Billy Mackel

b. John William Mackel, 28 Dec 1912, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. After playing banjo around Baltimore, Mackel turned to electric guitar and attempted his hands at music group leading. In 1944, nevertheless, he became a member of Lionel Hampton’s big music group where he continued to be pretty much continuously for a lot more than three years. With Hampton, Mackel’s responsibilities were mainly those of a tempo player, a job of which he excelled. When single opportunities did promote themselves he took them eagerly, exhibiting a freewheeling design with a solid underpinning that gave colouring to his blues shows and R&B. Contrastingly, his periodic preparations for the Hampton music group show an excellent and confident ear canal for the nuances of bop.