Jim R

I don't think "ignorance" is the right word. If the music doesn't do much for you, it doesn't do much for you. Maybe it will in the future. I think the impact of VIRTUOSO may be greater for guitar players who have spent some time working on creating their own chord-melody arrangements, but even that doesn't mean that everybody in that category should be knocked out by it musically. Hopefully they can appreciate it from a technical standpoint, but that's a different matter. I think the special thing about Pass (as I mentioned above) is his fluency. He was a master at playing all over the fingerboard and changing keys (basically just knowing the fingerboard inside out and upside down) and playing at a variety of tempos, in a variety of settings, excelling both at playing chords and single lines, and always being (or at least appearing) comfortable. Only a monster player can pull that off all the time. One thing that really strikes me about VIRTUOSO is that his execution and command of the instrument make it sound like it's easy to play like that.

Yeah, although like Roberts, I wish there had been more recordings that really featured his playing. Galbraith has a great reputation among his fellow-guitarists, and it's hard not to respect somebody like that from all the glowing reports you read, but so often his work was part of a large ensemble or orchestra and difficult to really appreciate (kind of the way I've always felt about Freddie Green). Anyway, he was pretty prolific as a session player, and appears on quite a few recordings in my collection- from vocalists (Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O'day, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Helen Merrill, Johnny Hartman, Eddie Jefferson and Joe Williams) to orchestras/large ensembles with Claude Thornhill, Jimmy Cleveland, Cannonball, Art Farmer, J.J., Michel Legrand, Johnny Griffin, Curtis Fuller, Stanley T; to smaller groups (Tal Farlow, Coleman Hawkins, Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, John Lewis...). Pretty impressive list of credits.

GOOD PICKIN'S is probably my favorite Roberts recording. That was out of print for SO long, it's ridiculous. For years and years (while scouring the earth for guitar recordings to sustain my habit) I wasn't even aware of its existence. MR. ROBERTS PLAYS GUITAR always seemed to be available on reissue vinyl, but GOOD PICKIN'S was something you had to really do a lot of networking to get your hands on (a cassette copy, in my case). The one thing that's always been frustrating about trying to appreciate H.R.- he didn't record enough as a leader. And even when he did, he was often poorly produced (and he probably should take some of the blame, what with his reputation for being a "wacky" kind of cat). There are bits and pieces of good solid jazz on some of his Capitol albums (compiled on 3 CD's by the Euphoria label in 2001), but many of those tracks are way too short, and some of the material is pretty weak (which goes for many of his later recordings as well, IMO). His Concord album was very good, but there was only just that one. Bottom line- I wish he had been more prolific as a leader. He really had a fantastic sound in the earlier part of his career, and was a gifted player. Joe Pass was simply one of the most fluent and masterful guitarists in the music's history. There are aspects of his style and sound that prevent me from choosing him as a personal favorite, but observing what he did with a guitar in his hands (no matter the setting, from solo performance to ensemble playing) is enough to make anyone think twice about continuing to play (or take up) the guitar. Speaking of personal favorites, these guitar threads always seem to give me the impression that Barney Kessel (though obviously one of the most important and accomplished players of all time) is not all that popular with a lot of people. IMO, he ranks very very high in terms of achievement and influence. He also happens to be one of my favorites, but I think the quality of his work declined as years went on (unlike Burrell, Pass, Farlow, Raney, and others). At his best, I think he may inspire me more than any other player (his instructional video is very inspiring and enjoyable too). To think how many years he has been silent now due to his stroke... it's very sad. What a great career.

Just yesterday I stumbled onto the Warner Archives CD reissue of that Rosemary Clooney Reprise album with Nelson Riddle. I have to thank that guy who led BFT #4... what WAS that guy's name...

I probably should have added that the security device is located directly adjacent to the register(s) in these stores, so it only takes a moment for the cashiers to do this. Anybody in (or formerly in) retail have any thoughts on that?

Been there and done that. I've seen that other scenario many times, too (where the machine beeps its ass off, and no security or store employee is anywhere in sight... and if they are, they act like everybody should know they're just supposed to ignore the stupid machine). Ludicrous.

At a few of the local chain and independent stores where I buy CD's, the security system is effectively bypassed (I guess they know the technology doesn't work properly and will only cause them headaches if employed fully). The cashier hands the customer the merchandise AFTER the customer has walked through the detector device. Seems to work very well, too. Is there some good reason why Borders, B&N, Tower, etc, don't do this?

