Good J*** J*** Guitar Records?
Posted by: kj burrell on 16 August 2004
My son is getting into jazz guitar and was picking my brain for stuff to listen to. I've got a reasonable collection of things but all pretty straightforward: From the old school: Charlie Christian, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Grant Green. Modern stuff: McLaughlin with Miles, then Metheny, Frisell, a bit of Scofield who I don't like that much. From left field some Derek Bailey, Marc Ribot, both solo and with Zorn.
What else would people recommend? My son is particularly enjoying Charlie Hunter - there are some great live cds to download free at his site here.
Kevin
What else would people recommend? My son is particularly enjoying Charlie Hunter - there are some great live cds to download free at his site here.
Kevin
Posted on: 16 August 2004 by sjust
Abercrombie, Coryell, Joel Harrison
Best regards, freundliche Grüße
Stefan
Best regards, freundliche Grüße
Stefan
Posted on: 16 August 2004 by syd
Without a doubt Django Reinhardt, just the greatest ever.
Yours in Music
Syd
Yours in Music
Syd
Posted on: 16 August 2004 by Geoff P
Larry Carlton
Chuck Loeb
Jeff Golub
Marc Antoine
Lee Ritenour
Chris Standing
Brian Bromberg
Marcus Miller
Earl Klugh
And so on... Quite a few different styles & sounds including some bass guitar afficianados
regards
Geoff
Listening every day planning to "not fade away"
Chuck Loeb
Jeff Golub
Marc Antoine
Lee Ritenour
Chris Standing
Brian Bromberg
Marcus Miller
Earl Klugh
And so on... Quite a few different styles & sounds including some bass guitar afficianados
regards
Geoff
Listening every day planning to "not fade away"
Posted on: 16 August 2004 by John C
As these lists shows there isn't much to recommend the use of the guitar in jazz.
John
Playing Grant Green ... Nigeria
John
Playing Grant Green ... Nigeria
Posted on: 16 August 2004 by jayd
Kevin Eubanks. Before he sold out and started playing cover tunes on late night tv, he played fantastic jazz guitar.
Recommendations:
Guitarist
and
Live at Bradley's
The live disc is one of my all-time favorites - guitar/bass/piano, small club, nice recording. I think every jazz fan should have a copy. Face to Face has some nice bits too (esp. Relaxin' at Camarillo and Trick Bag), but overall it's a little too "GRP" for me.
I'd stay away from Sundance, The Heat of Heat, and Shadow Prophets.
Jay
Recommendations:
Guitarist
and
Live at Bradley's
The live disc is one of my all-time favorites - guitar/bass/piano, small club, nice recording. I think every jazz fan should have a copy. Face to Face has some nice bits too (esp. Relaxin' at Camarillo and Trick Bag), but overall it's a little too "GRP" for me.
I'd stay away from Sundance, The Heat of Heat, and Shadow Prophets.
Jay
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by kj burrell
quote:
Risking the wrath of Fred
As these lists shows there isn't much to recommend the use of the guitar in jazz.
This is our concern, really. A lot of the stuff recommended is from the fusion end of things and sounds like tv cop theme tunes or is simply "speed/virtuouso" playing - what Jake, my son, calls "noodling". What I like about, say, Ribot is his range and willingness to use phrasing rather than speed. Maybe I already have the best of what there is, which will be a sad state of affairs!
Kevin
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by BLT
A few more artists who are well worth listening to:
Pat Martino - A superb musician, but his best reconds (i.e. Consciousness) can be difficult to get
Mike Stern - Quite rocky, but an excellent musician, the best Jazz guitar gig I have been to.
Wayne Krantz - Long to Be Loose is an excellent album.
Tribal Tech - Modern fusion with mucho shredding. Can be a bit relentless but it's impressive nonetheless.
Wayne Krantz -
Pat Martino - A superb musician, but his best reconds (i.e. Consciousness) can be difficult to get
Mike Stern - Quite rocky, but an excellent musician, the best Jazz guitar gig I have been to.
Wayne Krantz - Long to Be Loose is an excellent album.
Tribal Tech - Modern fusion with mucho shredding. Can be a bit relentless but it's impressive nonetheless.
Wayne Krantz -
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by sideshowbob
quote:
Originally posted by kj burrell:
Maybe I already have the best of what there is, which will be a sad state of affairs!
