Value of anything is a most fascinating subject to me.
Eric Clapton hasn't owned this Rolex Daytona for nearly 20 years. It 's probably been in storage since he dumped it and is expected to fetch north of $1.6M?
For that much I'd want his playing ability AND his stereo system.
I returned home from my drive into Portland yesterday with a couple of LP’s containing music made by some of the names mentioned above:
- Robben Ford: The Inside Story (Elektra Records), produced by Steve Cropper. Near Mint condition, $4. On the front cover Robben is shown holding an ES335.
- Mary Kay Place: Tonight! At The Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers (Columbia Records), produced by Brian Ahern (Emmylou Harris’ producer of course). Also in near Mint condition, $5. Loretta Haggers was the character Mary Kay played on the great early/mid-70’s late night sitcom parody show, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman (in which also appeared Martin Mull, whose own albums are worth hearing. Much funnier than Zappa, and musically more to my taste).
On this album MKP is provided instrumental and vocal accompaniment from the following, all names familiar to most participants in this thread: Glen D. Hardin, Albert Lee, Hank Devito, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Emory Gordy, John Ware, Byron Berline, Herb Pedersen, Mickey Raphael, Skip Conover, Dolly Parton, and Anne Murray. Wow!
I vaguely remember this album, but have never heard it. I was recently reminded of it in a Vinyl Finds review posted by one of my favorite YouTube Vinyl Community members who uses the handle "Another Fat Bearded Man Talking About Records" ;-) . His name is Hedley (how British is that? ;-), and is located in the UK. Great guy, great taste in music. Check him out!
@jpwarren58: Tony Rice was Art Dudley’s favorite acoustic guitarist. I’ve been finding some of Tony’s Rounder Records LP’s lately in local shops, including his s/t debut on the label (cat. no. 0085), The Tony Rice Unit (0150), the Unit’s Backwaters album (0167), and an album with his brothers (0256). Playing upright bass on all but the last is Todd Phillips, who in 1971 was playing a Fender P Bass in the same band as I around the San Jose area.
Todd was a member of Psychograss, and has a number of his own albums. I heard his 18th Century German upright bass up close ten years ago, when we played together for an afternoon. I now know what it should sound like when reproduced by a hi-fi system ;-) . Todd left the band to concentrate on studying mandolin with David Grisman up in Marin County. David told him there were plenty of good mandolin players, but a dearth of upright bassists, and advised him to get one. Todd took David’s advice, and ended up playing bass in David’s band! Last I heard he was on the road with Joan Baez, whom I am just now belatedly getting into. Her version of Dylan’s "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Low Lands" brings me to tears.
Well it's better to discover him late rather than never!
If your taste's can be inferred by the players you've listed, you might enjoy "We'll Be Together Again" (very melodic and mellow duo with keyboardist Gil Goldstein) or "Remember-- A tribute to Wes Montgomery".
Scofield has recorded in a wide variety of settings, so if you like Jazz guitar, I wouldn't give up on him until you've sampled a cross-section of his work. Needless to say, Spotify is your friend, in this regard.
@stuartk - I didn't know about him until he recently passed away and they were playing his music on Sirius. I thought I knew the great jazz guitarists - Wes Montgomery and his disciples (Earl Klugh, George Benson), & Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour. Not a big fan of John Scofield, but I know he is popular.
I discovered immediately listening his music he was a genius but listening the interview (which duration is around 1h37 m. not the 3 hours indicated) with him let no DOUBTS about his experience, musical or spiritual and intelligence and humility which is mind blowing....
It is one of the best musician interview i ever listen to because of his deep understanding of music...
Pat Martino (RIP) was a great under the radar guitarist and from South Philly! . Was a child prodigy and had to reteach himself after a stroke. When George Benson heard him play in NYC he said he had to leave town because he was much better than him. I wish he had more vinyl available in new releases beyond El Hombre (a great album). Other used title go for stratospheric prices.
Maybe he will be like most other great jazz musicians - under appreciated until they pass on and then all of the other great stuff will be reissued on vinyl.
