Definitive is a dangerous term when it comes to music collections or compilations. That's because the term is just so — well-- definitive. That said, if Progressions: 100 Years of Jazz Guitar isn't a definitive collection of the history of jazz guitar to date, it comes awfully damn close.
Recently released on the Legacy Recordings label, Progressions is a four-CD box set containing more than five hours of music recorded from 1906 to 2001. It contains 75 tracks collected from over three dozen record labels that explore the full range of the jazz idiom, from basic ragtime to swing to bossa nova to jazz-rock/fusion to the variations of bop and free jazz. Yet breadth alone is not the measure of definitiveness. In fact, broad scope alone serves no purpose unless it is accompanied by selectivity. That's where Progressions stands out.
The compilers — who include guitarist John Scofield — did not approach their task with blinders on. They recognize that jazz guitar and its influences are not pegs you can put in narrowly defined holes. You will find the giants here, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery just to name three. But you'll also find artists that might shock some jazz snobs. Thus, Progressions not only gives you electric guitarist Leon McAuliffe and steel guitarist Eldon Shamblin of Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, it includes Carlos Santana and even Jimi Hendrix.
These are just a couple of the unexpected selections and approaches that help make this set so unique. Each is fully justifiable. Put simply, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys played country or western swing. You know, swing, as in swing music, a traditional jazz sound. While Carlos Santana is best known for his Latin-influenced rock, he's got more than a couple albums that fit comfortably in the jazz idiom. And while many might scoff at the concept of Hendrix appearing in a jazz guitar collection, the focus of the set is the evolution and growth of jazz guitar. Hendrix was revolutionizing the electric guitar in the years following the development of free jazz. And even if Hendrix's solos and playing weren't impacted by that movement, no one can contest the influence Hendrix had on the electric guitarists to come, including many who now stand at the forefront of modern jazz guitar.
Yet the history is here also. The set opens with a 1906 recording of banjoist Vess Ossman, beautifully demonstrating that ragtime music stretched beyond the piano. That first CD basically covers the period from then through World War II. It includes a 1934 recording of Sam Koki, a Hawaiian guitarist, purported to be the first amplified jazz guitar solo on record. Similarly, it has a 1938 recording by Eddie Durham, reported to have been one of the first jazz guitarists to use an electric pick-up. And, as noted, there are innovative approaches. Several tracks demonstrate the influence of Hawaiian-style guitar on jazz guitar. The role of jazz in country swing is shown with the Texas Playboys. And, of course, this timeframe also includes Django and Christian, guitarists whose names still routinely appear as among the most influential and important jazz performers.
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