Alvino Rey

Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), In his teens, he was given a banjo as a birthday present. His professional career began in 1927, when he got a job playing banjo with Cleveland bandleader Ev Jones. During the following year, he became a member of the Phil Spitalny Orchestra. He switched from banjo to guitar, then changed his name to Alvino Rey to take advantage of the popularity of Latin music in New York City at the time.

From 1932 to 1938, he was a member of Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights. He drew attention to himself and the band when he started playing steel guitar. The Gibson corporation asked him to develop a pickup for the first electric guitar, the ES-150. In 1937, he married Luise King of the King Sisters. During the same year he hired Al Cohn, Ray Conniff, Neal Hefti, Zoot Sims, and arranger Billy May. In the 1940s, he also worked with saxophonist Herbie Steward, drummer Dave Tough, and arrangers Nelson Riddle, Johnny Mandel, and George Handy.

During the 1960s, he was music director for The King Family Show with the King Sisters. Rey made frequent appearances on the show performing "the Alvino Rey Talking Guitar", which was in fact a pedal steel. He also played steel guitar in recording sessions with Jack Costanzo, George Cates, Esquivel, and the studio group the Surfmen. In 1978, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.

In the early 1990s, Rey moved with his wife Luise to her native Utah. In Salt Lake City, he formed a jazz quartet who played in local clubs, sometimes with Luise sitting in. He retired from performing in 1994. For performances of his big band, he created an animated mechanical character he named "Stringy", shaped like a guitar, that "sang" the altered guitar sounds. A later commercial version of the talk box, using a different technology developed by Bob Heil, was made famous by guitarist Peter Frampton.

Around 1959 to 1960, Rey collaborated with composer Euel Box of PAMS Productions of Dallas to bring his distinctive pedal steel guitar sounds to radio jingles. This jingle package was part of the new top-40 radio format and was heard on such innovative radio stations as KBOX in Dallas and WFUN Miami. Rey is also credited with inspiring the later, ground-breaking "Sonosational" PAMS Jingles Series 18 in 1961, which featured the talking or singing instrument effects of Rey's "sonovox".

Personal life Rey was the maternal grandfather of American musicians Win Butler and Will Butler, who were both in the band Arcade Fire.

Discography As leader Swingin' Fling (Capitol, 1958) Refreshing Melodies (Sacred, 1958; reissued 1976) My Reverie (Decca, 1959) Ping-Pong! (Capitol, 1960) That Lonely Feeling (Capitol, 1960) Alvino Rey! ...His Greatest Hits [re-recordings] (Dot, 1961) As I Remember Hawaii (Dot, 1962) The Big Band Steel Guitar (Steel Guitar Record Club, 1977) Dance With Me ...The Big Band Sound of Alvino Rey (Alysa, 1978) The Greatest Jazz Band (Alysa, 1979)

As sideman Joe "Fingers" Carr, The Riotous, Raucous, Red-Hot 20's! (Warner Bros., 1961) George Cates, George Cates' Polynesian Percussion (Dot, 1961) Elvis Presley, Blue Hawaii (RCA Victor, 1961) Stan Kenton and Tex Ritter, Stan Kenton! Tex Ritter! (Capitol, 1962) Kirby Stone Four, Frank Loesser's Broadway Hit 'Guys & Dolls' (Columbia, 1962)