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.”

Somebody … Buy This Underrated Guitar

Nicolai Foss

I have noticed that this Aria D’Aquisto Centura has been offered for sale for a very long time. At the price quoted by archtop.com, 1495 USD, this is excellent value! I am the owner of an Aria D’Aquisto Avantgarde, and this is the best guitar I have owned and one of the 3 – 4 best guitars I have ever tried. I have tried a Centura once and it had almost exactly the same excellent tonal characteristics as my Avantgarde (i.e., loud, very well balanced, deep bass). If it weren’t for the fact that domestic problems would arise in the case of another addition to the guitar stock, I would happily buy the Centura. Somebody, buy it. You won’t be disappointed.

UPDATE (August 12): The guitar has now been sold. Somebody may have followed my advice. Good luck with this wonderful guitar.

Wes With Johnny Griffin

Nicolai Foss

Where would this blog be without YouTube? Here is a fantastic clip with Wes Montgomery playing with a middle-sized band that includes Johnny Griffin and a number of illustrious Europeans, such as Martial Solal, apparently in Hamburg in 1965 (details here). There seems to be three clips from this event. Wes plays fantastically, as always. First time I hear this breathtaking music.

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?