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...
Do you think the Quilter Aviator is better sounding than the Blues Jr IV?
I'm having really a hard time finding a tube amp that works (!) and sounds good.
The Fenders from the Custom 68 series all...
Somewhat related but TI strings are like magic sometimes. I got a Ibanez PM35 a couple months ago and it came with D'Addario strings on it and it was...eh. It sounded like an archtop I guess. I put...
My only real disappointment with my TM Twin Reverb is it lacks the feel of volume, if that makes sense, compared to my '65 TRRI or my '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue. It almost sounds muffled to my ears.
Bridge bases are sanded to follow the contour of the top of the guitar at the right spot and correct angle for proper intonation. This allows maximum contact with the top for transmission of energy...
I tried some new supros side by side with a blues Jr. The Supros weren't what I was looking for, they sounded small and boxy. The Blues Jr. just sounded perfect, like all the guitar amps I knew...
You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves! I already have very nice guitars, but those are all so beautiful and I’m getting a little gassy. Please, please - no more...
I agree. I wasn’t clear in what I wrote. I scale my TM Twin down for similar reasons. However, I also play through a tube ‘59 Bassman RI with enough power to shake the nails out of my house. I...
Two very simple solid contenders for jazz seem to be the Boss IR-2 and the brand new Tonex One. Two channels, amp, reverb, the tonex also has a compressor and a tuner.
BOSS - IR-2 | Amp & Cabinet...
Has anyone played or had a Supro Amulet ?
Today, 04:44 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos