Ernest J. McLean (March 23, 1925 – February 24, 2012) was an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitarist.

Career

Born in New Orleans, McLean was the son of musician Richard McLean, who played banjo in a government music project band, and his wife Beatrice.Jeff Hannusch, "Obituary: Ernest McLean", ''Offbeat.com''
Retrieved 28 August 2015 He began learning guitar at the age of 11. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he joined

Dave Bartholomew David Louis Bartholomew (December 24, 1918 – June 23, 2019) was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arrangement, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century ...

's band. The band featured drummer

Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of al ...

and saxophonists Lee Allen, Herb Hardesty and Red Tyler, and became the best-known in New Orleans. They performed on many recordings, notably those made at

Cosimo Matassa Cosimo Vincent Matassa (April 13, 1926 – September 11, 2014) was an American recording engineer and studio owner, responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll recordings. Life and career Matassa was born in New Orleans in 1926.Komorowski, ...

's studio. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, McLean was featured on many of the most successful and influential recordings of the era, including

Fats Domino Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...

's " The Fat Man",

Lloyd Price Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American R&B and rock 'n' roll singer, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality (Lloyd Price song), Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a ...

's "

Lawdy Miss Clawdy "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by New Orleans singer-songwriter Lloyd Price that "grandly introduced '' The New Orleans Sound''". It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Ru ...

", and recordings by

Shirley and Lee Shirley & Lee were an American musical duo active during the 1950s and 1960s, consisting of Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee. They had R&B hits with their songs "Feel So Good," " Let the Good Times Roll," and "I Feel Good." Career Shirley Goodma ...

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

and

Smiley Lewis Overton Amos Lemons (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966), known as Smiley Lewis, was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. The music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on ...

. In the late 1950s, encouraged by his friend

Scatman Crothers Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers (May 23, 1910 – November 22, 1986) was an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show ''Chico and the Man'', and Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's '' The ...

,Matthew Hansen, "Ladies & Gentlemen, Ernest McLean", ''ToursDepartingDaily.com''
Retrieved 28 August 2015 McLean followed bandmate Earl Palmer to Los Angeles, where he began working in

Earl Bostic Eugene Earl Bostic (April25, 1913October28, 1965) was an American alto saxophonist. Bostic's recording career was diverse, his musical output encompassing jazz, swing music, swing, jump blues and the post-war American rhythm and blues style, whi ...

's band. In the early 1960s he was hired by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

to perform at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

. There he played

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

s and regularly performed in the

New Orleans Square New Orleans Square is a themed land found at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Based on 19th-century New Orleans, Louisiana, the roughly three-acre area was the first land to be added to Disneyland after the park's opening, at a cost of $18 mi ...

for the next 35 years. He also played on occasional recording sessions for

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

Sonny and Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of spouses Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair first ac ...

, and

Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...

, most notably featuring on

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. Active as a session mus ...

's debut album '' Gris-Gris'' recorded in 1967 on which he played guitar and

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, an instrument he had never previously played.Ernest McLean, ''The Ponderosa Stomp''
Retrieved 28 August 2015 In 2010, he took part in a

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

tribute to Dave Bartholomew at

Case Western University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case Western Reserve Uni ...

. He died in Los Angeles in 2012 at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Ernest 1925 births 2012 deaths Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans Jazz musicians from New Orleans African-American guitarists American rhythm and blues guitarists American male guitarists American jazz guitarists New Orleans Square (Disneyland) Guitarists from Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians