Jazz guitar CD recommendations

[MILLO]

....in your opinion, what CD's by these artists are ESSENTIAL (not necessarily "classic", just REALLY GOOD)?:

 

Lenny Breau

Pat Martino

Bill Frissell(sp?)

Barney Kessel (sp?)

Scofield

Jim Hall

Wes Montgomery

Metheny (what recording of his is the least corny? --he's a great musician, but w/ all due respect: I don't share his taste...)

 

...any others?

THANKS!!!

[Funk Jazz]

just my .02, but maybe you could start with the swing jazz roots (you can find well priced boxed sets of all these cats):

 

Eddie Lang

Charlie Christian

Django Reinhardt

 

then tackle the later giants:

 

Wes ~ anything on the Riverside label

 

Joe Pass ~ i prefer his combo work to his solo stuff, but i'm in the minority here

 

Grant Green ~ Idle Moments is particularly good

 

Tal Farlow ~ anything

 

Kenny Burrell ~ i really like his playing on Jack McDuff's Crash

 

Pat Metheny ~ Bright Sized Life, Question and Answer, Trio live. if you don't like the schmaltzy stuff, stay away from the Metheny Group.

 

But it's very important to listen to other Jazz instruments too, especially piano like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Keith Jarrett.

 

if you follow the timeline of jazz in your listening, it will be easier to appreciate the later developments like cool/modal jazz and fusion.

 

good luck

[Virtual Jim]

Charles Mingus. Your bass player wants you to listen to Charles Mingus. Your drummer wants you to listen to Charles Minugs. Your fellow guitar players want you to listen to Charles Mingus.

 

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains. - John Philip Sousa

[PBBPaul]

Anything by Joe Pass, combo or solo. His recordings with Oscar Peterson are amazing and I think that his Virtuoso series is essential listening for any guitarist.

[musicalhair]

There is so many. Jim Hall is great on Paul Desmond's Bossa Antigua album, and also Sonny Rollin's The Bridge.

 

Someone here mentioned Grant Green on Stanley Turentine's Up at Minton's but Ive not found that yet.

 

I like a lot of Grant Green's stuff, and Wes is amazing. Both of them in their later recordings moved towards less straight ahead jazz-- Wes to "smooth jazz pop", and Grant to "groove"-- but their playing is still cool IMHO.

 

Donald Byrd's album A New Perspective has Kenny Burrell on it.

 

I'm pointing more towards guys as sidemen than as leaders because you have to play differently as a side man and that is how most playing in jass happens at least starting out it seems. The little jazz I've played I couldn't use "Wes" type chords or full four voice chords except as a duo with a singer. I had to almost relearn the guitar.

 

A great book that tackles this is Steve Khan's Chord Khancepts, it is sort of a real world slap upside the head for guys that sat at home doing chord melodies and using Ted Greene's books. I'm not knocking the Green books but in a lot of situations "big chords" are not only frowned upon but usless. So, be sure to listen to guys not just as leader but as a side man.

 

Oh, Jimmy Rainey is great-- one of my favorites.

[MILLO]

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR REPLIES!

 

Mkay, I'll listen to Mingus, what CD should I listen to first? I'm mostly interested in bebop and beyond, basically... well, also interested pre-bop "traditional", although not as much. Not necessarily 'smooth jazz', though. However, I simply forgot to list Charlie Christian and Lang. I do have some Reinhardt; and Montgomery's first album, which I love.

 

I'm a classical player, so I'm very curious about Lenny Breau --I think I've never heard anything by him.

 

Actually, most of the jazz I've listened to is "non-guitaristic", that's why I want to get into the guitar stuff.

[Billster]

Pat Martino - "All Sides Now" has a lot of guests, and is very guitar oriented.

 

Bill Frissell - His work with the Ginger Baker Trio is good, and I like the Elvin Jones/Dave Holland album he did. "Nashville" is high up there. Generally his smaller groups are more guitar oriented. Look for his older work as a sideman on various ECM albums

 

Scofield - I like "Works for Me" as a straight ahead album, and "A-Go-Go" with Medeski, Martin & Wood on it for funkier styles. His early records on Gramavision are good stuff too.

 

Jim Hall - "Dialogues" has a lot of guests, and is very guitar oriented.

 

Metheny - What Funk Jazz said. He also did an album with Scofield called "I Can See Your House From Here" which is excellent.

 

 

Mike Stern - "Standards" is excellent, his first Atlantic album "Upside/Downside" is a classic, and his two most recent "Voices" and "These Times" are excellent contemporary jazz.