I think you probably do, pretty much. I'd add Fred Frith, but, like Bailey, he probably isn't really a jazz player.
I tend to the view that guitar doesn't really belong in jazz, with a very few exceptions. Likewise the vibes, a ridiculous instrument mostly.
-- Ian
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by bjorne
quote:
Originally posted by kj burrell:
[ A lot of the stuff recommended is from the fusion end of things and sounds like tv cop theme tunes or is simply "speed/virtuouso" playing - what Jake, my son, calls "noodling". What I like about, say, Ribot is his range and willingness to use phrasing rather than speed. Maybe I already have the best of what there is, which will be a sad state of affairs!
Kevin
Kevin, I am not much into jazz but I like Jim Hall a lot. No fusion/viruoso stuff but more subtle playing. Worth checking out imo.
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by u5227470736789524
I second the Jim Hall nomination ..... no noodling or pyrotechnics (on anything I have heard), just tasty, tasty playing.
Jeff A
Jeff A
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by Mike in PA, USA
There is a great live CD of Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather. Quite rocky, but they do a great cover of "All Blues". I would consider it a must have in the collection. Greg Bisonnette on drums and actually produced by Steve Vai.
-Mike
-Mike
Posted on: 17 August 2004 by Robert Derwae
Joe Pass is also worth investigating.
Robert
Robert
Posted on: 18 August 2004 by j8hn
And you're forgetting the most talented British JAZZ guitarist of all time Martin Taylor.
Oops forgot Alan Holdsworth now HE'S the greatest British JAZZ guitarist.
Oops forgot Jeff Beck now HE'S the GREATEST GUITARIST OF ALL TIME.
Then there's Jim Mullen.........Ollie Halsall.........
Oops forgot Alan Holdsworth now HE'S the greatest British JAZZ guitarist.
Oops forgot Jeff Beck now HE'S the GREATEST GUITARIST OF ALL TIME.
Then there's Jim Mullen.........Ollie Halsall.........
Posted on: 20 August 2004 by Pete
I agree Martin Taylor is well worth investigating. The Spirit of Django band recordings on Linn are quite wonderful, full of swing and joie de vivre.
Ralph Towner is a wonderful guitarist witha distinctive and wonderful tone. I particularly like If Summer Had It's Ghosts, playing with Bill Bruford and Eddie Gomez.
In an acoustic vein from Towner, try Steve Hancoff's "Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar" on the Discipline Global Mobile label. No pretentious "chops" on display there, jusy beautiful swinging guitar.
JB's jazzier leaning are more fusion than straight ahead jazz, but put an axe in that man's hand and as j8hn suggests, he can do just about anaything. Blow by Blow and Wired being good examples.
Pete.
Ralph Towner is a wonderful guitarist witha distinctive and wonderful tone. I particularly like If Summer Had It's Ghosts, playing with Bill Bruford and Eddie Gomez.
In an acoustic vein from Towner, try Steve Hancoff's "Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar" on the Discipline Global Mobile label. No pretentious "chops" on display there, jusy beautiful swinging guitar.
JB's jazzier leaning are more fusion than straight ahead jazz, but put an axe in that man's hand and as j8hn suggests, he can do just about anaything. Blow by Blow and Wired being good examples.
Pete.
Posted on: 23 August 2004 by willem
It's probably just me, but I have the feeling that Jazz and guitars don't mix very well. But then I also have a sort of Blues allergy and Jazz that is too predictable makes me weep.
No, no kidding, Jazz for me is saxophones and drums and bass and pianos, not guitars and especially not electric guitars. Please tell me to stop my whining and play some more Sun Ra live in Montreux!?
willem
No, no kidding, Jazz for me is saxophones and drums and bass and pianos, not guitars and especially not electric guitars. Please tell me to stop my whining and play some more Sun Ra live in Montreux!?
willem
Posted on: 23 August 2004 by fred simon
quote:
Originally posted by willem:
Jazz for me is saxophones and drums and bass and pianos, not guitars and especially not electric guitars.
Why?
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by Pete
Why? perhaps he thinks of jazz like Shostakovich... ever heard the "Jazz Suites"? The only connection to jazz is that they have "jazzy" instruments like a sax and an accordion as well as traditional symphonic instruments.
