Joe G

Sounds like you scored big on those vinyl sides. I've heard that the Map of the World soundtrack is pretty good as well. Do you have that?

Damn! I also thought of the most popular jazz musician of the past year: NORAH JONES!!!

Sundog, I've got Barry's transcriptions of the Bach two-part inventions. I've worked through about half of them. They are great little pieces, and he did a great job putting that all together, but I wish I had someone to play them with. You're not in Michigan are you?

The real problem with this game is no one is getting drunk! Actually, I'm gonna have to take a shot right here; can't think of a Nick or a Ned.

Holy Shit Africa! You're now a Supa Groover! The first one!

Jazz, Please don't be embarrassed about where you are at this point. For most musicians, including (especially?) guitarists, the ear is always the weakest link. I applaud your decision to devote some time to concentrate on that aspect. It's also great that you are dedicated to learning the fundamentals of playing well. Just remember: Never let what you can't do get in the way of what you can do (or get in the way of having fun!). B) He-Man, huh? You're a bit younger than me. I was young enough to actually want to watch that show, but old enough that I wouldn't have been caught dead with a Masters of the Universe lunchbox! I look forward to more guitar freak conversations.

Jazz- Glad to have you on board! So, tell us a little more about yourself. How long have you been playing? Who are your favorites? What characters were on your lunchbox in the third grade? A few of the bluegrass albums/artists I like are: Skip Wobble & Hop; by Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, and Mike Marshall Manzanita; by Tony Rice New Favorite, and, So Long So Wrong; both by Alison Krauss Markology; By Mark O'Conner (he was only 16!) The Telluride Sessions; by Strength in Numbers. You will notice that these are all mainly the "newgrassers", not the traditional players. I have listened to a lot of trad bluegrass, but not in a long time. Just my personal preference these days. Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Roland White, and Doc Watson (who is not strictly bluegrass, but great nonetheless) are some of the old school guys I remember enjoying. It's been too long. Let me know if you happen to pick any of these up. p.s., thanks for the compliment jmjk. :rsmile:

Micheal Brecker

Creepy, but kind of evocative.

Simon Weil Interesting. I suppose it was only a matter of time. I'm not sure that the "Douglas matter" is grounds for dismissal; after all, I've seen some wicked reviews and other negative articles in jazz magazines that went almost as far. This will no doubt be more fuel for Stanley's fire.

The only thing I could figure is that it's because he's white and edgy and championed by white jazz writers. Crouch stated flat out though, that he thought Douglas couldn't hold a candle to any of the other black trumpeters. Here's the quote: There is nothing wrong with Douglas, who can play what he can play and who should continue to do whatever he wants to do, but there is something pernicious about Davis and all those other white guys who want so badly to put white men in charge--American and European--and put Negroes in the background. Douglas, whom I have heard since he worked as a sideman years ago with Vincent Herring, is far from being a bad musican, but he also know that he should keep as much distance as possible between himself and trumpet players like Wallace Roney, Terence Blanchard and Nicholas Payton, to name but three, any one of whom on any kind of material--chordal, nonchordal, modal, free, whatever--would turn him into a puddle on the bandstand. So he's far from bad, but not very good. Or something. Or actually, he's not the issue at all, it's the white writers who want to push him forward in place of more traditional sounding black trumpeters. I don't want to say that there's nothing at all to what Crouch is writing about. I'm just not sure what he wants from us, the readers. What do you want from me? I'm just trying to play the guitar! (That's probably what Dave Douglas is saying.) P.S. Usual Channels, sorry for taking your thread in another direction.

Well, I went down to Elderly after work, and saw my guitar teacher from way back. I happened to have that Hofner in hand when he came walking in. I showed him the strings and he said they were flatwounds. Now did I get that right? So roundwounds are the "normal" guitar strings, that have a steel core with nickel or bronze wrap-around, and flatwounds have a smooth surface on the three thickest strings. Right? Then there is the compromise that my teacher mentioned: groundrounds? (Isn't that hamburger??) These have a wire wrap like roundwounds, but the ridges are ground down for a smoother feel. The problem with the flatwounds is that you lose so much treble from the tone. It really kills the overtones. So the groundrounds attempt to get the best of both worlds. Got all that? I hope I did. If not, somebody please straighten me out! So Jeff, my description of the strings on the Hofner don't match what you have on your DeArmond? Smooth to the touch on the thickest three strings? Like I said, this is the first time in 25 years of playing that I've encountered them, so I can't make any recommendations. On my Ibanez electric I use D'Addarios, 11's. I like my Wechter quite a bit, although its' tone doesn't quite compare to a good classical guitar. The body is smaller than most of those, so the tone isn't as deep. It is good for jazz-style soloing, though. That's the guitar I used on PreDawn Rain. And hey, John Mclaughlin uses Wechters, so there must be something going on!

