The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    My jazz playing can be described as "recovering 3-chord rocker", but I'm tryin'. I'm taking a small ensemble class at a local community college. I asked the instructor for some tips to improve and vary my comping. Her advice, "listen". I was hoping for a little more, but ok...

    The problem is that most of the jazz I listen to either has no guitar at all or features it as a lead instrument. Where can I hear some good comping? Please point to specific albums and tracks, or even your favorite sections of your favorite tracks.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Pick up any of the Paul Desmond records with Ed Bickert or Jim Hall--

    Pure Desmond, Take Ten, Bossa Antigua, Live (w/Bickert), Glad to be Unhappy, there's more...all good stuff...

    Also check out Bickert on Frank Rosalino's "Thinking of You."

  4. #3

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    listen to piano players.


    for bop/hard bop:

    red garland (50's miles davis)--elegant and swinging
    horace silver--deepest groove
    wynton kelly

    post bop:

    mccoy tyner
    herbie hancock (60's miles)
    bill evans


    hank jones, bud powell, teddy wilson, art tatum (group sessions), chick corea, jimmy rowles (esp. 70's zoot sims), victor feldman (with shelly manne), george shearing...

  5. #4

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    You might want to listen to Big Band too.


  6. #5
    I was wondering how long it would take for someone to mention Freddie Green. I'm not real familiar with him or big band stuff in general. Are there particular albums where the rhythm guitar is more prominent in the mix?

  7. #6

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    Check out a record called the hawk flies high...coleman hawkins...i can hear Freddie pretty good on that one.

    Check out Bucky Pizzarelli on "behind the red door" with scott hamilton and on The Pizzarelli boys' Sunday at...somebody's...can't think of the name...anyway, great old school rhythm that will have you jonesin' for an L5.

  8. #7

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    In addition to those mentioned, for four-to-the-bar acoustic, I would start with:

    Freddie Green - Mr. Rhythm (Freddie as leader - you hear him)

    Bucky Pizzarelli - Five for Freddie

    Marty Grosz - Hot Winds: The Classic Sessions; Swings It; Thanks; Songs I
    Learned At My Mother's Knee

    Cats and Jammers - Too Close for Comfort
    Last edited by NotDave; 10-19-2012 at 01:21 AM.

  9. #8

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    Hey fep thanks for that Basie clip....what about the drum breaks and
    set-ups toward the end!
    That was a good example to demonstrate a number of different concepts in
    comping in the broadest sense.

    I don't know if you intended to make a point about the influence big bands
    can have on pianists and guitarists, but I'll fire away anyhow.
    I remember an article I read in Down Beat in 19....mumble mumble...by
    Les Spann, guitarist and flutist.
    He was saying that for a sense of shape in a song you could learn a lot
    by listening to big bands...How the sections play off each other and so forth. In other words, colors.
    That stuck with me to this day and in the track that Basie & co just played,
    you can hear the sax section being responded to by the brass for the first
    chorus or two...then the trumpets have it with the saxes and bones backing up.
    Then you get those cool little kick figures behind the soloists....some shout
    chorus work...riffs if you will.
    All great ways that we can learn from to comp behind a soloist in a small
    group...or to lay out an improvised arrangement to a song to give more
    shape than just head-solos-head out.

    For example, drop 2 voicings could be thought of as the sax section [that's
    pretty much how they evolved...as a way of voicing the saxes]
    Smaller 2 note voicings, like guide tones could be like a tenor and trumpet
    backing in a combo setting as in the hard bop era...Blue Note heyday.
    Octaves on the the lower 2 string groups could be a trombone section.
    On the top string group you've got trumpets on & on.....

    I seem to recall Wes saying something to the effect of what I said above.

    I certainly didn't come up with this stuff ...it's been used by many of the
    greats [on guitar]...as well as piano players galore....
    Hearing in this way can really open you up so that comping: form wise,
    voicing choices and most important, rhythmic placement can become a
    lot of fun.

  10. #9

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    Great stuff Moonray.

    What you said is actually helpful to me but in the other direction.

    I'm trying to get into arranging for a combo with four horns and your comments may just set me down the write path. That's a good way of looking at it, taking things we know on guitar, like octaves or drop 2's and applying them to horn parts.

  11. #10

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    Wes does some good comping on this album.

    Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 10-19-2012 at 01:31 AM.

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by sdr
    My jazz playing can be described as "recovering 3-chord rocker", but I'm tryin'. I'm taking a small ensemble class at a local community college. I asked the instructor for some tips to improve and vary my comping. Her advice, "listen". I was hoping for a little more, but ok...

