Favorite jazz guitarists....that's a tough one. What specific styles do I cover? Who gets left out? Just straight ahead play or does the F-word (fusion) enter into it?
After much deliberation and hand-wringing, I've decided to cover the guitarists that have been the most important to me. By "important" I mean that they've had a big influence not only on how my interests as a jazz fan have expanded but also on what happens when I pick up my own guitar. A player's ear develops slowly over the years but the process can be boiled down to assimilation...or maybe osmosis. Listen to this stuff over time and it kinda seeps in.
So here's the list. There's no pecking order here. Like many other musical topics, I don't see this as a competition. Instead, I'll list them in 'order of discovery'...similar to Rob Fleming's (High Fidelity) biographical method. The one exception to this will be the 'top' entry.
James Blood Ulmer
Jazz is the teacher (funk is the preacher). No kiddin'. That song title just about sums up Ulmer's style. It's a nasty, funky, hardscrabble thing. Check out Tales Of Captain Black. It's a side project for Ornette Coleman & son Denardo, plus Jamaladeen Tacuma on bass. Prime Time-lite this is not. The tangled, knotty guitar lines are like nothing else out there. Add in some of Ornette's squawkin' horn and you've got a recipe for a good time (the listening area may clear out during the session but hey, at least you'll be happy).
John Scofield
Still Warm was my first Scofield record. Not his best, really...but it's the one where his distinctive sound came into its own. With the killer rhythm section of Daryl Jones (bass) and Omar Hakim (drums), Scofield's twisted solos began to sparkle and show evidence of their future: one in which the tunes, "jazz" tunes, have hooks every bit as catchy as a great pop song. Don't believe it? Listen to "Call 911" from What We Do or, better still, "I Break 4 Monster Booty" from last year's Uberjam. Not serious...but seriously fun.
Wes Montgomery
Normally, I don't give much weight to monster chops..but Montgomery knew what to do with his. His solos were soulful, melodic, and full of the blues....all the while swinging like mad. It's best to check out his early work...before the string sections show up.
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— go to most recent comments1 - Tom Johnson
Bill Frisell
Charlie Christian
Jimmy Bruno
Pat Martino
These guys make my list every time.
I've tried Sco time after time and just can't get into him. I can't put a finger on what it is I don't like about his style. Same with Metheny - but I do like his Trio work from a few years back, especially the live set released from their tour. I think what turns most people off of him is his use of midi/synth guitars. There are very few applications of that instrument that I don't find laughable sounding, and every time I hear it, I just wish these guys would put the toy down and play guitar. (Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew are two examples in the rock world who I think have become over-dependent on midi. Fripp, knock it off with the vibraphone patch!)
2 - The Theory
Let me add Bela Fleck to the mix.
...what? yes, i realize he's only banjo player... but... banjos are cooler than guitars, anyway. So ha.
3 - Phillip Winn
TT, Fleck is in my truck CD player right now. Love him!
4 - Mark Saleski
yea, their version of Hoedown is a blast!
5 - The Theory
the flecktone's bass player is incerdible, too.
6 - Phillip Winn
Victor Wooten (the bass player) has a few solo projects out, too. Darn good.
7 - Johno
Tom,
I understand about Scofield, though I like him myself.
The thing about Sco is he's always so... Sco. Love him or hate him, his touch is always identifiable. Personally, I love WHAT he plays but hate the way it sounds. Something in the way his hands touch the guitar is always rough and spiky, and even when he's playing legato it sounds like he's cramming the pick halfway down the soundhole.
I'm a huge fan of Pat Martino's too, even though he sometimes melts into sap.
Bill Frisell is the second greatest interpreter of songs I know, right behind Bill Evans.
And I'm going to toss John McLaughlin's name out there. He helped Miles Davis invent fusion, THEN played on that Jack Johnson record Miles did, THEN made "My Goal's Beyond", THEN played with Shakti. He's probably too good to be true.
He was the first non-rock guitarist I really got, also. My guitar teacher lent me the "Shakti" record and not too long after that I picked up "Bitches Brew." Before I knew it I had thrown over Jethro Tull and Winger for Skinny Puppy, Cecil Taylor, and Diamanda Galas. Thank you, John McGlaughlin!
8 - Dave
Topping my list would have to be Ralph Towner. He's also one of my favorite jazz pianists. Check out Oregon's Live at Yoshi's to hear what I'm talking about.
9 - Mark Saleski
mclaughlin's never done much for me on an emotional level except for the Shakti-oriented stuff....like Live at the Royal Albert Hall. man, the acoustic guitar with tablas is way cool.
are things like "Remeber Shakti" worth a listen? i've never heard 'em.
10 - AntFreeze
I don't listen to a lot of Jazz but the best I've ever heard is Larry Coryell. The man can flat scat.
11 - Johno
I think "Remember Shakti" is only okay, somewhere between my tenth and fifteenth favorite world/world fusion release of 1999. But my wife really loves it.
OFF TOPIC
He's not a guitarist, but Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate rips it up, and his stuff has actually been a big influence on my jazz guitar in recent years. His lines are gorgeous.
12 - Eric Olsen
Ullmer was on the blues series last night - looked freaky and played squeaky. He's cool
I love corny old Charlie Byrd, especially in his samba mode, and Jobim of course.
