Marshall Lytle (born September 1, 1933, Old Fort, North Carolina, USA - died May 25, 2013, New Port Richey, Florida, USA), who also went by the name Tommy Page, was an American rock and roll musician, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley And His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s.
Lytle was a guitar player before joining Bill Haley's country music group, Bill Haley And The Saddlemen, in 1951. But Lytle was hired to play double bass for the group, replacing departing musician Al Rex, so Haley taught Lytle the basics of slap bass playing. Lytle, who was only a teenager at the time, grew a moustache in order to look a little older, and became a full-time member of The Saddlemen and, in September 1952, he was with the group when they changed their name to Bill Haley And His Comets. Soon after, Lytle co-wrote with Haley the band's first national hit, "Crazy Man, Crazy" although he did not receive co-authorship credit for it (until 2002).
Lytle played on all of Haley's recordings between mid-1951 and the summer of 1955, including the epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954. He played a late 1940s model Epiphone B5 upright double bass, purchased in October, 1951, for about $275. He used gut strings for the G and D strings while the A and E strings were wound. Lytle's style of playing, which involved slapping the strings to make a percussive sound, is considered one of the signature sounds of early rock and roll and rockabilly. The athletic Lytle also developed a stage routine, along with saxophone player Joey D'Ambrosia, that involved doing acrobatic stunts with the bass fiddle, including throwing it in the air and riding it like a horse. This became a signature performance for The Comets that later musicians working for Haley were instructed to emulate.
In September 1955, Lytle, along with drummer Dick Richards and D'Ambrosia, quit The Comets in a salary dispute and formed their own musical group, The Jodimars. Before leaving, Lytle and his colleagues offered to train their replacements in the art of rock and roll playing, Comets style. Lytle was succeeded by Al Rex—ironically, the same musician he had originally been hired to replace.
Imperial
7"
2021
Atomicat Records
CD, Comp
2016
2014
Big3
3xCD, Album, Comp
2014
Hoodoo Records
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2012
2008
Hydra Records (2)
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2007
Hydra Records (2)
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2006
Bear Family Records
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2006
Bear Family Records
5xCD, Comp + Box
2005
Documents, Documents
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2005
V2TV
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2004
Varèse Vintage, Varèse Sarabande
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2001
Avid Rock N Roll
2xCD, Comp
1999
Rollin' Rock
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1998
Rockabilly Hall Of Fame
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1998
Eagle Records
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1997
Hydra Records (2)
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1997
Zipp Records
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1995
1994
Fabbri Editori
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1994
Fabbri Editori
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1994
1992
1990
1987
1986
Silicon Records (2)
LP, Album
1985
1982
Seville Records
LP, Comp, Mono
1981
1979
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7"
1979
1968
Alshire, Alshire
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1968
1960
1957
Festival Records
Shellac, 10"
1956
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1955
1955
1954
1953
1951
Abbey (2)
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The Intense Media, Documents
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2022
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2017
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