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Best jazz guitarists
Considering we have a "best blues guitarists" thread, and I haven't seen one for jazz guitarists, I thought I'd make one.
So who are some of your picks for best jazz guitarist? I'll name a few of my favorites... Django, of course. Charlie Christian, T-bone Walker (who could also be considered the first electric blues guitarist), John McLaughlin and Les Paul. Your turn. |
I've been passed a John Schofield album recently to check out. Tribal Tech with Scott Henderson and John McLaughlin are also on my list. I hope to add John Schofield a little later if it's to my taste.
Does Allan Holdsworth count as Jazz? |
I think "best" is not a good angle to approach guitarists or any other musicians. To quantify all the things that makes musicians great and rank them on some phony scale is just not something I generally do. I'm more fond of "favorite" than I am of best, but all that aside ..
First off is an obvious mention perhaps, but you can't go wrong with the guitar trio - Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia. Paco is generally described as a flamenco guitarist, but some of the music he's played is regarded as flamenco jazz. My favorite of the bunch is Al Di Meola. Everything about the way he plays is brilliant, I think. For gypsy jazz, you'd have to mention Django, of course, but my favorite gypsy jazz guitarist is Jimmy Rosenberg who is just a ferocious player. In other jazz genres, I'd also like to mention Bill Frisell whose more ambient sounds I very much like and, although he's relatively unknown, I quite like the very much unique style of english jazz guitarist Phil Miller - for reasons that I sometimes wonder about. He played these squeaky melodies, but I always thought they sounded absolutely great in their musical context. He also was great with chords. Quote:
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Cheers tore. I've just found a Soft Machine album in my collection 'The Harvest Years' and will be giving it a go later today along with a few other bits.
I'm currently looking at my CDs on the desk and I've pulled Mahavishnu Orchestra 'the inner mounting flame' and 'lost trident sessions'. |
Regarding Soft Machine's The Harvest Years, that is a compilation mostly comprised of the albums Bundles and Softs. These are so late in the discography and so late in the band history that the glory days are generally thought of as past and the only original member that can still be found on some of the songs is Mike Ratledge who at the time, I believe, hated being in the band.
I'm not so familiar with the songs from Softs, but the ones from Bundles are generally a brighter spot in the late SM discography. But people who are seriously curious about the band should definitely check out their earlier stuff. Their first two records are wildly different in style, featuring singers (Robert Wyatt & Kevin Ayers), but then they changed to a more fusiony style with their well-known Third and then became even more jazzy with Fourth. Their debut is interesting, but I'm most fond of their second, third and fourth albums which are all quite distinct from eachother. But, of course, none of those feature Allan Holdsworth. |
Now you've got me all fired up with curious thoughts about Soft Machine. I'm going to have to go back and hunt down all albums.
Thanks for the brief lowdown on the band. I always appreciate a good response. I see what you mean by the 'Harvest Years' comp. It's right at the end of their body of work. Looking at the Wiki page of their discography, I've got seven albums of material worth checking out. Whoop! Looks like I might be pulling a late one hunting down some of these albums for a spin. I think I'm going to tackle their full albums working through from the first release. |
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Allan Holdsworth also has Canterbury connections through the bands Gong and Bruford :) |
As much as I love jazz, I am tragically ignorant about jazz guitar of any variety. I love Django, but that's about as far as I've gotten.
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Here's some footage from when he was a kid :) |
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We'll of course, tore. I only made the title with the word "best" in order to make it a little more eye-grabbing. And I said that my picks were some of my "favorites", not some of the "best". Glad to see McLaughlin, Lucia and meola get a mention. I just love what that three did together. I'll add Wes Montgomery, what I've heard from him Is pretty. |
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Marc ribot is another one that I've become quite fond of. I was introduced to him through some medeski, Martin And wood videos. I purchased this album Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos:Amazon:Music and really like it. There is some great guitar playin on it.
