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...
I know some forum members have stated this before but I never heard the difference people claim. I.e. input gain up doesn’t seem to make a difference in the level of compression or saturation. I was...
I have found that the tone is more balanced on the wedge and that I can hear it better. In fact, without the wedge, my Les Pauls sound downright muddy when played through the Bud.
Regarding solid...
Yours is also a great post with a lot of great info. I've also had a couple '70s 175s that were great but the most recent examples needed a ton of work. Maybe a '59 reissue would give me the vibe I'm...
This is a great post. The two 60's examples that I had may have been good guitars in the 60's, but they were not when they came to me. The two 70's examples that I had were great, but that was long...
Ive had mine for a month now so still trying different strings and action, that said heres what I know the body is mahogany which I believe is typical for Guilds as the starfire is also. The "MoP"...
I played the 2012 es-175 yesterday afternoon, made an offer, and it was quickly accepted. I think this was a guitar that was bought and cased for most of its life. The frets show almost zero marks;...
I bought a Bud a couple of years ago to replace an 80 watt Roland that was becoming too heavy for me to lug around. I tried it sight unseen, having been impressed with the reviews...and the return...
I wonder what the actual incidence/prevalence of these damages is. When it happens, we hear about it at length because people are rightfully upset; but that makes the problem seem potentially larger...
My Broadway Elitist had no solid top. It had an second thin wood layer on the inner side of the top. Maybe due to easier fabrication because they had pressed tops, not carved.
This topic was also...
I think that the Korean made EXL-1 is pretty identical to the Original Excel. When I bought mine several years ago here in Los Angeles we put it up against very Expensive Gibsons and Original...
I actually much prefer my Bud 6 sitting on the floor.
I love mine. I agree with most of the comments here. It is very clean and perhaps not warm, but I would say it has a fat clean sound that I...
McCoy Tyner style Pentatonic sequence with 5ths,...
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