For me jazz is music with an impovisational basis and an ability to swing. Instrument isn't really relevant. Django and Stephan with guitar and violin not jazz? What!?
Pete.
For me jazz is music with an impovisational basis and an ability to swing. Instrument isn't really relevant. Django and Stephan with guitar and violin not jazz? What!?
Pete.
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by Phil Barry
I got interested in Django when I read James Jones' comments in From Here to Eternity..but I never could appreciate his music. Good to get these other names.
Phil
Phil
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by willem
quote:
Originally posted by Pete:
Why? perhaps he thinks of jazz like Shostakovich...
When I look at my -smallish- Jazz collection I see Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra and some others (Stravinsky!) and not a guitar in sight...
Don't I like guitar? Erm, yes, I think I do. I must have a few hundred pop and rock records where the guitar plays a dominant role. (could mention my favourite guitarists here, but that would be very off topic!) I just don't like Jazz (or Blooooze) guitar and in general I prefer the Fender sound to that of the Gibson.
As I said, I should have stopped my whining yesterday. This is not 'my' topic really.
willem
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by sideshowbob
I mostly like electric guitars to make a hell of a racket, and that doesn't happen often in jazz.
That's my excuse, anyway.
-- Ian
That's my excuse, anyway.
-- Ian
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by willem
quote:
Originally posted by sideshowbob:
I mostly like electric guitars to make a hell of a racket, and that doesn't happen often in jazz.
That's my excuse, anyway.
-- Ian
Very good point! In general these Jazz guitars sound so 'sophisticated', like demo music for Hi-Fi systems. Even when it gets loud they still sound clean. Tell me who's the Jazz equivalent of Lenny Kaye or Thurston Moore and I'll promise to at least try one of their records.
willem
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by Jim Ashton
Try any of the following (all usually pigeon-holed more-or-less as 'avant garde', which is nothing more than a semantic black hole):
Joe Morris
James 'Blood' Ulmer
Jean-Paul Bourelly
Jef Lee Johnson
Marc Ducret
Bern Nix
Masujaa
Seeing as how 'jazz guitar' is just about as close to musical nirvana as it gets for me, I have extensive collections of several of these dudes, and a better than average acquaintance with the rest.
You should also look into guitar-based improvising outfits such as Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society (feat.Johnson), Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus (Masujaa) and Bobby Previte's Latin For Travellers (Ducret + Jerome Harris).
Here's a couple of records to get you started:
Previte/LFT - 'My Man In Sydney' - breathtakingly brilliant duelling guitars from the git go to the final rimshot.
Threadgill/VVC - 'Spirit of Nuff...Nuff' - hauntingly off-beat melodies coruscated by Masujaa's subversive riffing.
Don't believe the naysayers and go find.
Jim
Joe Morris
James 'Blood' Ulmer
Jean-Paul Bourelly
Jef Lee Johnson
Marc Ducret
Bern Nix
Masujaa
Seeing as how 'jazz guitar' is just about as close to musical nirvana as it gets for me, I have extensive collections of several of these dudes, and a better than average acquaintance with the rest.
You should also look into guitar-based improvising outfits such as Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society (feat.Johnson), Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus (Masujaa) and Bobby Previte's Latin For Travellers (Ducret + Jerome Harris).
Here's a couple of records to get you started:
Previte/LFT - 'My Man In Sydney' - breathtakingly brilliant duelling guitars from the git go to the final rimshot.
Threadgill/VVC - 'Spirit of Nuff...Nuff' - hauntingly off-beat melodies coruscated by Masujaa's subversive riffing.
Don't believe the naysayers and go find.
Jim
Posted on: 24 August 2004 by keef
Russell Malone, Barney Kessel, Djang, Django, Django, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Charlie Byrd
Posted on: 25 August 2004 by Jens
Mimi Fox has a lovely tone too.
Jens
Jens
Posted on: 26 August 2004 by Pete
quote:
Originally posted by willem:
When I look at my -smallish- Jazz collection I see Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra and some others (Stravinsky!) and not a guitar in sight...
So you don't like jazz played on guitar you've come across. But that isn't a basis to say
quote:
Jazz for me is saxophones and drums and bass and pianos, not guitars
Jazz you happen to like, maybe, but it doesn't cease to be jazz just because it's played on a guitar! Being Jazz is about improvisation and swing rather than the particular instruments it's played on.
Pete.