What recording has your favourite jazz guitar tone?

[BryBry]

Title says it all! Bonus points if you can name the guitar (and even amp possibly?) used.

[Average Joe]

AS200 of course, and I think he mostly used Mesa Boogies at the time.
There may be better Scofield records but for sheer tone this one takes it imho.


If otoh you want to be old school about it, Burrell's sound on Midnight Blues is a benchmark to me

[nick1994]

Jim Hall Live is one of my favorites. I think he might've used a 175 or his D'aquisto. Another favorite is pat and jim halls duo album, i dig both their sounds.

[wintermoon]

[christianm77]

Gosh what a question, I think this changes every year.

I'm a big fan of Jim's sound on the 'Jazz Guitar' album.

In a very different way, Bill Frisell's sound is always AMAZING. I love it so much. People bang on about his use of pedals, but check out his fingers. He gets such an ambient sound without having to use an delay or reverb. Doesn't matter what he plays. The fender amps (Deluxe Reverb normally IRRC) are important, but the way he applies vibrato and how and where he picks is more important.

Of the modern guys, I really like Lage Lund and Jonathan Kreisberg. They have a fantastic tone on their instruments. I've heard Lage use a few different guitars - including a lovely vintage L5 but he always sounds the same. The amp is an old Fender, revoiced.

Jonathan in particular is apparently very picky about amps (amirite David B?) - two amps for stereo, with reverb/echo - a good way to fatten up your live sound. JK uses a 175 of course.

I really like Adam Roger's 335 jazz tone, which I think a lot of people wouldn't. It's super smooth and consistent, and unlike a lot of guys he doesn't use much ambience in his sound so it's very exposed. Hard to do! Fender Twin and a 335 right?

On acoustic guitar - Eddie Lang's tone is incredible. (L5, heavy strings) Django always made an amazing sound on single note stuff (Macaferri guitars, guage 10 argentines, heavy tortoiseshell pick), but I also really like the sound of players like Carmen Mastren who were more traditional block chord soloists.

Charlie Christian too (ES150, Gibson EH-150 amp). Herb Ellis. Wes, of course, and Grant Green (So bright! Often a single coil pickup I believe.)

So many wonderful players, all very different.

The sound is soooo important - along with time, great tone breathes life into the simplest music. I am obsessed with it... It's in the fingers, though.

I don't really give a fig what guitars people use... It seems kind of stupid to even go into it. Good gear is important, sure, but the way you play it is really important. Your gear choices facilitate your sound, they don't give it to you.

[christianm77]

I just realised I didn't really answer the question...

It's funny how live sound works so different from recorded...

The best Wes tone for me is Smokin at the Half Note - no post production reverb. I presume it was an L5 into an amp of some type lol? I don't think Wes cared what amp so long as it had headroom.

So much depends on the engineer, too....

[christianm77]

My least favourite recorded jazz guitar tone is Mike Moreno on Aaron Parks Invisible Cinema. Really unflattering recording of a fantastic musician.

[Doctor Jeff]

Yeah I like Wes' tone on that album. My favorite is probably Kenny Burrell on Midnight Blue, I think he might be playing an L5 with a CC pickup, at least I read that somewhere.

For a changeup I also like Grant Green on Green Street among others, where I think he played his ES-330, and Benson on Breezin'--a Gibson Johnny Smith I think?

I'll also throw out an old Vic Juris recording from the late 70's that I no longer have, ?Roadsong, but I have no idea what guitar he was using in those days. Great tone!

[Groyniad]

all the usual suspects - very nice little discussion above from c77 - recently this man strikes me as getting a very very good sound

its all about his feel - its delicate and precise and very intelligent - but its got the grit in there too - the hurt (so to speak)

[lawson-stone]

I keep coming back to Joe Pass on Blues for Fred. I think he's playing the D'Aquisto.

[mr. beaumont]

For straight ahead, clean jazz tone, Jimmy Raney on "But Beautiful."

Pretty sure it's a Hofner Atilla Zoller model...amp...who knows? Whatever was in the studio?

I think Jimmy always viewed amps as a necessary evil

[57classic]

My favorite jazz guitar tone is on Peter Bernstein's sixth album, from 2004.
Guitar must be his Zeidler. Amp: Dunno, I guess a Fender!

