Favorite Oldies Revisited December 2022

Maybe this track will wake up Blofeld's cat ...

You Only LIve Twice (John Barry)

A solo guitar reworking of W.C. Handy's most famous jazz standard. Over 100 years old and still hits the spot!

St. Louis Blues (W.C. Handy)

A physical finger workout, and a cognitive one for the brain ...

Hopscotch on the High Strings (L. Zabel)

Think positive; There's no rainbow without the rain ...

Six String Serenade on a Soggy Day (L. Zabel)

I was gonna name this bluegrasser quickie 'Jim-Dandy', but it didn't seem strong enough ...

Humdinger (L. Zabel)

The "bird" song, an 1855 Civil War standard, was high on Honest Abe's playlist. Who knows who the actual composer was of the "mouse" song, circa 1609. Most people give Tommy Ravenscroft the credit. 
But we all know what the most popular versions are. At least us porcupines & grapeheads do ...

Listen to the Mockingbird/Three Blind Mice (Milburn/Ravenscroft)

A haunting little number from a haunting little film ...

Theme from 'Limelight' (Charles Chaplin)

Plug 'n Play (L. Zabel)

This ditty puts toe-tapping in a whole new category ...

Slapshoes Blues (L. Zabel)

A fairly straight forward blues track with my usual bell & whistles ...

Bluesy Doozy (L. Zabel)

The Glenn Miller classic adapted for 'spooky strings' ...

Swingin' at the Seance (Avey/Carnice/Stone)

Finger twiddles are good for the soul, and the ears (hopefully) ...

Twiddling with the Tonewood (L. Zabel)

Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller)

Sailor's Hornpipe/Old Joe Clark (Traditional)

I never could get this tune out of my head.

The Last Steam Engine Train (John Fahey)

Sometimes 10 fingers just aren't enough…

Apologies to Dr. Seuss & "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T".

Frenetic Fingerings (L. Zabel)

Bing's theme song performed "Going My Way"…guitar way, that is.

Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day (Turk/Ahlert/Crosby)

A guitar variation on the great Duke Ellington standard.

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Ellington/Mills)

Use your ears as a palette. That's the best thing about instrumental music… you can create your own visual.

Accent On The Abstract (L. Zabel)

In keeping with the "Time" theme, here's my guitar arrangement of a standard composed in 1876.

My Grandfather's Clock (Henry C. Work)

"The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad" is a 1949 animated package film produced by Walt Disney Productions & released by RKO Radio Pictures.

The song, "The Headless Horseman" is sung by Brom Bones aka Bing Crosby. Here's my guitar interpretation.

The Headless Horseman (Raye/DePaul)

Something to reflect on at the end of Thanksgiving day (before the turkey hangover).

A great Irving Berlin song from the film WHITE CHRISTMAS.

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) (Irving Berlin)

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (Coots/Gillespie)

Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont)

Jolly Old St. Nicholas / Up On A Housetop (B. Hanby)

From Mister Santy's Guitar Repertoire.

Something to put under your pillow on Christmas Eve.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / White Christmas (Martin/Blaine/Berlin)

Adirondack Mountains Breakdown (L. Zabel)

A great Fred Astaire dance number from the 1948 classic film, "Easter Parade".

Steppin' Out With My Baby (Irving Berlin)

It would take a frontal lobotomy to erase this tune from my memory banks.

Gilligan's Island Theme (Schwartz/Wyle)

When Irish eyes are smiling, they're up to shenanigans!

When Irish Eyes are Smiling/Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (Ball/Shannon)

A toned down nylon version of the Leo Kottke powerhouse classic (minus the slide and 12 steel strings).

Vaseline Machine Gun (Leo Kottke)

Double trouble. Broke a thumbnail on this one!

Sally Goodin/Texas Gales (Traditional)

Dashing through the frets...
Check out my Christmas playlist for other holiday favorites.

Mister Santy

Six String Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)

An "on-the-spot" improvisation from memory.
Check out my Christmas playlist for other holiday favorites.

Carol of the Bells (Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych)

Originally composed on a borrowed banjo (gonna have to buy one some day). Works on a guitar, too.

Ol' Finny won't know the difference. He's celebrating St. Patrick's Day early.

Finnegan's Jig (L. Zabel)

Cab Calloway's tour de force jazz finale to the film "Stormy Weather" featuring the Nicholas Brothers. Hep-Hep ...

Jumpin' Jive (Calloway/Froeba/Palmer)

Puttin' On the Ritz (Irving Berlin)

I've been puttering around with the guitar for a number of years and thought it was high time to launch some of these musical musings into cyberspace. My Acoustic Ovation Classical Balladeer guitar (purchased in 1973) has always been the perfect vehicle for such creative meanderings.

The goal of these "cyber-concertos" is for the enthusiast to sit back and allow his/her mind to "float downstream". All of my recordings are on-the-spot "raw" (unmixed & unedited). Here's hoping you fancy my finger frolics half as much as I enjoy creating and arranging them!

Larry Zabel – Solo Guitar

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