[pauldil]

"Boss Guitar" by Wes Montgomery. Every single tune is a gem. A must-have.

 

"Catch Me" - Joe Pass. I think this was his first album after getting cleaned up from heroin addiction. Great stuff!!

 

"Consciousness" or "Gravy" - Pat Martino. Fantastic stuff.

 

"Bonita" - Joe Diorio . If you can find it. It's got a version of "Bloomdido" that just smokes!

 

 

Paul

[Robman2]

Thanks for the list O' essentails.

 

I get stuff sent to me, session guys, solo albums and often, it's huh? Chopped smooth jazz, well crafted but filler, like cooking the soup or stew without the bones...

 

Cool referrals here...

 

Grats

 

R

[Jim Soloway]

Lenny Breau - "Cabin Fever" (solo acoustic); "Standard Brands" (acoustic duets with Chet Atkins); and "The Velevet Touch Of Lenny Breau - LIVE!". Standard Brands and Velevet touch can be very hard to find and somewhat expensive. Cabin Fever is probably my favorite solo guitar album of all time.

 

Pat Martino - I'm not a great fan but I've always loved "Starbright".

 

Barney Kessel - "Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By" and "Barney Kessel Plays For Lovers"

 

Jim Hall - "Affinity" with Bill Evans and Paul Desmond's "Bossa Antigua"

 

Wes Montgomery - "The Complete Riverside Recordings"

 

Pat Metheny - "New Chataqua" and "One Quiet Night" (I've always preferred his acoustic playing)

[Virtual Jim]

Originally posted by MILLO:

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR REPLIES!

 

Mkay, I'll listen to Mingus, what CD should I listen to first?

Mingus Ah Um

 

But really, I just think that that's a good introduction to jazz for a rock guy, which is what I assumed the question was being sprung from. I know some guitarists that tried to get into Jazz from a guitarist's perspective and... it was the wrong way to go for them. What all this means is if you've been listening to jazz before, you may or may not want to immediately go this route. But if you're curious to check out one of John Paul Jones' heros, this is where it's at.

[MILLO]

VA JIM: no I'm not a rocker, really. But that's OK... thanks for the recommendation!

 

Thanks for the lists...

now, is there a new, unknown, guitar-playin' rising talent out there I should check out?... in the bebop-ish, modern-jazz, fusiony realm, that is....

 

as far as non-guitar jazz, I plan to get:

Corea's Akoustic Band: Alive

Davis' Bitches Brew

Mingus' Ah Um

Brubeck's Time Out

 

what Coltrane, Ellington, Thelonius Monk should I get?

[Funk Jazz]

YES

 

Kurt Rosenwinkle.

[Billster]

Originally posted by MILLO:

VA JIM: no I'm not a rocker, really. But that's OK... thanks for the recommendation!

 

Thanks for the lists...

now, is there a new, unknown, guitar-playin' rising talent out there I should check out?... in the bebop-ish, modern-jazz, fusiony realm, that is....

 

as far as non-guitar jazz, I plan to get:

Corea's Akoustic Band: Alive

Davis' Bitches Brew

Mingus' Ah Um

Brubeck's Time Out

 

what Coltrane, Ellington, Thelonius Monk should I get?

Bitches Brew has some good guitar stuff on there too. John McLaughlin. Tribute to Jack Johnson is intense stuff too.

 

Also get Miles "Kind of Blue" of you don't already have it.

 

Ellington: Get Newport 1956. The Paul Gonsalves sax solo is a classic moment in recorded history. You should also check out "Money Jungle" which is Ellington and Mingus in a trio setting with (I think) Max Roach on drums. Early Ellington stuff like "Black, Brown and Beige" is truly classic too - look for the track "Come Sunday"

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by billster:

Ellington: Get Newport 1956. The Paul Gonsalves sax solo is a classic moment in recorded history.

When appearing the same sentence, the words "Ellington, Newport, Paul Gonsalves" are usually uttered in a reverent, solemn tone. What was that, something like 27 choruses?!?

 

For classic Duke Ellington, I'd suggest Millo pick up "The Blanton-Webster Band" collection. That's a motherlode of Ellington in one package.

 

Originally posted by MILLO:

now, is there a new, unknown, guitar-playin' rising talent out there I should check out?... in the bebop-ish, modern-jazz, fusiony realm, that is....

He's not new or unknown, but I like 8 string guitarist Charlie Hunter. Recommend either "Natty Dread" (a cover of the Bob Marley album) or "Ready, Set, Shango".