Certainly, there are different listening environments that call for different types of music. When I read the title of this thread though, I was thinking along different lines. Have you ever "heard" music differently in the presence of one person or another? There's something about the dynamic of two people (or more) just sharing a space and mood, or something, that seems to alter your own perception of the music. It might seem more beautiful or vibrant than it did before. I remember hanging out with my mentor years ago, listening to a Pat Metheny solo piece, and I couldn't help but comment that although I'd heard it before, it never sounded as beautiful as it did in that moment. I've also noticed that my attention for music waxes and wanes at certain times of the day. Early evening is usually my peak, but also about two hours before and after noon.

And I'm jonesin' for a couple of new guitars! The wish list includes a world class steel string acoustic, a nice classical guitar (I do have a Wecter Pathmaker nylon string: http://organissimo.org/themusic.htm, so the classical can wait a bit), and now this Hofner jazzica. OUCH! I did check out Buffalo Bros. They don't currently have the Jazzica in stock. I'm a little leery about buying a guitar sight unseen. Each one is so individualistic, even amongst guitars of the same make. I like to pick up a guitar and have it say, "I'm yours. Take me home."

I know, but it can be dangerous for me to go in there. I very often find a guitar there that makes me swoon. Inevitably, the pricetag says something like $3000. NOOOO! That's the deal with the Jazzica Custom. My wife would be saying, "You're harping on what I spend at the grocery store and then you want to buy another guitar for 3 grand!?!?" But honey....

Over at Elderly Instruments yesterday I played a Hofner Jazzica (I think that's the name), basically a really nice hollow body jazz box. The interesting thing was the strings. They seemed like a modern variation on catgut. They had the feel of nylon strings, but seemed to have a wound core, though I didn't look too closely at that. I really liked the feel; very easy on the fingers, but I wasn't sure about the tone. Very short sustain. Anybody know about these strings?

Everytime I read one of Crouch's columns in Jazztimes I come away wondering if it's him, or me. I can't even articulate what his point is much of the time. Is anyone else getting something from him? Anything?

You mean the one that destroyed his career, of course. Yes, that was painful. I think he must have watched Flashdance about a hundred times in preparation for that shoot.

Actually that low turnout is not the norm. On the other hand, most of the times I've seen Sco (6 times now) have been in clubs, which are normally packed. He had a good crowd at the Detroit JazzFest, also at Symphony Hall. But I've always heard that those guys do much better in Europe than here. Strange how the country that produced this music doesn't embrace it like others do. And yes, it was very much a jam band crowd.

Just thought of another one: Van Halen's Hot For Teacher! FUCK YEAH!

I got mine Thursday of last week. Ain't it sweet? Grant was right up there with the all-time greats in terms of looking cool in the B&W photos, no? B)

Hated that A-Ha tune, but that's no surprise since I was a metalhead at the time. However, I will defend Huey Lewis. Catchy stuff, and he was surprisingly cool in that Behind the Music episode. And I still think the guitar solos in "Want a New Drug" rock, even if the video wasn't as memorable. An early video I remember liking was "Our Love's in Jeopardy". I'm sure it's totally lame, but I was like 12 years old at the time, so cut me some slack! Question: Is Martha Quinn going to have a third comeback?? :rsly:

Yes, the tunes were mostly from those two albums, with a couple from A Go Go for good measure. I'm not so good at remembering song titles, so that's the best I can do. The ones from the upcoming release sound great. A little bit different, but still in that vein. You know, they are coming to Berlin May 27th. Is that too far for you? (The farthest I go is Chicago, about 4 hours away). It's funny, I was over at the Metheny forum for a minute this morning, and someone left a post about Sco's show in Indiana over the weekend. The guy hated it! Check it out: This last weekend I took my wife to see John Scofield in Bloomington,IL... It was the worst thing I had ever heard. I found myself constantly apologizing to my wife for the music we were listening to. She was kind of psyced to hear him live after I played her a bunch of his music before the concert. Alot of people walked out...The first 25 minutes were because his pedals were all screwed up, then the rest was anybody's guess. After paying $65 for two tickets it was very disappointing And he only played an hour (but I suppose that was because there were probably only about 100-200 people in a 3400 seat auditorium). Yikes! Guess everyone has a bad night once in a while.

I remember playing a gig with a fusion-type band a few years ago. We had a version of Maiden Voyage worked up with a rockish beat, and my part was arpeggios with a heavy delay. Well, we finished that tune and went into the next, which was a blues with a unison melody between guitar and sax. Imagine my suprise and terror when my opening phrase repeated itself. Doh! I forgot to turn the delay off! To make matters worse, the sax player was standing in between me and my amp, so I had to wind my way past him in tight quarters to get the damn thing turned off. Half the head was over by the time I got back into action.