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Aside from the ones mentioned (and thanks for the Frisell nod Tore, and Montgomery Blasting), Frank Gambale has been a favorite of mine since I got into jazz a while ago, after picking up a Chick Corea album.
Pat Metheney, and Alan Holdsworth are also on the top of my list. John McLaughlin... hmmm... I bought a CD with him and Carlos Santana on it when I was in Amsterdam many years ago. Wish I still had it. |
I'll add a few of my favorites who haven't been mentioned yet...
Gabor Szabo Joe Pass George Benson Sonny Sharrock Bill Frisell Chet Atkins Larry Coryell John Scofield Charlie Christian There are probably a few more I just can't think of at the moment. (After re-reading the other posts, I noticed John Scofield and Bill Frisell had already been mentioned. I'll leave them in my list anyway, because I like 'em and they're deserving enough for another mention.) |
For the longest I've wanted to get more into Jazz and learn the technique. It seems a lot more complex than most genre's which is why I find it interesting. I'm totaly ignorant though as where to even start if I was to buy an album who I should buy or start with.
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Is Chet atkins jazz? There's definitely a lot of jazz in his playing, i guess his playing covered multiple genres.
Blooz, I'm not really sure where a good place to start is. Probably the first jazz guitar album I got was "chester and Lester" by les Paul and Chet Atkins. In fact, I'm going to listen to it now. I'd say it's a good place to start. These two old guys could play as good as anyone these days. The album won a Grammy award for best country instrumental, which is kind of strange. I think it's jazzier than it is country. |
I like Ronnie Jordan
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When we did the Prog & Fusion Album Club, we discussed Jean-Luc Ponty's album Enigmatic Ocean from 1975 at some point and I always thought that could be a real good entrance into fusion for those coming in from the rock angle. The album features of course Ponty on his electric violin, but also guitarist Allan Holdsworth which is definitely a big name in jazz fusion. Here's a link to the discussion : http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...an-1977-a.html edit : Ugh, there was only one other poster besides myself. Now I remember why I gave it up. :( |
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This is from Guitar on the Go with the Wes Montgomery Trio. |
If we're talking about jazz fusion, I highly recommend "the inner mounting flame" by the mahavishnu orchestra. That album is absolutely great.
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^ 'The Lost Trident Sessions' is also a good album by The Mahavishnu Orchestra (one of my favorites by them.)
I've always thought of Chet Atkins as being more country than jazz, but I keep seeing his name mentioned in various lists and articles about jazz guitarists (and he did have a smooth, flowing sort of jazz style to his technique) so I decided to include him in my list. |
I'm not super into jazz guitar but I think Charlie Hunter is pretty great. Check out the track below, and keep in mind while you listen to it that all you are hearing is drums and one 8 string guitar. Having seen him in concert, I can attest that he really does play the bass lines and guitar melodies simultaneously. Pretty damn impressive.
Here's some live video too (the good stuff starts around 1:00): |
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Autumn leaves, doesn't joe pass play that, or did he write it? I think I remember learning how to play some of it, I really liked it. |
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3 bass strings and 5 guitar strings? I've never seen anything like that, pretty bad ass. The guitar in the first video sure does sound like a keyboard.
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Glad to see alot of the true greats mentioned. I had the pleasure of seeing this guy on three different occassions. Russell Malone, has played with all of the new age horn specialist. This solo video is pretty cool and a good example of his ability. He never overplays and his tone is outstanding.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...axKt94qA1WMwMQ |
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I'm diggin that. Nice fingerstyle jazz. Is it me or that little phrase at 2:00 sound a little like "just my imagination" by the temptations? :laughing: |
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Derek Bailey
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pat metheny by far!
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Charlie Christian maybe? I love him.
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Does anybody know the gentlemen who often accompanied Amy Winehouse.. black dude, older, dreads...outrageous... I can't post links as I have not posted over 15 times, smh.
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pat metheny
For me its got to be Pat Metheny. :)
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Google Image Result for http://www.reggae-vibes.com/concert/chinna/pics/chinna1.jpg |
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