Jazz for aficionados

@jafant YES!!!

Hank Mobley, Soul Station.
Lee Morgan, Search For The New Land.

Each on 180 Gram vinyl.

Guitarist Anthony Wilson live with Diana Krall.

I much prefer his tone to Pat Martino’s. Reason being Anthony plays a Gibson Byrdland archtop as opposed to a tele like guitar. Save the tele’s for Rock. A serious jazz artist must play an archtop in the vein of Russell Malone, Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessell, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, etc None of these jazz guitarists played tele’s because the sweetest jazz tone is delivered by an archtop with at least 3" of depth. None of the old players played a tele!

This set swings with a lifelong set of jazz musicians so many you can barely name them all. Backed by the famous conductor Claus Ogerman and the Paris Symphony Orchestra on several of the 12 songs. Live in the backdrop of Notre Dame in Paris!

@frogman, I’ve been a member of the jazz.be website for 14 years. It’s the finest jazz website on the web for all things jazz guitar. But a very few there are actual jazz guitarists. Every one of them grew up playing rock and later came to jazz later in life. It’s an okay place to learn jazz guitar. But 90 percent of the place is simply a hangout much like Audiogon, without any serious instructive qualities. The most popular page there is the gear page. Guitarists obsess about their gear. There they obsess with pedals because that’s what they used during their rock days. I don’t own a pedal. I play nothing but an archtop through a traditional 40 watt tube amplifier.

Yes, I’m biased. Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Barney Kessell, these are the fathers of jazz guitar. Each played a jazz archtop because that was the jazz tradition. Martino came after Wes died. He too worshiped Wes as every guitar player did. I’m a traditionalist. Give me a full fat bodied tone that only an archtop can create. This new breed of players like Julian Lage etc playing tele’s do nothing for me. Give it another category and don’t call it jazz. All my opinion.

@tyray, Neither did I mention Grant Green, or Kenny Burrell, or Russell Malone. There are many, many, great guitarists. And the great ones all played archtop’s. Was that because they too were traditionalists? I’m not saying Pat Martino wasn’t a gifted player. But he lost me with his tone. We each hear differently. Non Musicians hear differently than Pro’s. I’m not a pro, but I recognize what great guitar tone is. Without good tone you’ve completely lost my interest. It’s as everything you had to say is now irrelevant because your tone is crap. All my opinion. 

There is zero comparison between jazz and classical. They are worlds away from each other. Start a Classical for Afficianado’s thread. 
 

The birth of jazz is rooted in the blues, which was rooted in slavery. That’s not Classical. When you’re immersed in Beethoven you’re not thinking about Stan Getz or Ray Brown. 
 

I appreciate Classical as much as anyone. But Jazz stands on it’s own. 

Anything from 1955 to 1967. That’s a lifetime of jazz at your fingertips. Yes, that excludes B*tches Brew. Purposely. Miles went off the deep end. But I don’t have to. Anything Miles from ‘55 to ‘66, that’s a lifetime achievement, and having the all time best ever selling jazz album for Columbia, a feather in the cap for eternity on the Mt Rushmore of jazz. All imo. 

If you’re a Miles buff check out the Miles Davis Chronicles, an 8 cd set of his remastered Prestige recordings. 8 cd’s playing with Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, etc., a who’s who of young jazz players from 1951 to 1956. Highly recommended!  The entire set is even on YouTube.