I agree about Tal requiring close attention. WOW, is it refreshing every time I go back and listen to his work. He played some "impossible" (and I don't just mean in terms of his hands/reach) chords... where you go "whaaaat was THAT?" and hit rewind! Kessel makes me do that a lot too. The way those guys just pulled those chords out of a hat... on the fly... all I can say is they must have taken there guitars EVERYWHERE when they were young (and I've read some stories that would support that idea). I'm also glad that Rene' Thomas was mentioned. GUITAR GROOVE is a must have, IMO. I'm practically a Thomas completeist, and for me that album is one of his very best. I never really warmed up to Getz's DYNASTY, which is late-period R.T. (1971?), and less straight ahead than most of his work.

So... if I wish you a happy birthday right now... I'll not only NOT be late, I'll be... early? This is a FIRST, ladies and gentlemen! Oops, I almost forgot... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

"Uncle Joe"? Oh, wait- that's Joe Milazzo. (I wonder who else around here is old enough to get that one)... Happy belated birthday, JG.

Absolutely right. I misunderstood you- sorry.

Wow, this topic really took off in the time it took me to compose that last post. Tal Farlow ("the octopus"). 1. His phrases were longer than the average bear- er, I mean, guitar player. If a saxophonist tried to play some of Tal's lines, they would have turned blue and feinted. 2. He was known for his incredible skill at playing solos in harmonics (lightly touching a string one octave above where it is fretted, producing a light bell-like sound). Other players have done it, but Tal did it with great style. BTW, somebody mentioned Tal bending notes more than other guitarists. I must disagree. Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel come immediately to mind... Jimmy Raney. A great bebop musician who just happened to play the guitar. What else can you say... he wasn't about guitaristics, tricks, etc. Just a great musical mind and a pure, direct tone. He was a big influence on Grant Green, BTW.

Checking in late... and thanks Tony, but I don't think you "needed" me! B) Great posts- and so thorough... I'm glad you all got here before me. I'll add a couple of thoughts (and forgive me if I repeat anybody). First of all, in terms of recognizing Wes, KB, and Grant, I think it has more to do with their musical soul (or personal voice, or whatever you want to call it) than with their guitars or even their techniques. Those other things are important too, but it's the musical concept(s) that they employ that are most responsible for their recognizability (don't worry, I consulted a dictionary ), IMO. That's probably true of all great jazz artists. Wes' chord choices, Grant's relentless bluesy soul, and Burrell's hard-swinging lyricism... the "velvet whip", as Russell Malone once described it. In terms of equipment, it was mentioned that certain guitars/amps generally produce a certain sound (but that it's only part of the equation). This is so true. Two L-5's equipped with humbuckers, played through the same Fender Twin, will sound quite a bit different in the hands of two different players- especially if they have developed their attack, touch, and personal tonal concepts. At any rate, there is still that underlying character that a certain choice of guitar/amp can produce. During Grant's classic Blue Note era, he was using a Gibson ES-330, which was a model not widely used by jazz players. It's thin, hollow body and single coil pickups contributed to Grant's distinctive sound. This reminds me- Wes and KB also used guitars with single coil pickups in their early years, but went on to use humbuckers. One of my favorite things about following Burrell's career is to marvel at all the great sounds (tones) he created over the years. He always sounds great- in fact I'm sure he would sound wonderful with the proverbial homemade cigar box guitar- but he definitely produced different tones at different phases of his career. Since I'm conversing with other guitar players here, I'd love to hear your thoughts about favorite Burrell recordings in terms of his sound. In the early years, he was using a Gibson ES-175 with (single coil) P-90's. A great, biting sound which could be compared somwhat with Grant's 330 sound. Later on, in the early 60's, Kenny started using "Charlie Christian" pickups (see my avatar), first on a 175 and later on an L-5. Check out his sound on "Moten Swing" (the Columbia recordings formerly issued as "Bluesin' Around"). There are three different sessions on there, and on some of the tracks he's using the CC pickup, with heavenly results. "People Will Say We're In Love" is one of the tracks where I just sigh and try not to think about how much I struggle to get a sound like that. Burrell was somehow separated from that L-5 (it was either lost or stolen), and soon after that he acquired his 1956 D'Angelico New Yorker (with a Dearmond 1100 floating pickup). A slightly different sound than he was getting before, but equally as heavenly. This is the guitar he uses on the aforementioned Christmas LP, and he also used it on "Night Song" (Verve), among others. In Burrell's hands, that 18" work of art produced by the American "Stradivarius" of archtop guitar luthiery brought forth a sound that to me is to have fallen down and died. Unfortunately, those guitars are now selling for astronomical prices (Burrell's D'A was sold for approximately $75,000 some years ago), and even those 1100's are almost impossible to get one's hands on anymore. Sorry, I guess I get carried away on this topic. Anyway, for me, with Wes it's always been less about his tone for some reason. I actually used to dislike his tone... a bit too brittle and distorted at times (I think Tony and I discussed this a long time ago... I'm getting a Deja Vu). He made up for it (IMO) by being the greatest jazz guitarist who ever lived. B) People like to talk about the octaves, and with good reason. To me, however, the most astonishing signature technique that Wes employed was his chordal solos (or solos in chords, not to be confused with chord/melody soloing). Unbelieveable, to this day.