I love him very much....His playing improvisation are extraordinary and all musicians around him play more for him than with him....This says a lot about genius....
mahgister-
You’re probably know Pat Martino had an incredible comeback story after losing his memory/playing ability. He overcame major challenges.
"This is what happens when people read the Robb Report."
Ha. Or Connoisseur Magazine. The Bling Report. Our objective is to find the most expensive, extravagant example of certain "lifestyle" product categories, regardless of the actual merit of the product to perform its intended function. It's really expensive and chances are, you'll be the only one in a ___ radius to own one.
I've never heard of D. Clinton Thompson but am familiar with Foster and Lloyd.
How very cool that you got to see Lucinda so early in her career.
I have the DVD of her first ACL performance with that band and it serves as an excellent informal tutorial for guitarists on how to tastefully back up a singer.
Forbert-- what a talent. Are you familiar with his "Young Guitar Days" cd?
It's a terrific collection of early previously unreleased material and well worth having.
@stuartk: Yep, love Gurf Morlix. I saw Lucinda and her original L.A. band (including not just Gurf, but also drummer Donald Lindley and bassist John Ciambotti, a great trio) play around town after her Rough Trade album came out in 1988, once at a pizza parlour to an audience of about a half-dozen! I met Lucinda at Club Lingerie, introduced to me by the manager of her then-husband’s band The Long Ryders (he was their drummer), whom I knew. She was very sweet, shy. I later saw her behind the counter at local indi record store Moby Disc (in Sherman Oaks, where I lived), staring off into space in between ringing up sales on the register. Writing lyrics, no doubt. ;-)
A lesser known Tele player is well known in the Midwest---D. Clinton Thompson, of the great Springfield Missouri band The Skeletons (aka The Morells). Big fans of the band include Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. Thompson was also at times a member of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and played guitar in Steve Forbert’s road band. Great player. The Skeletons’ drummer was Bobby Lloyd Hicks, later in Dave Alvin’s band The Guilty Men. A fine drummer who unfortunately was, like Levon Helm, a 2-pack-a-day man, and died of Cancer a few years back.
In the late-80’s Foster & Lloyd put out two really good albums, and when I saw them at The Roxy Theater on Sunset they had a really good Tele player in their band. I don’t know who it was, but I’d love to find out.
Speaking of the Northwest: A coupla years ago I recorded one track in the same Portland studio in which Bill Frisell has done a lot of his albums, a studio better than almost all the ones I have been in in L.A. I brought my own snare drum and cymbals to the session, but the owner/engineer had a set of DW’s that were very well tuned, and some nice Zildjians; all sounded great on tape. He knew the secret to getting a great ride cymbal sound (the very percussive "click" you hear on great Jazz recordings): lots of compression on the overhead mics!
@bdp24 and @stuartkI enjoyed Chinaberry Sidewalks too. I'm hoping for a second volume that goes into his moving to Nashville, meeting Guy and Susanna Clark, working with Emmylou, marrying Rosanne and his work from The Houston Kid on. That's got to be a great story.
"Tiger Walk" is fairly unique in Ford's output. Although I enjoy the the material very much, I can't listen to it because of the production values. IMO, the rhythm section is so soul-less and robotic, they needn't have used real musicians. There is a live in Paris DVD I like much better that features some of the same tunes.
I read and enjoyed "Chinaberry Sidewalks" very much.
You mention the Millers. Let's not forget Gurf Morlix, who made stellar contributions to Lucinda Williams' early albums . . another Tele player!
I'm wondering how you made the adjustment from CA to the Pacific Northwest. We lived in Eugene for 6 years and never were able to get used to the gloom. This followed 10 years in Maine in which the weather was rarely an issue. At least those New England winters include plenty of sunny days.
@tomcy6: Rodney’s The Houston Kid is as good an album as I have ever heard, in my Top 10 of all time. He wrote an accompanying book, Chinaberry Sidewalks, which is well worth reading. He served as Emmylou’s band leader/harmony singer for a while, a role now played by another fave of mine, Buddy Miller.