 

Also, do a search on this board for link to a recent article in the NY Times with Pat Metheny. In it, he discusses several jazz records that are important to him, most of which aren't from guitarists (IIRC, Wes is the only guitarist). It's a very good read.

[Jim Soloway]

Originally posted by Mark Zeger:

Originally posted by billster:

Ellington: Get Newport 1956. The Paul Gonsalves sax solo is a classic moment in recorded history.

When appearing the same sentence, the words "Ellington, Newport, Paul Gonsalves" are usually uttered in a reverent, solemn tone. What was that, something like 27 choruses?!?

 

A story that I heard a few years ago was that Gonsalves showed up to the gig so hung over he could barely stand up and Duke made him take one chorus after another as punishment.

[picker]

Wes Montgomery - The Further Adventures Of Jimmy & Wes, on Verve. Just really cookin' guitar & B-3

 

Pat Metheny - American Garages

[kad]

Originally posted by MILLO:

I'm a classical player, so I'm very curious about Lenny Breau --I think I've never heard anything by him.

Then you are in for a real treat! Lenny Breau was phenomenal beyond words. Chet Atkins once said "if Chopin had played guitar instead of piano, he probably would have sounded like Lenny Breau."

 

The only living player I can thing of that even begins to approach Lenny's mastery of fingerstyle jazz is Tommy Emanuel, but IMO Lenny had a richer, more lush harmonic vocabulary.

 

Essential Lenny Breau listening:

 

Five O'Clock Bells

Mo' Breau

Standard Brands (with Chet Atkins)

 

Kirk

[Bejeeber]

Pauldil nailed it when he recommended Wes Montgomery's Boss Guitar.I feel that it's his best album.

 

Joe Pass "intercontinental" - This is his finest work IMO. Sublime, effortless, beautiful playing in a trio setting.

[Big Red 67]

Larry Carlton. I love the one with "smiles and smiles to go".

[MILLO]

funny, it seems like I can't get any Diorio CD's from amazon.com...

I thought he was better known than that.

[kad]

My personal favorite Joe Pass recording is "For Django".

[MILLO]

got 'Boss Guitar' by Wes and 'Mo' Breau w/ Five O'clock Bells' (in one CD) by Breau. Gave them a quick listen last night, very nice.

 

MUSICALHAIR:

any specific "guitarists as sidemen" CD recommendations?

I already know about the whole small vocings vs. big voicings on the guitar, for compin' in a band setting. Not that I'm a decent or even competent accompanist in this style, but I can sort of fake it (if the tune is easy enough), w/ 2- and 3- note voicings, staying away from the 5th and 6th strings. However, I need to learn much more in this regard... I've had the Khan book for around two years but have NEVER studied it!! I need to listen to a great accompanist who would use small voicings, quartal-harmony embellishments and sort of create countermelodies or 'answers' for the soloist's phrases... does anyone like this come to mind? CD's?

 

I think I'm gonna take the next 2-3 months to study the jazz genre...

 

My ear has also suffered quite a bit after years of just preparing classical repertoire. I think I'll buy one of those Tascam guitar trainers....

[mdog114]

Bad Benson

Cookbook

[weaseltrap]

You've got to throw in at least a couple of John McLaughlin CDs:

 

The Heart of Things

My Goals Beyond

[pfarmer]

Hello-

 

Here are a few picks for jazz guitar, some you mentioned and some you didn't. Hope they help..

 

1. Wes Montgomery - 'The Complete Riverside Recordings' if you can afford them, but if not - buy any of the Riverside CDs. Start with 'Incredible Jazz Guitar,' as it is a classic among classics. Wes was - in my view - the greatest jazz guitarist ever and one of the very small modern jazz players on any instrument comparable to Bird or Coltrane. Everything about his playing was absolutely stunning, and his musicianship was peerless. Also don't leave out the 'Complete Vereve Jazz Sides' which includes his historic 1965 live date at NYCs old Half Note club. Finally, Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop offers a video of Wes from 1965 that includes some smokin' tunes with a trio including Harold Mabern on piano.

 

2. Joe Pass - The 'Catch Me' sessions. Like one other opinion offered here, I think this is his best playing, including his later more herladed fingerstyle work solo. Mosaic Records has a nice box with all of his 1960s output, when he was burnin' it up.

 

3. Barney Kessel - anything from his 1950s and 1960s days is likely to be good.

 

4. Scofield - ? Seen him live but don't have any recordings. Good player, though...

 

5. Jim Hall - my pick is a now somewhat obscure CD from the 1970s called 'Live,' with Jim and just bass and drums. A wonderful recording. I also like the two LPs Jim did with Bill Evans, which were both duos for guitar and piano - a difficult combo for anything but the best players.