Ah... I thought the third track was "kiss me right" (on my 1988 CD, the two bonus tracks are programmed 3rd and 4th, and "kiss me right" is 5th. I assumed it was originally 3rd. Okay, on "the gringo" I do hear the familiar theme (kind of a sketch of it, actually) that Horace quotes at the beginning of his solo... a familiar latinesque hard bop thing... and I don't know what it is either... I like these brain-teasers, though- part of what makes quoting so appealing to me. I think it's fair to say I'm notorious for being a Dexter fanatic. I probably have two (or three) times as many Dexter CD's as most normal people have CD's, period. There are a few guys here on the board who I think are catching up with me, though. I've initiated a few "great quoters" threads on different jazz boards in the past... can't recall whether we've had one at Organissimo or not. Maybe I'll do a search. It's a bit of a controversial topic, as some folks dislike too much quoting- especially when it's done to the extreme, without any flair (cleverness, humor, etc). Even Dexter was probably guilty of that at times, but I generally eat it up anyway. B)

Interesting... I'm not sure I would agree, though. This isn't among my favorite H.S. albums either, but I don't quite hear Horace's solo(s) the way you do. Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what others hear on that third (on the original LP; 5th on the 1988 CD) track, "kiss me right", in terms of Horace's quotes. I happen to be a fan of quoters (and Horace was certainly fond of doing so) in general, but I don't get the feeling that Horace was struggling on this track. Anyway, just for fun, what do you guys hear? I don't hear "Delilah"... not sure I hear any "long" quote, either. Here's what I can pick out: I wish I were in love again (sort of hints at it) Joshua fit de battle of Jericho Tempus Fugue-it (couldn't quite place it until I realized it was mentioned in the liner notes) Oop-bop-sh'bam Filthy McNasty ------------ A little related trivia... on May 19, 1961, Miles was also recording live- at Carnegie Hall.

Sent you a PM

WAIT!! He's going to dunk it again, but without using his hands... he calls it his "Magic Johnson" dunk...

1. Donna Lee. This sounds familiar, I think maybe I’ve heard this before. I’ve never been particularly crazy about this particular sound, but the technique is certainly awesome- especially with the key change. I’m a guitarist, so I know how hard it is to do this kind of thing on a stringed instrument. Could this be Jaco? (I’m not really a Jacophile). I think I remember a bassist friend of mine telling me about a Pastorius recording of this tune... 2. I like this- especially the opening/main theme. Laid back and tasty, and simultaneously colorful and adventurous. I also enjoyed the piano solo, although I couldn’t say who this is. Reminds me a little bit of Herbie at times. The tenor player’s got a nice big lush sound, with a nice bite to it. Some Coltranesque passages in the solo... which of course doesn’t exactly narrow things down a whole lot! (How many players did Trane influence? All of them!?). I didn’t really dig the way this went “out” before the ending, but that has more to do with my personal tastes than with the execution of it. 3. Can’t say I really care for this tune, but the playing is very good. 4. This strikes me much as #3 did. Well done, enjoyable, but doesn’t knock me out. I can’t place the vocalist. 5. Yet another interesting theme. Sounds like a soprano sax on this... very atmospheric, almost hypnotic playing going on here. I dig the percussion (is that a marimba in there?). The guitarist has a nice touch and a nice sound. As this track goes on, I get that restless (let’s get to the next track) feeling. It feels too loose to me, and the ending was kind of a letdown. 6. Didn’t care for this at all. No idea who it is. 7. I liked this a LOT less than #6. Borders on torture for me. 8. I think I may need to lie down... this is starting off like it’s going to be another snoozer... thank goodness it was short. 9. Nice sound, but I don’t like the writing at all. I like the solos less than the main theme. No idea. 10. Didn’t care for this at all. The native american flavor makes me wonder if this could be Jim Pepper (who I’ve only read about). 11. Once again, not my thing... 12. ... 13. This is a little better, but still a little lifeless, IMO. It would sound much better if I hadn’t just heard several slow, boring (to me) tracks. 14. I know this tune.... just not the name! (at least not right now...). An old tune, and a primitive sounding style at first, but the sound quality and the improv as the track unfolds makes it obvious that is isn’t an old recording. I didn’t care for it much. 15. Interesting... I don’t recognize this vocalist either. Trying a bit too hard to be hip, is my initial impression. “Kenny”... hmmm...? “Too hot to cool down”.... actually is supposed to be “too hot NOT to cool down”... kind of thinking too much about sounding like Bobby Darin to pay attention to the lyrics? Well, too bad most of this wasn’t my cup of tea. A couple of the tracks I did find interesting, and will look forward to finding out more details...

