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...
When playing with a band I always try to get my tone a little cleaner and brighter onstage. By the time it gets to audience land it will sound just right.
I would never use compression live. It...
Agree! Best iteration of Patricia Highsmith to date I've seen. Really feels like the book.
Certainly helps that they could take 8 hours to tell the story instead of the usual 1 or 2. I look...
A device for measuring the gap of spark plugs works pretty well as a way to measure action height. They have a number of wires of varying diameters, around a circle. Not so great for measuring the...
Having read a lot about neck angle issues on Loar guitars prior to my getting the 700 and the fact there is very little scope to lower the bridge (on mine), I've had it in my mind, for some reason,...
I play fingerstyle acoustic archtop guitar. My instrument is a 17” solid carved top 1959 Rodebald Hoyer “Samba”. I use Martin Monel .012, .025w, .054w // 1st, 3rd, and 6th string. I like a flat board...
Hard to say what's going on, but I'd offer this.
You mentioned tower speakers. Does this refer to a line array like the Bose L1?
It should be possible to make an L1 or similar line array...
Thanks much. After a very long time without success, I found a 2002 Heritage H-575 with a floating p/u at a reasonable price. Just need to lower the action a little but it will fill the bill for a...
I put JS112 strings on an Ibanez AS200 once. It sounded great for jazz but I think it took the instrument outside it's design parameters. One thing I like about roundwound .010s on the yamaha is that...
Playing live and getting the best sound from the...
Today, 02:08 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos