Dave Hammer's Rock Around the Clock

Bill Haley and His Comets

Here my friend Dave Hammer calls out the name Danny Cedrone midway through Dave’s take on the song that kicked off Rock & Roll, Rock Around The Clock. July 9 will be the 60th anniversary of the wildly successful re-release of Rock Around The Clock. The re-release came after the song found an audience in the movie Blackboard Jungle.

Danny Cedrone previously worked as a session musician with Bill Haley and His Comets before he was called into a three-hour recording session on 12 April 1954. Late in the session, Haley and His Comets, with Cedrone on lead Gibson ES-300 guitar, knocked out the song that would change the American popular music landscape forever.

Cedrone’s memorable guitar solo was a retake of his lead in Rock the Joint recorded with Bill Haley back in 1952. Danny Cedrone died from a fall less than a month after he was paid just $21 to record one of the most memorable guitar solos in Rock & Roll history.