Jazz GUITAR poll

never heard that one. herbie mann's record covers scare me.

I like all the Herbie Mann albums with Sonny -- don't forget Roy Ayers and Miroslav Vitous were in the band too!! ... 'Windows Open' is a good'un .. also one of the live ones gets pretty hot. Not the live one titled 'Hold On I'm Comin' (which i think was just ok), but the other one.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nels Cline 3, Joe Pass 0

i mean, come on

Wow guys.

sorta shocked grant green pulls ahead of wes

yr all just hating on the beatles covers

hey grant did beatles covers too! i think he stole the arrangements from Wes, matter of fact.

ilm's dirty acid jazz past revealed at last. why wasn't boogaloo joe jones number two?

ILM: Soft on jazz

yr all just hating on the beatles covers

well, yeah!

The version of "Airegin" from Incredible Jazz Guitar is another one of those songs that gets stuck in my head really often. I'd say at least once a week.

Grant Green didn't get desperate and making loads of unfortunate musical mis-steps until long after Wes was dead. I doubt he was the winner of this poll for his "acid jazz" material, he was just a bloody great player is all. Was he better than Wes (or Django or Charlie Christian for that matter)? Maybe not... But there is a good reason that he is the winner.

Question: did the people who voted for him do so because of his pre-1970 material (as I did) or post?

i actually can't remember if i voted for Grant or not, but I may have -- I like both eras of his playing, though, yeah, there is some dumb 70s stuff. Some great 70s stuff too! "The Final Comedown"! Pre-fusion era, "Idle Moments" is a stone cold classic.

re Wes "mis-steps"? What, the A&M stuff? Because if you're talking about the Verve albums, you're mistaken. Those smoke just as much as the earlier records. They just have different arrangements--the playing is the same, if not better. This "early Wes" vs "late Wes" trope that has been around for years, and it's totally stale. The verve records are *great*, and how many A&M albums are there, two tops?

I love Grant, but he'll always be second banana to Wes. Wes is just twice as exciting. I've never heard Green do a chord-melody, or an octave solo. He's very one-dimensional compared to Wes.

OTM. Incredible Jazz Guitar alone trumps Grant Green's entire oeuvre, and who cares if he made "musical missteps" (i.e. paid the bills) later.

These Wes Montgomery live records are really hot. It is why I voted for Wes.

Smokin' at the Half Note
Full House
Complete Live in Paris 1965

no doubt, wes was amazing!

yeah the live Europe stuff is just insane. Wes is one of the very few guys who consistently pins the "WTF did you just hear that?" meter

if Wes has any drawbacks, it's that he's almost too good, and too fluid. it could get boring, I suppose. he never makes a mistake. he's like Bird.

Green is a much more hesitant player, which brings another aspect to it. You can hear more of the ANGUISH of life through Grant's playing. I think that's why people are attracted to him. Wes is more like an alien from another planet.

"Blue n' Boogie" on Full House is so killer. The section at the end where Wes and Johnny Griffin play back and forth off of each other is really exciting.

It is a shame that some of the SF dates that Wes did with Coltrane never got recorded. I bet those were pretty hot.

if Wes has any drawbacks, it's that he's almost too good, and too fluid. it could get boring, I suppose. he never makes a mistake. he's like Bird.

Green is a much more hesitant player, which brings another aspect to it. You can hear more of the ANGUISH of life through Grant's playing. I think that's why people are attracted to him. Wes is more like an alien from another planet.

Yes, this is why I like GG just a bit better. OTM!

It is a shame that some of the SF dates that Wes did with Coltrane never got recorded. I bet those were pretty hot.

I have had wet dreams about this for years.

I'm sure glad I voted in this one, otherwise poor Barney would have been left out in the cold.

You folks who didn't vote for Charlie Christian are flat-out fools.

hmmm, well the pollster didn't actually ask a question like "who is your favorite" or "who is best" or "most influential". Here I go then...

Most influential: Charlie Christian
Best: Wes Montgomery
My favorite: Johnny Smith
My favorite in the poll: Grant Green
Most innovative in a modern setting: James Blood Ulmer
Most technically gifted: perhaps Joe Pass

destruction terror and mayhem

When I first picked up the guitar back in 01 I bought a guitar magazine and saw this transcribed in it. Didn't take note of the tempo, learned it ultra super duper slow. Then I heard it.

And realized that uh I would never play it. I saved the transcription and I still come back to it once or twice a year to see if I'm up to speed yet, but goddamn. Also lol @ "Flight of the Bumblebee"

these poll results are weird! grant green is usually underrated

Pat Martino...

My guitar teacher told me that he was in some kind of severe accident where he completely lost his ability to play and completely re-learned. Also something about him having some weird system where he can spell words in his mind with the notes of his solos.

yeah, his story is made-for-tv-movie level fascinating.

Why does most jazz guitar SOUND so shitty? So many guys on this list either have unsatisfying and weak "clean" sounds or use obnoxious effects to cover up the flaws. Only a handful make a really satisfying sound with their instrument, either clean or with effects.

Never learned how many votes Django ended up with (still can't believe he was left off the original ballot).

Looks like 3

Bucky's appearing tonight at the Bella Luna restaurant on the Upper Westside, where he will be dueting with Jack Wilkins, who didn't even make the ballot.

man, if they were playing an hour later i'd drop by. as it is i won't be off til 9:30.

(which makes two different shows i'm missing tonight because they're playing too early. wtf new york?)

It hurts me to do so but I think I really disagree with Hurting 2 about the sound of jazz guitarists. Question: Are you comparing them to rock guitarists? (You very well may not be.) I feel that many people take rock guitar sounds, which are almost always deadened by amps, as a standard for the sound of the electric guitar. The instrument has more to offer sonically!

I wonder if you went over to that gig and sat at the bar you could catch the tail end, Jesse.

In other news another non-poll maker, Gene Bertoncini, is appearing tomorrow with strings at the Jazz Standard.

Question: Are you comparing them to rock guitarists? (You very well may not be.)

No, I'm more comparing them to the sounds of other jazz instruments. I find guitar (in the hands of most) to be one of the least-satisfying sounds in jazz -- it's usually so dynamically flat and often fails to blend properly with the band. It too often sound more like a note machine than a real instrument.

Hurting, if you are not too buried under your lawbooks you should come out one night to see some solo jazz guitar so you can be proven wrong. Although actually I think you do have a point.

Didn't notice this, so Charlie Byrd missed a well-deserved vote.

Here's a link to the Jack Wilkins gig page so you can see when he's dueting with Bucky again or with Howard Alden, or want to be ready when Jimmy Bruno comes to town.

Hm, do you find guitar much worse than keyboards or vibes?

Wow, how did I never know about Johnny Smith before?

O_o Joe Pass 0

I happen to find Joe Pass a little boring, fwiw.

although I like the duets with Herb Ellis

Johnny Smith, the guy who wrote "Walk Don't Run"? You don't hear about him much these days. However I will re-extend my offer to you, Hurting, to come out and see some jazz guitar. Jack Wilkins is playing tonight at a place called Rue 57 where you will be able to see how well he blends in with Harvie S, Billy Drummond and Harry Allen and maybe talk to him about Johnny Smith or Ted Dunbar.