a trenchant critique of jazz guitarists ..... and, other gratuitous observations .....

i quote directly from the liner notes of "two for the road," featuring herbie ellis and joe pass, pablo records, 1974 and republished at fantasy, inc., 1992.

"actually outside of joe (pass), barney kessel, and jim hall, there aren't too many more guitarists that i would consider teaming up with, the main reason being that we might not have enough common musical ground to make it work right."

"...  you will notice that my style is more directly slanted toward charlie christian and lester young [saxophonist]; and joe more charlie parker-ish [saxophonist] or, for want of a better word, the bop era."

herbie ellis, 1974.

ellis, being a guitar great, is fully qualified to name other guitar greats, and kessel, pass, hall and ellis fit the bill.   as for me, being a confirmed guitar duffer, i would add at first after thought, the likes of wes montgomery and charlie byrd.  and, since great horn players go along with great guitarists, i would also toss in stan getz into the discussion.  and, dave brubeck and thelonious monk play music which i find very easy to enjoy, as i love what they do with time signatures, and tone.

you might do better.  you might do far worse.

john jay @  04.07.2023

p.s.  ray brown on the upright bass.  always "just right."  always a steady presence, always essential, and never demanding attention.  a rock.

update, 04.09.2023.   great musicians, and great players, and great improvisors.--   and, yes, dickie betts and the allman brothers and those players.  those guys can play.  "jessica," "i was born a ramblin' man,"  .....  exceptional music.  the best of all time, the greatest improvisors, you would have to toss in benny goodman on the clarinet, and miles davis on the trumpet.  superb musicians.   and, i suppose that ravi shankar on the sitar deserves a few accolades along the way.   the simple truth is, genius is where you find it.  sometimes under a rock, sometimes on a stage*** .....  it generally will out.   end update.

*** not so far in my living room in milton freewater, when i am playing.  -- sigh --  such is life.

Comments

[Mark Matis]

No mention of Roy Clark?

[jj]

mark:
nice feller.  good guy, for picking grinnin, but not in the same league with those fellows i favor.  chet atkins, pretty good, i will give you that, but maybe just a rung on a high ladder below my favorites.  but, roy clark was enthusiastic, for sures.  (and, quite a few rungs down.)  and, not great.   laughing.  funny as all git out, as we say out these parts.

john

[drew458]

Off topic, but glad you're getting new guitars for your collection. And have your favorite pickers ... take a listen to Joe Satriani some day.

Looks like Russia lost 4 aircraft today, all shot down at about the same exact time, near the Ukranian border. Somebody has a nicer SAM AA system than they used to have!

https://redstate.com/streiff/2023/05/15/four-russian-aircraft-were-shot-down-over-russia-in-a-couple-of-minutes-and-no-one-is-giving-straight-answers-n745904

[jj]

drew
for some odd reason, when ever i think of the ukrainians, the image is of a very sly fox with chicken feathers adorning his muzzle, slipping back into very thick cover, one last glance to check his back trail.  and, with a step, he disappears.  always, with a sure step.  john