    The problem is that most of the jazz I listen to either has no guitar at all or features it as a lead instrument. Where can I hear some good comping? Please point to specific albums and tracks, or even your favorite sections of your favorite tracks.
    Everyone is giving you good stuff to listen to, but key is listening to internalize the groove as much or more than the chord voicings. Coming from a rock background your instructor is probably just telling you to listen is you need to get the Jazz feel in your gut. You could play the most incredible guitar voicings, but if the jazz feel isn't there it isn't going to sound good. As the song says... I don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!


    In fact I would suggest getting some recordings of some tunes like your ensemble is playing and play along muting the string and strumming along to till you can lock into the groove with your strumming. Then start fingering the chords. Time and feel first, then voicings.

  13. #12

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    Hi SDR
    Try Wes Montgomery Echos of Indiana album , several of the tracks have Wes's comping high in the mix ; great album too

    Alan

  14. #13

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    Do not forget about listening to the drummers as well.Lots of good rythms to pinch there,Just my twopeneth.

  15. #14
    Thanks for all the great suggestions. docbop - you're right on the money. I'm ok with the basic voicings (b9's and #11's still through me off), it's the rhythms I'm looking to absorb for now.

  16. #15

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    +1 for Freddie Green, Bucky Pizzarelli and Marty Grosz.

    Quote Originally Posted by NotDave
    Cats and Jammers - Too Close for Comfort
    Tony Marcus was the guitarist with Cats & Jammers. He occasionally records with Paul Anastasio and he is half of the great duo Leftover Dreams. I went a workshop given by Tony. Excellent player and instructor.

    Bucky, Marty and Tony, along with Howard Alden and Chris Flory are among my favorite when it comes to listening to rhythm playing. Another young player worth checking is Kathie Cavera.


    Other players worth listening to for their rhythm playing: Allan Reuss and Steve Jordan.


    If you are looking more for comping, listen to guys like Kenny Burrell, Barry Galbraith, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Mundell Lowe, and many other guitar giants, especially when they accompany a singer.


    One of my favorite Freddie Green albums is Rhythm Willie which he co-led with Herb Ellis.

  17. #16

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    ...and not to difficult.


  18. #17

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    Not the best audio...but the comping comes thru clear enough

    .

  19. #18

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  20. #19

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    Bucky Pizzarelli made a great album with sax player Zoot Simms, just the two of them! Bucky played 7 string, but the comping is right in your face and if nothing else, the spirit of it can rub off, the killer timing and bass-like walking. Some say he used a low B, but I always thought it was an A.

    I wore this thing out in college. It's in storage now; otherwise I'd get the specifics for you. I want to say Concord, but I'm not sure. Beautiful music, though.

    kj

  21. #20

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  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by RyanM
    YES! God bless ye, I've already bought it... man, this is good stuff!

  23. #22

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    I don't wanna sound ignorant or anything, but I would skip Freddie Green and anyone with a similar style. I don't mean to put him down, but no one plays like that today. Maybe you'll get a tune or two with a chorus of that, but "chunk chunk" comping (as my I've humorously heard it called) gets to be too much, often tires out the listener, and has a huuuuge tendency to rush or drag.
    I would recommend listening to piano players. Especially Wynton Kelly. As for guitars, Jim Hall is the man. On the live trio album, he plays a lot of chord lines during his solos, but a lot of his chord lines are so simple that they can be used for comping, and his comping for the bass is really nice.
    I tend to opt out of listening to guitarists for comping. A lot tend to not play at all when there's a piano player present, and the old school guys, when they do, use the same chord voicings, so all you get is rhythmic stuff, which a pianist can do much better.
    More modern guitar players who will comp do have some great stuff. Directly from the Jim Hall line is Peter Bernstein (studied with Jim) who I can never stress how amazing he is with chords, and likes to comp. He has his own really cool voicings and has the groove down.
    As for piano players, Larry Goldings, on both organ and piano is really great. However, you won't get anything better from a younger guy than Mike LeDonne. Also equally good on organ and piano.
    And don't skip McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. Also great stuff can be heard from them.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by jtizzle
    ..."chunk chunk" comping...has a huuuuge tendency to rush or drag.
    Huh? The rhythm style rushes and drags? Don't you mean to say the players who have a faulty sense of meter rush or drag? And I don't believe bad time is more common in four-to-the-bar comping than in any other comping style. Why would it be?

    kj

  25. #24

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    I think it's worth distinguishing between 'comping' and 'rhythm guitar', which is a specific function.

  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by RyanM
    I think it's worth distinguishing between 'comping' and 'rhythm guitar', which is a specific function.
    Interesting, Ryan - but I'm not certain about what you mean. "Rhythm guitar" is a specific function? Comp comes from "accompany" I think. What do you see different about the two?