Buddy is a great guitarist, singer, producer, and picker of material. Buddy’s wife and musical collaborator Julie is just wonderful, an Angel sent from Heaven. Buddy and Julie have done a couple of albums together, and he has of course also produced her solo work. I also have the albums she did when she was a Contemporary Christian artist (one album produced by Buddy), the world she and Buddy came to the secure world from.
I really need to see Emmylou and Buddy live together, but though they have appeared at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco (my old friends who still live in San Jose/Cupertino attend those shows), they don’t come up to the Northwest, where I now reside.
@bdp24 IMO, one example of a player who is capable of doing all the showy “whootly-whootly” wankery but chooses to instead be only in service of the song is Lindsey Buckingham.
"As talented as he is, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about his playing. I take very seriously the notion of the musician’s priorities as being in service to first the song, second the singer, third the ensemble, and lastly his instrument. I’m not sure Brad sees things that way."
bdp24-
IMO Brad is more of an "entertainer" that happens to play guitar.
"I saw Robben on the Tiger Walk tour and enjoyed that material very much. "
stuartk- I bought the CD when it was released. Still play it now and then. While I do like the album, wasn’t compelled to listen to his other work.
I never saw James Burton on TV-- my first astonishing exposure was on the song "For No One" on Emmy Lou Harris' "Pieces of the Sky" album. At that point, I had absolutely no idea that a "Country" player could play in such a "jazzy" manner, my only point of reference for Country playing being Roy Buchanan. I can see your point about Paisley, BTW.
Steve Cropper is one of those players who doesn't play a lot of notes. . . and doesn't need to, as everything he plays just sounds right. Cornell Dupree is one of the great R&B tele players I was trying to think of, while we're on this genre.
Robben Ford. . . everyone talks about his chops. What about his ears? ? ?
Taking over from Larry Carlton with J. Mitchell. . . how many could step into those shoes? I'm hoping the next J. Mitchell box set will include unreleased live performances from the "Miles of Aisles" tour she did with Robben and the LA Express.
I saw Robben on the Tiger Walk tour and enjoyed that material very much. I saw him later at at casino in the Tahoe area and the constant screaming by a highly inebriated crowd ruined that show for me. I left as three cops were attempting to wrestle some guy to the ground who was freaking out on who-knows-what substance. Bad scene. Can't imagine trying to play to that sort of audience!
And those who've been summoned by Miles belong to a very elite club. . . Shorter, Carter, Holland, Corea, McLaughlin, Jarrett, DeJohnette, Coleman, Hancock, Scofield, Williams, Garrett, Bartz, etc.
@stuartk: For me, the Telecaster starts with James Burton. He made a huge impression on the very young me, smiling as he stood behind Ricky Nelson on The Ozzie & Harriet TV show. His solo on Ricky's "Young World" is a favorite of mine, and George Harrison's solo on "Nowhere Man" sounds like it was modeled on the YW solo.
Steve Cropper was the second Tele player for me, his playing on "Green Onions" as good as it gets (good songwriter, too). I had that song as the ring tone on my cell phone for years. It always got a great reception from those who heard it playing on my phone in public. ;-)
As for Brad Paisley: As talented as he is, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about his playing. I take very seriously the notion of the musician's priorities as being in service to first the song, second the singer, third the ensemble, and lastly his instrument. I'm not sure Brad sees things that way.
It's interesting how the guitar a guy has in his hands affects his playing. For years Dave Edmunds was an ES335 player (he has two dot-neck 58's!), and when he switched to a Tele it just wasn't the same. I witnessed that with Bill Pitcock IV (Dwight Twilley's guitarist) too.
I lived in San Jose when Robben Ford moved south (from very northern California) with his brothers, stopping in town for a coupla years and playing around the Bay Area. The bassist in my senior year High School band joined The Charles Ford Band (named after the boys father) for a while, so I saw Robben live a lot. All the San Jose guitarists had to re-evaluate their playing after seeing Robben live ;-) . He worked with Charlie Musslehite for a while, playing a 335 back then. Next thing I knew he had moved to L.A. and was playing with Joni Mitchell, then Miles Davis. All it takes is talent.
Trying to explain watches to the non-enthusiast is similar to trying to explain high end audio to the non-enthusiasts. Thanks for the thead as I haven't put on a watch in a while. Knew which one to choose... the Seadweller put a smile on face, very satisfying.
@stuartkIndeed, which is why I said, “the average session player on these tracks could play circles around just about anybody,” and then qualified Brad Paisley as a “recording artist,” as he is as good as the session players.
"1 - Eric Clapton is a great blues guitarist. He was on top a very long time for good reason
2 - Eric Clapton is also aging gracelessly and saying dumbass stuff about vaccines in particular. If you go back and look for it, he always said dumbass stuff, including racist and anti-Semitic stuff. Not entirely unprecedented for a mid-to-lower class Brit of his vintage, but still"
All true. Each listener must make up their own mind regarding how to regard these contradictions. Just because someone can wield a brush, pen, marble chisel or guitar pick doesn't mean they are also of the highest moral caliber. And let's recognize that as fans, we are complicit in placing our favorite artists on pedestals, whether or not they belong there. (Same applies to sports).
Perhaps one useful perspective is one expressed by Dylan, N. Young and Keith Richard-- that the artist is not so much a creator as a conduit.
Glen Campbell’s massive overall talent often overshadows the fact that , if he wants to, he can play as well as anybody.
Jerry Reed holds his own on a YouTube vid with Chet Atkins, which is a remarkable feat.
I abhor modern “country” music, but the average session player on these tracks could play circles around just about anybody. Brad Paisley is a recording artist in this milieu who is an unbelievably great guitar player.
1 - Eric Clapton is a great blues guitarist. He was on top a very long time for good reason
2 - Eric Clapton is also aging gracelessly and saying dumbass stuff about vaccines in particular. If you go back and look for it, he always said dumbass stuff, including racist and antisemetic stuff. Not entirely unprecedented for a mid-to-lower class Brit of his vintage, but still
3 - I have a longtime fascination with wristwatches. Collect American watches from the '30s-'80s for decades, still have ~175 or so. Later on got deep into larger/more expensive Swiss watches, though I'm not rich enough to totally plunge there. Timepieces are fascinating little machines that combine aesthetics and detailed engineering. I've pretty much stopped with watches, but every now and then that beast wants to get out again. I'm particularly drawn to the largest & most expensive vintage Panerai watches.
I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments about "show offs", which is a syndrome that appears to affect mostly Rock players.
There are Black Soul/R&B Tele players we are surely failing to list, here. The Tele was a favorite (preferably with dead strings) in these genres. Someone out there must be knowledgeable in this arena.
Of course, we've not mentioned Steve Cropper, James Burton, Roy Nichols and Roy Buchanan.
And, Robben Ford has performed and recorded for many years with a Tele.
Moving to Jazz, let's not omit the masterful Ted Greene. Back in the mid 70'S, I was very frustrated, trying to play S. Wonder tunes from "songbooks". The guitar chord diagrams rarely sounded right, so out of desperation, I began laboriously transposing the piano voicings to guitar. Around the same time, I bought a copy of Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry", which, among other things, helped me understand why the piano voicings sounded better. I started learning chord formulas and how to build chords from scales. He was a monster chord melody player as well as a fine teacher.
FYI, Jesse Ed Davis' solo albums were, at one time, reissued on CD.
Yes to Danny Gatton. I play an early 90's Antholgy 2 CD now and then. Storied player.
The 50's country, R/R and fringe Tele players up to the Beck/Page era are the ones who really made the Tele otherworldly. Big respect to all the Telecaster players.
The Telecaster is the Timex of Electric Guitars? I made a note to follow up on the Clapton Daytona, which goes to bid in May.
Really curious if bidding reaches anticipated value. That is a comfortable retirement IRA amount!
@stuatk: The Hellecasters! I have their Escape From Hollywood album (the CD booklet includes this line: "Dedicated to the memory of Danny Gatton 1945-1994"), and saw them live in the 90's. Three masters of the Telecaster, on stage together. Jorgensen was also a member of a favorite group on mine, The Desert Rose Band (with Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, themselves mighty fine musicians, singers, and songwriters).
I've been a fan of Bill Kirchen since hearing him on Commander Cody's debut album. Saw them live at Winterland (or was it The Fillmore?), a great band. The West Virginia Creeper was on pedal steel that night, though he ended up getting booted out of the band (I played a gig with him in the mid-70's. He had a drinking problem).
David Lindley's first few albums are amazing, and live he is even better. Surprisingly loud, too. He plays with much more sustain than most Tele players, as does Cooder. It's the Blues thing.
My mates and I were really into Taj Mahal's debut, where we first heard Jesse Ed Davis. I'm currently on the search for Davis' debut album on LP. I was unaware until recently of how involved he was with the George Harrison, John Lennon, Eric Clapton crowd. Davis played on a favorite Dylan song of mine "Watching The River Flow", and Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes". Guitarists with that kind of talent and taste are rather rare. Too many guitarists are imo show-offs, sacrificing musicality at the alter of technique..Drummers, too. Real glad to see there are others of my stripe here!
The most famous solo in rock and roll history was done with a Telecaster. Jimmy Page also used the Tele for all but one song on the debut Led Zeppelin album.
Kudos for mentioning Kenny Vaughan-- very tasty player, indeed!
You neglected to mention the Hellecasters-- John Jorgensen, Will Ray and Jerry Donuahue. Their "Escape from Hollywood" CD is one of my favorites. They are not just technically adept-- they can write evocative tunes, as well, which cannot be said for all guitar slingers.
And let's not forget Albert Collins or Jesse Ed Davis, while we're at it. . . or Jim Messina, for that matter, who doesn't play a lot of notes but is extremely musical and makes every note count. Venturing further afield, Ritchie Kotzen is a phenomenal player who really delivers when it comes to communicating emotion: Check out his Live in Japan video:
@tablejockey: You are so right about Redd Volkaert (for those who don't know, Redd took Roy Nichols' place in Merle Haggard's band after Roy's passing, and won a Grammy in the 2000's for best instrumental performance). A bassist partner of mine and I drove to Austin in 2008 to look for a house to buy (we were going to hire ourselves out as a rhythm section to all the singer/songwriters in that town), and after checking into the motel went to a bar on 6th Street for a beer. There were a coupla amps and a drumset on the bar's small low stage, but no band playing. Turns out they were on break, and when they returned and the guitarist stepped on up who did we see? None other than Redd! A world-class guitarist, playing at a local bar when he wasn't on the road with Merle. That's a real musician.
Another Telecaster great is (or rather was) Danny Gatton, whom Vince Gill nicknamed "The Humbler". OMG what a player! Another is a guy who was a bandmate with Danny when they both lived in Virginia, Evan Johns (who did three albums for Rykodisc, and a bunch on smaller labels) I did an album with Evan in the late-90's in Atlanta (entitled Moontan), and during recording Evan told me Danny was the best musician he ever worked with. Danny never came West, so I never saw/heard him live. Evan's dead now too.
And how about Kenny Vaughan? He's been playing in Marty Stuart's band The Fabulous Superlatives for years now, but I first saw him live when he was in Lucinda Williams' road band. I saw/heard Al Anderson playing in NRBQ a coupla times, another favorite Tele player of mine. He left the band to concentrate on songwriting, lives in Nashville now.
When it comes to the Strat, we have to start with Richard Thompson (after Ry Cooder, of course ;-) !
But back to watches. I was in the band of a singer/songwriter who insisted no one wear a watch on stage. He wanted he and his band to look as far removed from everyday normal life as possible. Hey, the songwriter gets to write the rules ;-) .
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