That map is pretty incredible (incredibly accurate!). I wonder if anybody died along the California/Oregon border when the soda/pop wars were being fought back in the early days. "Soda" generally rules around here, but when I was a kid a lot of people used the word "coke" for anything carbonated. Some still do. What really surprises me is that I didn't see any mention of the term "bottleapop". I guess I'm old school, but SODA used to come in glass containers called "bottles". 99% of my relatives live(d) in the Seattle/Tacoma area, where both my parents were from. We went up there on vacation every summer, and my Aunt Florence was always driving me nuts asking if I wanted a bottlapop (I could have spelled it "bottle-o-pop", but she said it much faster than that... MUCH faster). It took me about 9 years to realize she was offering me a "bottle of pop". Once I figured out what she was saying, I still had to figure out what the hell "pop" was!

I just e-mailed the second bidder (the bid was over $700), who had a record of 22 transactions. I gave him the URL to the completed item page for the guitar that sold two days ago. The first bidder, like the seller, had a "0", so I doubt they were legit. At any rate, as soon as I finished sending the e-mail, I tried to go back to the item page and found that it's already been pulled. No big surprise there. I'm sure this guy will resurface before long. Hopefully by then I'll have some ideas as to how to promptly report the m.f. Dan, I guess I can understand eBay's concern for vigilanteism. Proper channels and all that. Still, I hope there are (or will be) some kind of reporting systems that are reliable and quick (at least quick in terms of the initial "report"- obviously you can't nab somebody like this quickly without some planning).

Is it just me, or are the number of blatantly obvious fraudulent listings at ebay getting out of control? I posted on someone else's thread (involving a complaint about a transaction with a bad ending) recently, where I described a situation where I e-mailed a seller about a valuable ($10K) vintage guitar. I knew something was a little bit fishy about the listing, and without too much trouble I soon discovered that this guy had copied some photos and information from dealers' websites, and pretended that he actually owned the instruments he was listing. Not many people would have been able to detect this, I'm sure, but I do a lot of "window shopping" for vintage guitars on the internet and it became obvious what this guy was doing. What was even more pathetic and ludicrous was that he could barely write coherently in english, while claiming that he was located on London. At any rate, I just shrugged it all off and figured this kind of shit probably happens once in a blue moon. Well... I did one of my routine ebay searches this morning, and I think this genius is still at work. I went to an item that sounded interesting, and found that the item in question was a guitar that I had just seen sell less than a week ago. Same photos, same description, unmistakably the same guitar. The guitar was sold just a few days ago (for $3,333) by a seller in Iowa. Now it's up for sale again... from a seller in... LONDON, who is... NEWLY REGISTERED! He's already gotten one bid, for about $400. It's a 3 day auction. Anybody know if there's a quick way to nail this guy? I tried a search for eBay fraud into (hoping to find a phone number someplace), but found nothing very concrete. Ironically, I live about two miles from eBay's world headquarters, but I've never had a bad transaction, and have only had slow and inadequate communication with eBay in years past with regard to any questions I've asked via e-mail. In the meantime, I'm thinking about warning the person who bid, but I even have doubts that they actually exist...

What a cutie! CONGRATULATIONS, Jim!

Joe, thanks for the lovely post. You've got a knack for writing, which is something that makes me envious! Here's a shot of a Pileated woodpecker taken here in CA (in the Sierras, which is the only place I ever saw one): Here in the over-populated suburbs of the bay area, I still try to look for wonders of nature when out for walks. Actually, the only woodpeckers I've seen were right here at my house! Our next door neighbor has a tree that the Downy woodpeckers like to work on a few times a year. They also seem to favor the telephone pole behind our garage (saw them about a month ago):

Speaking of which... did you ever pick up that Harry Allen (Brazilian) CD? Hmm... maybe I shouldn't bring that up again.

Antonello Vannucchi (org), Carlo Pes (? not credited- 2nd guitar), Giovanni Tommasco (B ), Enzo Restuccia (d). They're all Scandinavian. ...