[neatomic]

jim hall's classic 50's clean warm tone..neck p90 es-175 thru his gibson ga-50 amp...anything he cut with jimmy giuffre trio..the amount of room he was given was vast...

60's-kenny burrell -midnight blue--one of his gibson archs prob thru his fender deluxe..van gelder at his best with the guitar front and center

70's-john abercrombie first gateway trio..the most warm and rubbery/legato tone i've ever heard..he's pictured on cover with old gibson lg round hole arch..but he was using sg's alot around that time..tremendous early ecm tone

80's-?? the era of the guitar synth

90's-brad shepik..tiny bell trio...direct disciple of hall via abercrombie..gretsch tennesseean ..

2000's- i've finally got right with frisell..his gnostic trio stuff kills me..

and of course the thousands more..and more to come...but

cheers

ps- just realized most of my likes are trio's!!..cept for kenny b

[dcharles]

Definitely rhythm guitarist Steve Jordan's sweet, punchy acoustic tone, especially from later in his career. Any tune off his "Here Comes Mister Jordan Album" is a good example.

[mrcee]

Anything by George Benson

[Guido_59]

Mine are
Joe Pass Portrait of Duke Ellington
John Abercrombie 70's records
Jim Hall everything records

[pingu]

Anthony Wilson on his Birdland ...

[lawson-stone]

Mine are
Joe Pass Portrait of Duke Ellington
John Abercrombie 70's records
Jim Hall everything records

I had hoped to keep it to one single CD, Joe Pass, Blues for Fred. But Portraits of Duke Ellington is one of the most addictive recordings I've ever listened to. 4 or 5 times I've gotten on this jag of listening almost exclusively to that CD for days on end. Wow. And the playing itself is just obscenely amazing.

[lawson-stone]

I keep coming back to Joe Pass on Blues for Fred. I think he's playing the D'Aquisto.

Does anyone actually know for certain, i.e. can point to some article or reference, what guitar Joe uses on this CD. I ask because I know I've read somewhere that he used the D'Aquisto and succeeded at what he tried on Virtuoso, i.e. using the amp (or direct) and mic'ing the guitar and using both signals (but the amp feed or direct feed got lost on Virtuoso, is the story I heard). I heard somewhere they tried that on Blues for Fred and it worked.

While we're at it, I really love his tone on After Hours, done with Ray Brown and Andre Previn, recorded in a theater. On that one despite the Ibanez in the photo, I've read he uses the D'Aquisto.

[coolvinny]

Billy Bean on "The Trio". Gretsch (solid pressed top) into Ampeg amp I understand.

[Cunamara]

Title says it all! Bonus points if you can name the guitar (and even amp possibly?) used.

Oh, man. If I had to pick one, just one, it would be Interaction with Art Farmer and Jim Hall- ES-175 with P90 and Gibson GA50 amp.

If I could pick a second, it'd be one of Peter Bernstein's records with his Ziedler and Fender Deluxe Reverb (I think that's what he uses, vintage one). Probably one of his records with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart, to be more specific.

And my favorite acoustic jazz tone is Gene Bertoncini's "Someone to Light Up My Life" CD. No amp, just his classical guitar and some percussion. Wonderful album of bossa tunes, beautifully played and beautifully recorded.

[gcb]

Wes Montgomery, "June in January" (Groove Brothers)

[p1p]

Hard to pick a favorite. Here's one of mine though:

[Groyniad]

i'm nowhere near being able to say what my favourite is - it would have to be wes - but his sound is captured better on some recordings than on others - and i'm not an expert on the recordings

there's jim hall with jimmy g. and paul d. and, utterly perfect in every way, his recordings with bill evans (i wonder - is there a consensus that this is the high water mark for jazz guitar? i can't think there are contributions to the jazz canon from a guitarist that top these. the bill evans recordings aren't just contenders for the best sound - they're contenders for the best everything.)

the album i thought would be worth mentioning because i've hardly heard anyone mention it in any context is:

kb with wynton kelly - piano

this is great fun - fantastic silver tone from kb

this is the sound of 1958 if you ask me

[oldane]

Jimmy Raney on "Streetswingers" and "Two Jims and Zoot".