 

6. Pat Methany - don't have anything by him

 

7. Grant Green - check out 'Born to be Blue' any of his other 1960s Blue Note stuff. Also appeared as a sideman on numerous records by Hank Mobley and others.

 

8. Kenny Burrell - The name escapes me, but I think the LP is called simply 'Kenny Burrell,' and it is actually his second record as a leader. It has a band including Cecil Payne, and Tommy Flanagan as well as other Detroiters such as Doug Watkins on bass. Includes Bud Powell's 'Strictly Confidential,' as well as other top tunes, all played with Kenny's sublime taste and cool.

 

9. George Benson - His 1960s stuff is the best in my view, though his 1970s smooth jazz output is classy but in a different way. Anything from before 1968 is when he was playing tons of staight ahead jazz guitar on his records, such as 'Billie's Bounce,' 'I Remember Wes' and so many others.

 

10. Emily Remler - Already, people have forgotten her since her death in the early 1990s. She was a terrific player, so check out the 2 retrospective CDs put out - one of standards (her version of 'Joy Spring' with Larry Coryell is wondersful) and one of originals, as well as a CD called 'Firefly' with Hank Jones and other heavyweights.

 

11. Johnny Smith - check out the Mosaic Records Box on this man, one of the best all-round musicians ever to play guitar. Mosaic offers their sets for a limited time so act fast - once they are done, no more are pressed (Sound like a commercial here, don't I?). Johnny is justly famous for 'Moonlight in Vermont' but there is a lot more to his style than that.

 

12. Howard Roberts - another lost great, Howard didn't do too many jazz recordings because he was such a studio musician. But.. check out 'Howard Roberts is a Dirty Guitar Player' - a smokin' 1964 organ-bass-drums group fronted by Howard. One of the best - if least known - organ group records. Has a killer version of Herbie Hancock's 'Watermellon Man' and others.

 

13. BIll Frisell - Don't know anything about this one....

 

14. Pat Martino - Some of his recent records are very good, but in my view not up to his early things when he was teen phenom. Check out 'El Hombre' for a slice of his 1960s style. Anything since his comeback in the 1990s is fine, too. Still a monster live act.. seen him 2 or 3 times in Chicago recently. He still deliivers the goods!

 

15. An oddball choice but one worth checking out: Guy Van Duser, who is not strictly a jazz player, put out a record some years ago, called 'Stride Guitar,' on which he plays faithfully realized versions of stride piano classics on solo guitar or in tandem with duo partner Billy Novak. A tremendous technical and musical achievement and one that is really great listening. Just him on a nylon string classical guitar.

 

16. Cornell Dupree - 'Teasin' is the name of the record, and it was done in 1974 or so. It is the perfect blend of blues, R and B and jazz. Dupree - a longtime session guitarist and band member for King Curtis and later Aretha Franklin - leads the group, which includes stalwarts of the Ray Charles and King Curtis bands as well as the cream of NYC session players at the time. All instrumental. Richard Tee, Bernard Purdie, David 'Fathead' Newman, and others lend a hand. 'Blues Nocturne' is especially fine, as is a remake of 'Okie Dokie Stomp,' the old Gatemouth Brown number. Cornell and the gang never did another record like this one... a one of a kind.

 

You probably see that I'm a bit of a 'Meat and Potatoes' type of guy, and that I prefer the older cats. The new guys just don't cut it for me... something is missing, even though some of them are fine players.

 

Also - I'd rather spend 10 hours listening to Wes than ten hours spent on less worthy artists. Wes and the other greats offer some much musical content that they stand up to repeated listening in a way few modern players do.

 

Last, I'll second what another writer offered.. jazz is not a music primarily of the guitar. If you hope to understand it or play it, you ought to be conversant with the greats on all instruments, such as Clifford Brown on trumpet, Charlie Parker on Alto, etc. etc. Get yourself a good book and start reading and listening. Good luck and have fun!

[plucker]

No-one has mentioned Sonny Sharrock, so I will. His off-the-wall (I see a possible punch up flaring up over my terminology, so I'll explain by stating that in jazz anyone back in those days who used fuzz and feedback the way he did,on a jazz record, would most likely be called off-the-wall, and probably non-jazz as well as posessed by demons ) guitar playing is fantastic on Herbie Manns Memphis Underground, an old favourite of mine. In Oz my favourite jazz band is The Catholics, well worth checking out if you've never heard of them.