Solo jazz guitar albums making use of looper pedal?

**steinny** · 05-11-2016, 02:14 PM

Other than a few (excellent) albums by Bill Frisell (Ghost Town, Solo Jazz Sessions), I'm having a hard time thinking of examples. Any suggestions?

**Nate Miller** · 05-11-2016, 02:33 PM

well, its not a loop pedal, but John McLaughlin's "My Goals Beyond" the side with "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" is definitely multitracked

**mr. beaumont** · 05-11-2016, 02:48 PM

Frisell has pretty much ruined the loop pedal for everyone, because he's so damn creative with it...do anything similar and it sounds like a rip off...

Do anything different...and it sounds like a cop-out.

Nothing more hackneyed in my opinion, than a performance where a guy who "comps" for himself, then plays the melody and solo over the top. Yuck. That's for the practice room.

**Doctor Jeff** · 05-11-2016, 03:35 PM

McLaughlin's multitrack of Bill Evans' Very Early also comes to mind...

I can't think of too many jazz players. There are quite a few rock and pop artists. Robert Fripp and Brian Eno pioneered looping with their tape technology in the 70's. Laurie Anderson was also very influential with loops in the 80's.

More recently KT Tunstall and Andrew Bird come to mind. I saw Andrew a few years ago, and he is definitely one of the more creative people to use looping. A virtuoso of the loop pedal, if you will.

**neatomic** · 05-11-2016, 03:37 PM

david torn....was using the lexicon jamman looper (when it was a rackmount unit) back in the early 90's..the days of the loopers delight internet forum...

david torn- tripping over god 1995

and of course the very original is robert fripp who was playing solo guitar against loops..tape loops-pre digital--in the 70's

cheers

**Nate Miller** · 05-11-2016, 03:50 PM

I saw Robert Fripp at Rockin Robin Guitar shop in Houston probably around 1980 or so...

he was in there as a customer, too. He was trying out either the amp or the guitar, but he had this briefcase that opened up into a patch bay and he was patching cords all around like an old fashioned telephone operator. It was all his own electronic effects

it was something to see for sure

naturally, being 14 or 15 year old kids that were already playing at Rock Island and Fitzgerald's and those joints, me and Rick (who was the one who recognized him first) went and talked to him

He's a pretty decent guy. We acted like we didn't recognize him and were asking about his "briefcase". The sort of questions I would imagine Nigel from Spinal Tap would have asked, but Mr Fripp was a good sport and we didn't take up too much of his time. We wanted to shove off before he told us to shove off, you know

**neatomic** · 05-11-2016, 04:22 PM

cool! that "suitcase" would have been an ems vcs3 or hiA synth...

Solo jazz guitar albums making use of looper pedal?-retrozone10-gif

very rare and pricey these days!!!

the original uk synths...

cheers

**Doctor Jeff** · 05-12-2016, 02:16 PM

Tape loops and delay had been around since the late 50's--Sam Phillips used a system he called "slapback" delay, a term still used to this day, to famous effect on the early Sun recordings. Terry Riley developed a more robust system, i.e., longer delay allowing for looping, which he used for recordings in the early 60's which were quite influential.

IIRC ~1971 when Roxy Music was being formed Andy MacKay, the reeds player, brought along a VCS3 as a lark, and Brian Eno recognized the potential for running instruments through it and processing the sound electronically. Having already experimented with tape loop technology both in art school and with Roxy, he and Fripp refined the tape loop technology further in their duo projects.

David Torn is an intriguing musician--he recorded with Fripp in the early 80's. Still around making interesting music.

**Eagle2x** · 05-14-2016, 02:32 PM

Not sure if he uses a looper in performance, however, Martin Taylor's Double Standards is an excellent example of muli track guitar solo.

**A. Kingstone** · 05-14-2016, 07:43 PM

Nate mentioned Fripp.

I saw him in Toronto about the same time (early 80's) doing his Frippertronic bag with two reel to reel tape decks on tables several yards apart. To adjust the loop length he would move one machine closer or farther away from the other.

I was in awe.

**wolflen** · 05-15-2016, 09:39 PM

hey..let us thank les paul..he created multi-track and effects and designed guitars-well..the Les Paul.. in the mid 40's and some of those techniques have been developed and modified and are used today by many artists..

**steinny** · 05-15-2016, 09:41 PM

Back to the OT -- no solo jazz guitar albums using loopers other than Frisell?

**gunksman** · 05-16-2016, 06:33 AM

Sonny Sharrock's Guitar album.

I had had the privilege of seeing him at the original knitting factory in the early nineties. He was frighteningly passionate. A tremendous player and comfortable chatting at the bar with a stupid 20 year old.

**gggomez** · 05-18-2016, 04:46 PM

John Raymond and the Real Feels (being Colin Stranahan, Gilad Hekselman and a looper)

**steinny** · 05-20-2016, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by gunksman

Sonny Sharrock's Guitar album.

I had had the privilege of seeing him at the original knitting factory in the early nineties. He was frighteningly passionate. A tremendous player and comfortable chatting at the bar with a stupid 20 year old.

Overdubbed, not looped.