Wes Montgomery <8

[Det_Nosnip]

My roommate is a jazz guitarist and is really into Wes...I checked out some of his stuff and quickly realized why. It's mostly the *** kicking part, but the "being really awesome" factor didn't hurt. If you haven't heard of him and are a jazz fan, you should check him out. If you haven't heard of him and you are a jazz guitarist, you should check him out and sacrifice your first born child in his name.

It seems like the number of guitarists who play/ed straight ahead as lead is really small...most of the jazz guitarists I've heard just play fusion. It's nice to hear a guitarist swing.

[Livin n a Cage in the USA]

Any places online where one can hear him swing?

[Rams]

Any places online where one can hear him swing?

Youtube.

I can upload some of his work later if you'd like.


It seems like the number of guitarists who play/ed straight ahead as lead is really small...most of the jazz guitarists I've heard just play fusion. It's nice to hear a guitarist swing.

There's hundreds of great (non-fusion) jazz guitarist. Most of them just predate the wankery of Mclaughlin and the like.

[Det_Nosnip]

True, but many of them also played more supportive roles e.g. the guy that played with Basie, etc.

[Joseph India]

Listen to Django Reinhardt. he's no sideman!

Wes is cool. It's too bad he did some cheesy stuff, but his serious work definitely makes up for it.
Incredible Jazz Guitar is a great album for starting out listening to him.

also
I think it's his birthday today (the 6th). So that's pretty weird that you made this thread if you didn't know that.

[Det_Nosnip]

Nope, I had no idea.

[Rams]

True, but many of them also played more supportive roles e.g. the guy that played with Basie, etc.

Freddie Green was amazing, but there were plenty of lead guitarists. Just to name a few:

Eddie Lang
Django Reinhardt
Johnny Smith
Tal Farlow
Jim Hall
Grant Green
Jimmy Raney
Kenny Burrell
Lenny Breau
Herb Ellis
Joe Pass

[sportsfan4427]

Wes really is amazing i started listening to him a while ago after my dad told me about him

[joeljjison]

I sometimes feel that there is a bit of a hole though in guitar playing sort of opening up in bop times, when jazz guitar seemed to go slightly metal on the lets play really fast and clever bop things front...

if rams, or someone else could reccomend some albums from that list by the way, it would be nice.

I'd like to contribute a link- a v good version of sunny, with pat martino, scofield, and joey de francesco. (i dont know who the drummer is).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p2RRUVAD9Mc

[Rams]

Bolded are the guitarists. Italicized are the albums, preceded by album artist. Followed by a brief description.


Eddie Lang (Eddie Lang - Jazz Guitar Virtuoso. The first jazz guitar virtuoso. Plays in a big band/sing type format. Influenced a lot by Lonnie Johnson)
Django Reinhardt (Any compilation, haven't found a great one, sorry. The originator of the gypsy jazz swing. An absolute legend, not sure how to accurately describe him.)
Johnny Smith (Johnny Smith - Moonlight In Vermont. The king of cool jazz guitar. Very mellow, amazing tone, but still has chops unlimited.)
Tal Farlow (Tal Farlow - Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow. Finger picked guitar in a bop/cool format. Couldn't read music, so has a very unique approach.)
Jim Hall (Jim Hall - Concierto. My favorite guitarist. Super tone with a classical approach. Is basically Bill Evans on guitar.)
Grant Green (Grant Green - The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark. Played his guitar like a single note instrument with tremendous soul. Played like a blues guitarist with jazz guitarist ideas.)
Jimmy Raney (Jimmey Raney - A. Sweet cool jazz guitarist with tremendous tone. Plays more about silence and space than speed and sweeps.)
Kenny Burrell (Jimmy Smith - The Sermon!. Comfortable in both soul and bop outings with good swing and timing. Good soloer but better accompaniment.)
Lenny Breau (Lenny Breau - The Velvet Touch Of Lenny Breau Live!. Way too much technique to play as nice as he does. Polyrhythms and superior finger picking don't usually go hand in hand with cool jazz, but he pulls it off excellently.)
Herb Ellis (Oscar Peterson - At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival. A hard bop guitarist that plays with an up-tempo rock feel.)
Joe Pass (Joe Pass - For Django. The epitome of hard-bop guitarists. Could play as fast as he wanted but always sounded in control and fitting of jazz. Excellent phrasing.)


I can upload any of these except for Django (don't have my Django discs here). Just ask.

[jazzfromhell]

This is what I have and heartily reccomend for Django:

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Early-Recordings-Chronological-Order/dp/B00004S5WA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7303887-8519662?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173237327&sr=1-1

At 5 discs, some might argue that it's overdoing it for a beginner, but when it really boils down, who wants to argue with 5 discs of prime Django for $25?

P.S. Rams, are you not a Charlie Christian fan? If nothing else, he's one of the most influential guitarists of all time.

[superjoe 2.0]

Bolded are the guitarists. Italicized are the albums, preceded by album artist. Followed by a brief description.


Eddie Lang (Eddie Lang - Jazz Guitar Virtuoso. The first jazz guitar virtuoso. Plays in a big band/sing type format. Influenced a lot by Lonnie Johnson)
Django Reinhardt (Any compilation, haven't found a great one, sorry. The originator of the gypsy jazz swing. An absolute legend, not sure how to accurately describe him.)
Johnny Smith (Johnny Smith - Moonlight In Vermont. The king of cool jazz guitar. Very mellow, amazing tone, but still has chops unlimited.)
Tal Farlow (Tal Farlow - Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow. Finger picked guitar in a bop/cool format. Couldn't read music, so has a very unique approach.)
Jim Hall (Jim Hall - Concierto. My favorite guitarist. Super tone with a classical approach. Is basically Bill Evans on guitar.)
Grant Green (Grant Green - The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark. Played his guitar like a single note instrument with tremendous soul. Played like a blues guitarist with jazz guitarist ideas.)
Jimmy Raney (Jimmey Raney - A. Sweet cool jazz guitarist with tremendous tone. Plays more about silence and space than speed and sweeps.)
Kenny Burrell (Jimmy Smith - The Sermon!. Comfortable in both soul and bop outings with good swing and timing. Good soloer but better accompaniment.)
Lenny Breau (Lenny Breau - The Velvet Touch Of Lenny Breau Live!. Way too much technique to play as nice as he does. Polyrhythms and superior finger picking don't usually go hand in hand with cool jazz, but he pulls it off excellently.)
Herb Ellis (Oscar Peterson - At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival. A hard bop guitarist that plays with an up-tempo rock feel.)
Joe Pass (Joe Pass - For Django. The epitome of hard-bop guitarists. Could play as fast as he wanted but always sounded in control and fitting of jazz. Excellent phrasing.)


I can upload any of these except for Django (don't have my Django discs here). Just ask.

This sounds interesting, upload that?

[Rams]

Joe Pass - For Django
megaupload.com/?d=00WMTZEL


P.S. Rams, are you not a Charlie Christian fan? If nothing else, he's one of the most influential guitarists of all time.

I like him. I just don't feel like he is in the forefront enough to be mentioned here though. I prefer Freddie Green more.

[superjoe 2.0]

Thanks Rams.

[Det_Nosnip]

Yep, thanks! :)

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

jim hall is hardly bill evans on guitar. He doesn't have anything like the fluency and technical mastery.

[Rams]

Speak English.

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

what?

[Rams]

If you're going to criticize what I said, at least make it coherent enough for me to call you a dumbass.

[joeljjison]

Hey, Bill Evans is an absolute harmonic genius.. jim hall seems to have a similar approach to his harmonization... differing apart from in any other ways because of the way the instrument is built... but music isn't a competition- its just a comparison! Ps - Don't diss the ram criticizer for his grammar, because then you'll make me feel like a prat, because im rubbish at being coherent!

Thank you for the reccomendations, and the upload rams

What actually is hard bop? :smoke: (because thats what us jazzers do)

[Det_Nosnip]

Hard bop is kinda hard to describe. Lennie Tristano, Art Blakey, etc...these are guys who played in the style. It tended to be slower than bop and more swung, and drummers took on a stronger role.

[jazzfromhell]

Hard Bop is like cool/west coast jazz but louder and sometimes faster (not nearly as fast as standard bebop, usually). The key factor is adding in a lot more blues, soul, and R&B vibes into the mix. Lots of blues styled melodies, chord progressions, and soloing.

Off the top of my head, guys like these (sticking to people well-known as leaders):
Art Blakey
Jimmy Smith
Wes Montgomery
Lee Morgan
Cannonball Adderley
Horace Silver


The Blue Note record label produced a ton of classic hard bop albums.