johnny took them to dinner and realized they had no idea he wrote their greatest hit! He was such an unassuming guy he didn’t bother to tell them." Anyway, here’s Johnny Smith with his "Walk, Don’t Run."
I’ve never heard this version…it’s my favorite by the Ventures…I never thought about a jazz version of it.
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Interesting how Smith wrote it as a jazz tune, Atkins changed it to country and The Ventures made it rock (surf, anyway…).
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It evolved into what I know…it was the first song I learned by the Ventures…
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You never disappoint, John. I had forgotten about The Ventures, but I did have their albums. What a great memory!
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Glad you liked it! The Ventures had a bunch of classics besides this: “Perfidia,” “Slaughter On 10th Avenue,” “Hawaii Five-O,” all the James Bond themes… Hank Marvin and The Shadows were another band that had some great instrumentals. Like I said, that’s a topic that’s worth a deep dive…
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You should orchestrate (get it?) your own blog hop.
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You mean one for instrumentals? Could be interesting…
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Yes!
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How about if we start in May, after the A to Challenge?
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Great!
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You always come up with excellent musical choices! Thanks for joining in!
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Gla you liked it!
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