Ernest McLean
When one thinks of the original guitar heroes of rock and roll, Ike Turner, Paul Burlison, Scotty Moore, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley all spring to mind, but you'll rarely hear the name Ernest McLean. "Ernest McLean, who the hell is that?" you might ask. Well, take a listen to those early records by Smiley Lewis, Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and marvel at the man burning up the frets. That, dear music fanatic, is Ernest McLean.
Capable of playing anything with strings, renowned for his ability on banjo, said to play chords not even known to exist, Ernest was one of the original members of Cosimo Matassa's legendary studio band, the one that played on a startling number of rock 'n' roll's first hits. A long time member of the Dave Bartholomew band, Ernest eventually migrated to L.A. where he took part in the cutting of Dr. John`s Gris Gris album. He played all the mandolin parts on the record and it was the FIRST TIME HE'D EVER PICKED UP THE INSTRUMENT!!
You can still catch Ernest playing regularly at Disney World, but at the Ponderosa Stomp he'll be falling right back into that Crescent City groove with his old band mates Earl Palmer, Herb Hardesty, Harold Battiste and Chuck Badie.
Capable of playing anything with strings, renowned for his ability on banjo, said to play chords not even known to exist, Ernest was one of the original members of Cosimo Matassa's legendary studio band, the one that played on a startling number of rock 'n' roll's first hits. A long time member of the Dave Bartholomew band, Ernest eventually migrated to L.A. where he took part in the cutting of Dr. John`s Gris Gris album. He played all the mandolin parts on the record and it was the FIRST TIME HE'D EVER PICKED UP THE INSTRUMENT!!
You can still catch Ernest playing regularly at Disney World, but at the Ponderosa Stomp he'll be falling right back into that Crescent City groove with his old band mates Earl Palmer, Herb Hardesty, Harold Battiste and Chuck Badie.