13 - ClubhouseCancer
How you feel about Kessel, I feel about the great Tal Farlow. His straight ahead, intricate bebop lines are to me the purest expression of the main ideas of bebop. He never really developed any post-bop ideas, but could play so fast and so sweet, with tremendous empathy. The trio stuff with Eddie Costa (much underrated pianist, BTW) is great ("Tal" and "The Swingin Guitar of"), and the early famed Mingus/Norvo/Farlow chamber stuff is also fab, but not a showcase for Tal. An interesting man, too, who semiretired very early, to live at the New Jersey Shore and be a sign painter.
He used to play a little oceanside restaurant every Sunday in the 80's for the brunch buffet in a duo with the incredible Gary Mazzaroppi. Trust me, not 5 percent of the room had any idea they were in the presence of an important musician, my own brunch companions as clueless as the rest of the sunburned, hungover vacationers.
Tal would be wailing away on "Yesterdays" or "What is This Thing Called Love" all over the fretboard at like a 155 MPH tempo, and my Aunt Vicki would comment "These eggs are dryer than last time," to which my grandmother would agree and motion to the waitress for more coffee. And if her sciatica was acting up...
I also love James Blood and respectfully add that "Odyssey" is his most famous and popular album, and it is terrific and a good place to start. Harmolodic Guitar with Strings is harder to get into but also very rewarding.
In peanut butter terms, Blood is chunky, Tal is smooth.
14 - Tom Johnson
I saw a show on Tal Farlow on BET Jazz earlier this year. Never heard him before, only knew him by reputation, but I was really blown away by his playing. I keep meaning to find stuff of his, but as with anything I don't write down, it slips my mind . . .
As for McLaughlin not connecting emotionally, I liken him quite a bit to Robert Fripp, who finds new, intriguing ways to play outside of what we listeners expect to hear every time he touches his guitar. I actually do find emotion in such clean, sharp, excruciatingly perfectly rendered playing, but it's taken a lot of listening to really appreciate what these guys do. Once I got standard "blues" based guitar styling out of my head, it suddenly became very clear how emotional what these guys play is.
15 - andy
Actually The Theory, Bela's been known to pick up a guitar now and then. He kicks a lot of ass on the guitar as well!
16 - Eric Olsen
I love Metheny's quiet, ambient stuff - the "Map of the World" (title?) soundtrack from a few years ago is just brilliant. I love lots of quiet little noodling in a corner like no one's around, but that always stays interesting without imposing itself down your gullet or p your vas deferens. It's really hard to do tht and remain interesting.
17 - Mark Saleski
i do love the Map Of The World soundtrack...i also read an interview with Metheny from around that time...where he was saying what a great book it was...so i rented the movie....dang, talk about depressing!
18 - David
My favorite Sco recordings are ScoLoHoFo and Joe Henderson's So Near So Far. They both have the same band, except with different tenor players, are utterly inspired GROUP performances, and SWING. Sometimes I don't like Sco's tone, and the blues licks can sound bogus on a bad day, but his lines are always the best.
I think people who think they don't like Metheny simply haven't heard his best stuff i.e. other than the Metheny Group (which took me some time to appreciate. His first album Bright Size Life is a good place to start because he keeps the echo under control and because it's, again, a great group performance (even if his soloing was not nearly as developed as it is now). All the trios are good, and I especially love the quartet album 80/81.
I listened to some samples of Ulmer's early recordings with organist Big John Patton and was surprised by his good Montgomery-style playing. No monster chops, but still quite good - swinging and melodic. I also quite like the two Arthur Blythe records he plays on.
19 - David
Oh yeah, and I also love the beautify Abbey Lincold record Turtle's dream, which Pat plays on, and the record that he and JH did together, and, and, and...
20 - Gypsy Roaddog
Steve Khan,Pat Martino,John Abercrombie, Mike Stern and of course Tommy Bolin's stuff with Billy Cobham. John Goodsall of Brand X was good and what about Allan Holdsworth. Check out some of his stuff with Gong and Bill Bruford.
Just a few extra names for the mix.
21 - SeamusLeary
Although, a great deal of his recorded work is crap (mostly because he was too messed up most of the time to get into the studio, what do you all think of Lenny Breau's work? Especially the "velvet touch of Lenny Breau" and "Live at Bourbon Street"? He sounds a bit like chet atkins, a bit like tal farlow, and a bit like ted greene, but he's dirtier than all of them (purposefully, listen to his early flamenco albums) and he plays like bill evans doing quartal harmony while soloing and sometimes walking bass.
22 - Douglas Mays
OK, one jazz guitarist that deserves some notice is SCOTT HENDERSON. The guy has chops like a maniac and can play all styles of music with accuracy. And best of all, he has a hell of a sense of humor.
Oh man, this guy is amazing. Hard core jazz and he throws in rock, blues, etc. stylings along with that occasional sense of laugh makes for a great listening.
Check the guy out, you'll see what I mean.
peaceloveguidance
23 - Mark Saleski
Lenny Breau was great. i have a couple of those 'living room' recordings. tremendous player. i loved those crazy artificial harmonic runs he would do.
24 - Brady
Hey Mark, had I seen this list before the other list that was more rock oriented, I wouldn't have argued with your "omissions." Wes is here and so is
Django along with Scofield and other greats. No Charlie Christian though? Hey Mark Ribot could almost fit in here too. Good list.
25 - Mark Saleski
Ribot's a tricky one. i love his playing as it's all over the map and more than a little tough to pigeonhole.
if i remade this list i'd probably drop Scofield for Ribot.