Joe G

Man, that just ain't right. And here's the test: try using that phrase on your wife. No doubt the response would be along the lines of... Time to DIE!!!

Hey Jim, should we tell everybody about the gig we are going to play in just a couple of hours?

Boney Sugar Jones, Y'all! Hell of a lot of Boneys in the house. Boney James, anyone?

Jim and I did a gig straight out of the Blues Brothers. We subbed for a country band at a little watering hole called the Sportsmen's Tavern way out in a rural Mich. town called Mulliken (Mullet-kin). The dirt parking lot was filled with pickup trucks. The jukebox blared Garth Brooks. Scrawled on the wall in the men's room was, "If I'da known it was gonna be like this, I'da picked the cotton myself!" During the first set, a woman came up and requested " a song with words". (Okay, how about this one: Oh, The Lord loves a hangin', that's why he gave us necks!...) It was a dark night, my friends. At first we tried to appease them with shuffles, but that quickly grew tiresome, and by the second set we no longer cared one way or the other. At that point we were actually playing some pretty creative stuff in spite of it all. And there were a few sympathetic listeners, good folks who came out simply because they couldn't believe there would be jazz at the old S.T. It was one of those gigs that ultimately make you stronger for the sole reason that you survived it.

B-3er, Ouch! Don't remind me! You know what I'm talking about... JSngry, Great story about the wedding gig. The evening would have been perfect if a great musician that you admire had shown up. I've been there, too: "Oh for God sakes, why is Randy Gillespie here, tonight of all nights??" The nice thing is, those people know the score, so the proper person gets the blame.

The album is called "Our Gang" on the Groove Note label.

Sweet! I'm on it like Al Gore's beard!

Jim's been playing that Sonny Stitt tune lately, Goin' to D.C., in spite of my telling him that we are way too white to pull that off! Thanks for the compliments mr. jazz.

I don't have a big band/organ recommendation, but on a related note (literally), Gerald's son Anthony has a really nice organ trio album that he put out a couple of years ago. B-3er will have to help me; I forget the name of it. It's very much in the Larry Goldings vein. Great guitar work, excellent ensemble, good program.

Randissimo and I are in the same peril.

What I really want to know is: How many of you ride the shopping cart out to your car like a scooter? :rsmile:

Hey use3d, remember Beavis and Butthead watching that krokus video? Here's a bit from their disscussion about the singer. Beavis: His whole head sucks! Butthead: And his chest is no picnic either.

I didn't see "schleppin a B-3" in there"...

I think your approach is admirable. I've been thinking about ways to take our music beyond "head-solo-solo-head", even though I do usually enjoy soloing and comping. One player who has interested me recently is Avi Bortnick, John Scofield's rhythm guitarist. Killer right hand technique, and works with real-time samples to create really wild sounds. Makes me want to explore that realm more. Could you give me an example of "upper structure tensions on simple chords"? Do you mean, for instance, a minor 6th over a major triad, something like that? Do you have a method, or just experiment with sounds? And you mentioned Robert Fripp. Have you checked out the Guitar Craft website? They are teaching some pretty cool stuff, but it seems you have to completely overhaul your approach to fit theirs if you take a retreat. I'm not ready for that.

I, for one, would not be comfortable with such a comparision. Those boys are BAD! But Soulive? Bring 'em on!

Dan and Michel, Thank you and thank you. Michel, Jim shared with me your critique, which I found to be very insightful. Thanks for listening and taking the time to share your thoughts. Joe

Jim R., Thanks so much for the informative reply. Those sound like players I need to be checking out. That's the problem with my getting most of my CD's from BMG--I miss out on a lot of stuff. I'll have to borrow that disc from Jim and let you know what I think.

Cool, thanks.

I'll answer AB first: Don't sweat the Berklee thing. Forums aren't really feasible for the transmission of that kind of info. Yeah man! Bluegrass. It just makes me feel good to listen to that stuff. A music of the heart, I think. I grew up on Tony Rice, Mark O'Conner, Jerry Douglas and that whole gang. The Newgrassers. But I also had a dose of the stone cold traditional: Flatt & Scruggs, Monroe, Clarence White, etc. It's a healthy scene now. I like Nickel Creek, they are very talented. Especially Chris Thiele. And AK & Union Station is superb. That's cool that you're playing banjo. I used to play mandolin, but I haven't had one for quite some time. For banjo, the obvious guy to mention: Bela Fleck. Sometimes I feel like he runs hot and cold, though. Some of the Flecktones stuff doesn't stand the test of time, but every so often I'll hear something from him that just floors me. I saw him a year ago with Edgar Meyer in support of Perpetual Motion. Great concert and a great album. As far as the classic jazz guys, I actually had to backtrack to them, coming to jazz out of rock as I did. Naturally, I gravitated to the more modern players: Mclaughlin, Sco, Metheny, Frisell, Henderson. For a fellow guitar nut, the Metheny album I'd recommend is Question and Answer, a trio date with Roy Haynes and Dave Holland. It's fun to hear the guitar played that well. Beyond that, I'm not sure. There's a lot of stuff, and I don't have a clear sense yet of what you might like. Although, Beyond the Missouri Sky, with Charlie Haden is, I think, on par with the John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman album for sheer beauty. Yes, I'm happy to have found a niche to occupy where we can talk about this stuff.

It sure didn't take long for someone to tell me something I didn't know. Could you give me just a bit of info on these guys? Breakstone is the only name I've heard, and still I couldn't tell you anything about him.

Actually Jim, April 4 and 7 are when Ron will be at CMU and WMU. I haven't confirmed if those are McBride dates, but I do know they aren't organissimo dates!

Well, you know I'm interested in talkin' guitar. B) It's about time, too! I've dabbled in a lot of styles, too. It was probably the 70's rock that was on the radio and in my Dad's collection that got me started. Then I got into a major bluegrass phase. That music never left me, and I think it's way cool that the popularity of it has increased so much in the last couple of years. That's mostly due to Allison Krauss, and O Brother Where Art Thou, of course. Then I got way into rock and metal as a teenager. Finally outgrew that; I needed somthing with dynamics! Now it's mostly jazz and classical and ethnic and bluegrass and pop and whatever else sounds good. Who are your favorite players, AB? And what guitar forums do you frequent? I check out the Pat Metheny Group forum often, even though it gets pretty hot in there sometimes...

Andrew, We appreciate the offer. I guess if you have any contacts for likely venues, you could pass those along (privately if you like), and that would certainly be a big help! Thanks again. Joe

Ah yes, thanks for the tip. I was set to London time.

For instance, the time given for the above post is 3:21pm. My computer said 10:20am