Kessel DVD

Nicolai Foss

Yesterday I received my copy of Barney Kessel: Rare Performances 1962-1991. Barney plays fabuluously good in the dozen songs or so on this DVD (including trio and solo performances and three tracks with The Great Guitars). I highly recommend this DVD, not just because of Barney’s generally excellent playing but also because of the fine booklet that comes with it.

On most of the tracks Barney is playing his modified ES-350, but there are three tracks from the end of the 1970s where he is playing an Ibanez lawsuit model, and it seems clear — to me at least — that there is a notable difference in the playing and the sound, Barney appearing to be less comfortable with the Ibanez.

My favorites are the early tracks, particularly “One Mint Julep” from 1962 which just rocks! In this connection, it is interesting to see how Barney’s style evolved, not necessarily (or always) to the better. While he certainly became more daring in his playing, it is also seems that he had difficulties cleanly executing the daring things he wanted to play. Barney may have been the one of the truly great jazz guitarist with the least developed single-string technique (and paradoxically one of those with the best technique for playing chords). The change in his playing seems to me to have taken place at the end of the 1960s, the Feeling Free CD marking a clear change.

Kessel and Pass

Nicolai Foss

Herb Ellis played a lot with Joe Pass in the beginning of the 1970s and a little later with Barney Kessel in The Great Guitars. But did Barney Kessel and Joe Pass ever play together? As far as I know there is nothing recorded with a joint effort. Why not? Two too big egoes?

Charlie Christian Themes on Youtube

Nicolai Foss

Seven Come Eleven: Here.

Six Appeal: Here – with the same guys. My favorite Goodman sextet tune.

Air Mail Special: This is with Goodman himself, and a very young Chris Flory on guitar (possibly playing the Gibson L7 that he usually plays, and although the pickup sounds like a dearmond FHC , it doesn’t look like one …).

Breakfast Feud: Here.

Nobody so far has had the guts to try “Solo Flight.”

T-Bone Walker (and Dizzy)

Nicolai Foss

In addition to jazz on archtops, I also dig blues on archtops. A particular favorite is T-Bone Walker, who was strongly influenced by Charlie Christian (they busked together). Many of T-Bone’s solos are very jazzy and very delightful. (This is great if you want to get into the T-Bone style, and this is some of T-Bone’s most jazzy playing).

Here is a fun clip from the place where all good music seems to be concentrating, YouTube, with T-Bone playing his Gibson ES-5 and Dizzy humming the blues assisted by the mouthpiece of his trumpet. Is that Teddy Wilson playing the piano?

Barney Kessel Bio

Nicolai Foss

Here is what I think is easily the most detailed account of Barney’s life (written as an introduction to this DVD). Lots of interesting detail, such as how Warner Bros. handled the problem of how to present, in 1944, pictures with Kessel among black musicians from the Jammin’ the Blues documentary: “… the company had Kessel playing in the shadows, head down, and ‘blacked up’: ‘They stained my hands with berry juice,’ he recalls”.

UPDATE: Here is the Jammin’ the Blues clip. Barney is just about the only one of the musicians who does not appear en face. Hard to see if his hands are indeed stained, though.

Four Youngsters and Sweet Georgia Brown

Nicolai Foss

Michele Ramo, Bucky Pizzarelli, Al Caiola and Jerry Bruno. Sweet chordal playing from Bucky and excellent single-string stuff from Caiola! Check it out.

Johnny Smith Remembers

Nicolai Foss

Here is an excellent feature on jazz guitar great Johnny Smith from csindy.com Among many other things, it recounts the extreme workaholism of Smith during his New York days:

In addition to playing in as many as 35 radio (and later television) shows a week for NBC — including Highways in Melody, The Arthur Godfrey Ford Road Show, Star Time with Benny Goodman and Frances Langsford, The Patrice Munsel Show, The Dave Garroway Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and NBC Fireside Theater — Smith played engagements with the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos, with the Philadelphia Symphony under Ormandy and with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini, and did increasing numbers of gigs on the side in Manhattan’s world-class nightclubs.

Apropos Toscanini, Smith remembers the peculiar Toscanini approach to orchestra management in the following way:

Toscanini was a genius, but he was a tyrant with a nasty temper,” Smith recalls. “He’d fly into towering rages. One time in rehearsal he jerked his beautiful gold watch from out of his vest pocket and slammed it down on the podium, sending parts spraying all over the stage. I walked on eggshells playing under his direction. I was very, very careful not to set him off

Charlie Christian Bio on YouTube

Nicolai Foss

Here is a brief bio of Charlie.

HT to Garry at the Charlie Christian Yahoo group.

Tiny Grimes

| Nicolai Foss |

I have been listening quite a bit to Tiny Grimes lately, particularly Callin’ the Blues and Tiny Grimes, 1944-1949. Grimes seems to be a rather under-rated player. He may be best known as one of the inventors of rock’n'roll (the rock’n'roll element is very much present on Callin’ the Blues) — which may be sufficient ground for many jazz buffs to disregard or even dismiss him.

Grimes performed on an electric tenor archtop with a bouncing robust style that owed more to Charlie Christian than to anyone else. He was, however, perhaps even more rhytmically direct than Christian and his tone was more distorted. His playing is the link between Christian and more contemporary players like Billy Butler, and, perhaps, Chris Flory and Duke Robillard. If you don’t know Tiny’s work, I strongly recommend the above two CDs (the latter also contains the classic four cuts with Charlie Parker).

UPDATE: Here is the only YouTube clip with Tiny.

We Want More Mary

Nicolai Foss

Among the very first converts to the Charlie Christian style was Mary Osborne (1921-1992). Osborne was, judging from the very little of her work that exists on CD, a very, very strong player. She swung hard with a robust style, somewhat akin to the style of another early convert to the CC style, Tiny Grimes, but perhaps with a more boppish orientation. Osborne played with Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Mary Lou Williams and other luminaries. Add to this that she sang very well (e.g., check her two pieces on Guitar Rarities, Vol. 2).

So why is so little of the output of this fine artist available in the CD format (perhaps about 4-5 tracks, including a few great tracks with Coleman Hawkins)? True — she didn’t put out that much, but why isn’t for example A Girl and Her Guitar available?