Jazz for aficionados

***** Best I can do. Just not that big a fan of the traditional jazz guitar, I guess. *****

Montgomery and Burrell are examples of 'The Traditional Jazz Guitar'.

You mentioned being put in a coma by certain music.  That's not the first time certain music on this thread has been described that way.  In fact quite a bit of it has been posted recently.

Welcome to Jazz-Jazz.   As the good book tells us, No Blues, No Jazz.  Know Blues, Know Jazz.

Check out "Smokin' At The Half Note" by Montgomery, with Wynton Kelly(piano), Paul Chambers(bass), and Jimmy Cobb(drums).

Cheers

How about something downright weird; got to get my fix.


              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwd-nWr_-70

Hello again, Rok -

I think what I have to admit is I’m not that big a fan of the traditional jazz guitar. Not sure I’d voluntarily spend time listening to any of the three album links you posted. I did/do prefer the Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell albums to the other performances.

I do like the sweetness of a hollow body but got to moderate that with a little "attitude". Burrell and Montgomery seemed to have a little more edge in their tone (though not in your face rock guitar by any means).

Thanks for taking time to comment. I realize Burrell and Montgomery are "traditional jazz guitarists". I’ll also acknowledge my preference for them wasn’t due to a discriminating ear that let me hear unique and superior differences in their individual styles (tho’ there’s something about WM’s playing that has caught my ear - but I don’t know how to verbalize it). I thought their tone had a little more edge than Martino’s or Metheny’s in the respective clips of them that Frogman had posted. Not quite so "muted"! Another reason I preferred them being that both their albums were song-based jazz vs the longer, improvisation-heavy live performances from both PMs. I do enjoy live improv...but not so much where there’s a disconnect to the original melody (if there ever was one). I still recall that excellent Wynton Marsalis big band concert you posted. Enjoyed that a lot (of course, no jazz guitar featured in that one :-).

In all 4 cases that Frogman posted, the quality of the playing is absolutely excellent. Martino and Metheny like Paganini on guitar. It’s strictly a matter of personal preference (i.e., my taste at it’s current level of development!).

Thanks for the Wes Montgomery recommendation.

I’d be very curious what recent music suggestions you personally found sleep-inducing.

Here’s something my bro-in-law sent after I shared that Pat Martino/Joey DeFrancesco Great Stream performance. It really smokes. Still not crazy about the guitar tone but Frank Vignola’s playing is amazing. Still, what is up with the tempo? Is breakneck speed de rigueur in jazz? I know not all compositions and performances are at this tempo but since so many are it almost seems "cliche" to me or is this just another jazz convention?? Anyway, check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R51WVtvUxI&app=desktop&ab_channel=LegacyBluesNWA


BTW - Smokin’ At The Half-Note is really good! (guess I’m not the first to ever say that...hahaha). Enjoying it. Love how Wes changes things up on his solos. Not this endless cascade of rushing notes. He lets things breathe. Breaks it up with chords. No Blues, at least, working for me. The rest of the band is definitely killer too. Wynton Kelly another new name for me. Thanks, Rok.

Ghosthouse, thanks for your comments.   No offense taken.  How could I possibly be offended that you didn't particularly like three of the records on most jazz guitar fans' "top ten" lists.  Yikes!  I am not really surprised that you didn't particularly like those records given what you have posted as your preferred guitar styles.  As I, and O-10, have said previously "we likes what we likes"; no excuses necessary.  What I would say is that I predict that as you listen to more and more jazz your opinion about those will change.  A couple of further thoughts:

While tone is certainly an important element of any jazz player's personal musical identity, for whatever it may be worth, it is dogma among players that it is a distant second to what the player is saying via phrasing and choice of notes; the nuances in his rhythmic feel and his harmonic vocabulary.  From that standpoint, I am surprised that your comments focused almost entirely on tone.  As far as the bigger picture goes, and maybe this is a "semantics" issue, there really is nothing "abstract" about any of that music;. ALL of it, including the improvisations, are within the harmonic frameworks of the "tune"with practically no straying from it (abstract).

Nice clip of Frank Vignola.  He's a great player who was "looked at"  a while back and who is very active in the traditional swing scene.  As far as the "breakneck tempos" go: that's bebop for ya.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXNB9kkTSg

On "Bird Gets the Worm" nobody can play that fast, and sound good at the same time. That was Miles Davis (trumpet), Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass) and Max Roach (drums), all of whom have a solo on this track.

Wes Montgomery appeals to a wide variety of people; I believe it's because he has such a warm and "mellow tone"; I compare it to gazing at the blaze in a fireplace while at the same time you can see the snow falling through the window.


Enjoy the music.