Robin D. G. Kelly's Thelonious Monk: The Life & Times of an American Original---to me one of the truly stellar jazz biogs.
Anything by David Hajdu; especially Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life and his biog on Nat Cole. (I've also corresponded w/him and he seems truly nice).
Frank Buchman-Moller's You Just Fight for Your Life---the Story of Lester Young. (All the Pres biogs are worth reading).
Art Pepper's autobiog (written with Laurie Pepper); and Miles (written with Quincy Troupe) are self-gratifying and hampered by loads of BS, but I've read them both numerous times. Pepper is a spellbinding raconteur, and his insight into other musicians' work is interesting to read (if his comments about his own 'genius' are slightly delusional). Miles talking about music has been great food for thought.
The Benson book was mentioned. One thing that cracked me up: some poetic justice. I knew Eddie Diehl for years, and he had a bug up his ass about Kenny Burrell. It had to do with a record date where he was sent home and replaced by Kenny b/c the company wanted a 'name'. He neither ever forgot nor stopped bad-mouthing Kenny's playing til it came out of your ears. I guess it's SOMEWHAT understandable. Eddie WAS one of the best, and a truly good-hearted guy underneath it all. We're all sensitive, and rejection---perceived or real---can really hurt.
Anyway, in George's book when he got the call to go with McDuff he was to replace Eddie. His comments---and they were respectful---were (paraphrasing): '(Eddie) was a formidable musician----not on the level of Kenny Burrell...., but he definitely could play'. Eddie was still alive when that came out. I hope he read it---it MAY have shut his mouth. I doubt it though---shutting Eddie's mouth about ANYTHING, especially guitar players he was jealous of (their stature in the biz, not their playing), was a tall order. But I had quite a chuckle over that one...
So interesting how it’s basically just Les Pauls and assorted solid bodies. No L-5’s etc. Amazing how much these can cost for basically cosmetic changes.
Definitely cool looking solid bodies,...
So I asked the pianist if they were going to go all Coltrane on this, and he just smiled. No. They actually ended up singing it and I winged a solo, which people seemed to appreciate. No trainwreck...
Cause they wanted to punish me for practicing the Segovia Scales for the last 40 years, every freaking day, at 320bpm through the cycle of fourths and the cycle of Fifths.
As the others say, the same up and down mel m is called the jazz minor but that doesn't answer the question in the thread title.
My handy answer to that is: the mel m played in the classical...
I can't say that I listen to a ton of GG, but his groove is undeniable. And I feel like people underestimate how important that really is; audiences will get tired of flashy licks real quick if it...
I can't think of any guitarists who had BW's breathy sound, but the clarinetist Tony Scott was one musician who was strongly influenced by BW, especially on ballads:...
Thank you for your feedback on the Supro Amulet
I hear a lot of good reviews about Quilter amps. They have piqued my interest for several years
The Mach 3 is almost €500 more expensive than the...
Supro amps have their problems.
I read this thread appreciating my Princeton Reverbs - thought about releasing one, but maybe it's better to hang on to it.
Hearing all these great...
Tour of Gibson Custom Shop
Today, 06:04 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos