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...
The position 5 (and to some extend 4) makes the guitar hang more snug when standing. Positions 1 and 2 make the guitar rotate slightly away from the body especially when it comes to deeper body...
So your freind says he prefers the Korean T50 to his US made SF3? That says something !
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, very interesting.
How would you describe the sound of the Dyansonics ?...
Of course, before the interweb and forums we had Usenet and BBSs (and mailing lists) ... with far fewer people on them because connectivity wasn't as normal as it's now. No neck-specific newsgroup...
I can never understand 4 and 5. It’s right in the way of the hand when you are on the upper frets.
I’d go with 2 because you’re not drilling into the body cavity. Also if you do do, the mod is...
I've had the LJ for several years now.
Early on, I was enamored of the sound. I still like it, but I only use it for very quiet situations now.
The sound for lead lines works fine for me,...
I just don't care, maybe because I used to own a music store and played, probably, hundreds of guitars in a month's time. Since I can rarely play instruments before I buy them, I'm, fortunately, able...
FYI the latest gen of the Blu no longer has a switchable send level in the loop. But I agree with you, most of the time I prefer my pedals in the loop rather than in front of the amp.
I sourced the woods for this one when John was going to build my guitar, after many calls all over the country I found 3 great sets of maple and 3 great sets of Adirondak spruce. I had a hard time...
You also need to take account for the nut width when looking at above specs. 1&11/16” vs 1& 5/8” nut width makes a huge difference on how much larger the same shape can feel.
Acoustic Image Clarus 2R Series III -- $700, plus shipping to continental US only.
I'm in the process of downsizing some gear, and I'm selling my beloved AI Clarus 2R Series III amp with the...
From Bar Chords to Bebop
Today, 02:33 PM in Improvisation