Tiny Grimes: Food for Thought

Nicolai Foss

This is surely one of the most mis-titled CDs out there. In addition to Tiny (of course), there is Jay McShann and George Kelly and a bunch of mainly French back-up musicians, going over about a dozen tunes, mainly riffy Grimes blues items. The result is by no means anything like “food for thought” but rough, uncomplicated music with a rock’n roll tinge.

I blogged about a month ago on Tiny’s early work, praising it, but his work on this CD, recorded in 1970, just isn’t on par with his earlier work. According to the liner notes, “… because of his numerous talents, Tiny Grimes, along with Charlie Christain, was the greatest of all guitar players.” Why is it that liner notes on French recordings tend to be so ridiculously over the top?

Howard Roberts’ Guitars

Nicolai Foss

Howard Roberts’ name will forever be associated with the model he designed for Epiphone and Gibson, The Epiphone Howard Roberts Custom and Standard, and the Gibson Howard Roberts Artist. The model, sort of an updated L4 with Florentine cutaway, was copied by numerous Japanese companese (most famously by Ibanez) but also by German producer Hoyer. Here is a full list of the guitars Roberts designed and owned. The page is part of Mike Evans’ very well-researched Howard Roberts site.

Sonny Sharrock on Improvisation

Nicolai Foss

Here are some interesting reflections on types of improvisers from jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock:

There are three basic types of improvisers, the foremost being “the creator,” who has an insatiable need to tell his story. For him, improvisation is only a tool. He plays each solo as if it were his last. He will not be compromised, nor will he be stopped. Next is “the juggler,” for whom the skill of improvisation is just as important as is the need to tell his story. The juggler gathers around him all of the things he has heard, and one by one tosses them into the air. With his skillful hands he cleverly keeps them aloft. He seldom drops an idea, because he knows them all so well.Finally, there is “the tinkerer, whose improvisations are based on formulas and the instrument itself. His scientific manipulation of sound is laboratory-created and laboratory-bound forever. Making up a subcategory, if you will, is “the fool.” He claims he is bored with music, so he has decided to make noise. Fool + Noise = Bullshit.

I think he is basically right, although I think of his types as ideal types. Even Charlie Parker, a Creator if there ever was one, had elements of the Juggler in his work.

Jim Hall’s Complete Jazz Guitar

Nicolai Foss

Although my main preference in jazz guitar is towards energetic and muscular bebop (think Tal Farlow, Hank Garland, George Benson, Pat Martino, and Jimmy Bruno) I have a growing admiration and appreciation for the softer approach of Jim Hall (some may say that I am maturing). Some of his stuff, I just don’t get (such as this project). However, he is no doubt a musician of the very highest caliber. I am listening at the moment to his trio record with Carl Perkins and Red Mitchell (also includes a number of stunningly beautiful takes with John Lewis) from 1957, Complete Jazz Guitar (”Complete” because more tracks are included than in “Jazz Guitar” original)

The record is absolutely outstanding. Although the Hall style is clearly there already at 1957, he sounds at times remarkably like two guitarists that were his friends at the time, namely Tal Farlow and particularly Jimmy Raney. I didn’t know that Hall could play the blues that well. And his sound. The most woody sound in jazz guitar (and more woody than the contemporary Hall sound). Strange to believe that an ES-175 with a P90 can produce this sound, but apparently it can. A great, great CD.

Jazzguitar.be

Nicolai Foss

Down in Belgium, Dirk Laukens runs www.jazzguitar.be

The site is mainly an instructional one, but there is, for example, a nice links section, and, in particular, a page with excellent licks from the Greats (with brief bios). The free lessons are excellent (I spent a couple of hours last night working through many of them). As far as I know, it is the only Euro-site of its kind.

Very highly recommended.

More Lists of Favorite Jazz Guitar Recordings

Nicolai Foss

Here is Jazz 100’s list.

Here are the Top 5 according to About: guitar.

And here is The Best Jazz Guitar for Rock and Pop Fans.

UPDATE: Here is “So you’d like to …listen to Incredible Jazz Guitar“

Stunning Roger Guitar

Nicolai Foss

One of the legends of guitar manufacturing is Roger Rossmeisl, the German who designed many of the Rickenbacker guitars of the 1950s and was a major Fender engineer in the 1960s. Roger was born in Germany and received training as a guitar builder there, later working with his father, Wenzel. Here is what is apparently one of the last archtops he made before his immigration to the US. An amazing creation!

Selmer #823 (1948)

Nicolai Foss

Here it is. At the bargain price of 20.000 Euros!

Gibson Site/Blog

Nicolai Foss

Here is a very nicely done blog-format site on Vintage Gibson Guitars. It does not appear, but I am not quite sure, to be sponsored by the Gibson company. I have already learned a lot from this site/blog. For example, I had no idea that Gibson had produced an ES-100 model from 1939 to 1941 which was the precursor of the ES-125, and that production of the latter actually started as early as 1941. Highly recommended!

Online Jazz Manouche (and a Bit of Archtop Jazz)

Nicolai Foss

Michael Horowitz runs Djangobooks.com which is an amazing mix of a newscentral, books and records (and guitars and amps) store, and video archive. Oh, it also includes a “Favino Archive”, free lessons and a discussion forum. The video archive is particularly delightful with lots of extremely rare footage of not Django, Matelot Ferret, Birelli Lagrene, Fapy Lafertin et al., but also Eddie Lang and George van Eps.