Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 16, 1994                   TAG: 9403160060
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS                                LENGTH: Medium

JAZZ GUITAR VIRTUOSO BARKER DIES BANJO POPULARIZER PLAYED WITH BEST

Barker died at his home in his sleep. He had been diagnosed with cancer in January.

Although too weak to play, he reigned as the Mardi Gras king of the "Krewe du Vieux" on Jan. 29 - a day designated by the city as "Blue Lu and Danny Barker Day" to honor the musician and his wife, Louise.

Louise Barker, famous in her own right, picked up her nickname as a blues singer - particularly from performances of some of Barker's risque compositions.

Danny Barker's last performance was New Year's Eve at Preservation Hall.

"No one will ever replace Danny Barker, because he was an original," said Doc Cheatham, a trumpeter who played with Barker in Cab Calloway's orchestra in the 1930s. "He went through the years of everything that happened [in jazz]. That will never be again."

Barker was presented with the 1991 Lifetime Achievement award by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which officially designated him a jazz master. Shortly afterward, the U.S. Postal Service issued an official cachet honoring him.

Barker could play any style of music. He started with a Storyville jazz banjo at 16, switched to guitar for big band swing in the 1930s, appeared in orchestra clips in movies and became a widely known soloist on the 1947 radio program "This is Jazz." He even played amplified guitar for rhythm and blues in the 1950s.

But he was known mainly for the kind of guitar he played with Cab Calloway's orchestra - single-string solos with technical virtuosity. He was among the first to take jazz guitar out front, beyond the unheralded position of backup rhythm.

He played with the giants of jazz: King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Red Allen, Bunk Johnson, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.

He was particularly fond of the banjo and was determined to help restore it to popularity - contributing significantly to the mid-century ragtime revival.

Barker composed throughout his career. "Save the Bones for Mr. Jones" was one of his most famous, recorded by Johnny Mercer and Nat "King" Cole. His most recent composition was "Palm Court Strut," recorded in 1992.