One album for practice

[Kmatuhin]

Hello! Like some here on the forum, I have come to the conclusion that an overabundance of music and educational information hinders the process of learning jazz guitar in many ways. If you wanted to consciously limit yourself to listening to music for a long time (for example, for a year), what one jazz album would you choose (not necessarily a guitar one)? Moreover, not just an album that you like to listen to, but which you would also use for educational purposes (would make transcriptions and learn the music of this album). Or maybe if it was a playlist of tunes by different artists, could you write what you would include there?

[Christian Miller]

Hello! Like some here on the forum, I have come to the conclusion that an overabundance of music and educational information hinders the process of learning jazz guitar in many ways. If you wanted to consciously limit yourself to listening to music for a long time (for example, for a year), what one jazz album would you choose (not necessarily a guitar one)? Moreover, not just an album that you like to listen to, but which you would also use for educational purposes (would make transcriptions and learn the music of this album). Or maybe if it was a playlist of tunes by different artists, could you write what you would include there?

Depends where you are at. If you looking to get the basics of language together - Hank Mobley Soul Station or Dexter’s Go would rank highly.

however many repetoire lists are at least partly based on the 50s Miles Quintet repertoire. So check out the Prestige recordings, Walkin’, Relaxin’ etc.

Re jazz guitar… well Metheny wore out the grooves on Smokin’ at the Half Note as a teen and I can’t think of a better Wes record.

if your tastes are older, a collection of Charlie Christian or Django 78s will keep you busy.

other than that, a matter of taste. Contemporary albums… where do you start? Bright Size Life maybe?

[Litterick]

It sounds like torture to me. You should listen to everything that comes your way.

[djg]

it's like asking who your favourite person on this planet is. how is my answer going to help you?

what album would *you* choose? what excites you so much that you *want* to put in the hours? for me it was wes' incredible jazz guitar. i ate the whole album up. 30 years later tunes like airegin, gone with the wind, west coast blues are still part of my gigging repertoire. same with several grant green albums. but that's not gonna help you at all.

[Christian Miller]

I dunno. I started listening to some very obvious ‘jazz school’ records because that’s what everyone listened to and fell in love with them.

All the albums I listed I love madly, but I’m not the only person to feel that way.

sometimes there’s nothin wrong with having some suggestions made. Don’t things often start with a recommendation? If someone asks for a great jazz guitar record, and you recommend ‘incredible jazz guitar’ it’s a good shout innit

[djg]

I dunno. I started listening to some very obvious ‘jazz school’ records because that’s what everyone listened to and fell in love with them.

All the albums I listed I love madly, but I’m not the only person to feel that way.

sometimes there’s nothin wrong with having some suggestions made. Don’t things often start with a recommendation? If someone asks for a great jazz guitar record, and you recommend ‘incredible jazz guitar’ it’s a good shout innit

in general i'd agree. but OP asked for *the* one album. that's a different question. as it is presented the least thing OP would want is a lot of answers. cause that would put him back on square one, right?

[Kmatuhin]

Re jazz guitar… well Metheny wore out the grooves on Smokin’ at the Half Note as a teen and I can’t think of a better Wes record.

for me it was wes' incredible jazz guitar. i ate the whole album up.

That's just what I'm interested to know - "the record as a textbook."
I love these Wes records too, but for me they still seem difficult to learn from.
thank you for your responses

[djg]

I love these Wes records too, but for me they still seem difficult to learn from.

that's what i mean. this is not the right attitude. you gotta love that shit so much that "difficult" does not matter.

btw there is nothing particularly difficult about, say, west coast blues.

[grahambop]

Yeah I once spent about 3 months learning a whole Wes solo (Summertime from ‘live at Jorgies’), the single notes, the octaves, the chords, everything. I don’t know what made me pick that one, the sound quality was pretty bad, so it was even harder to figure out what Wes was doing. All I had to help me was a reel to reel tape deck on which I could play it at half speed (although of course that made the sound even muddier).

But I damn well did it, I learned the whole solo. I guess I was so obsessed with it I just had to do it. Playing the octaves for hours made my hands hurt but I wouldn’t give up.

I reckon there’s loads of stuff in my playing even now that ultimately comes from that one solo, though I’ve forgotten it.

I wouldn’t recommend this solo by the way, it’s probably too hard! If you want something easier to grab, try Chet Baker and Dexter Gordon, I also got lots of stuff from them.

[princeplanet]

t.... there is nothing particularly difficult about, say, west coast blues.

Well, no, not if you just wanna play the notes, note for note. But surely the point of studying one thing very carefully is to try to discern a methodology that lies hidden under the notes.

I'd say to be able to learn a way to improvise a solo as good as Wes' WCB, in that style, is not only difficult, but damn near impossible. Who has come close? Pat Martino, George Benson maybe, but not too many others. Still worth trying to learn as much as one can from it, right? The revelations are in there... somewhere...

[grahambop]

Another really good solo I remember transcribing (I wrote this one out, as opposed to the Wes one which I only memorised) was Just Friends by Joe Pass (from the Catch Me record).

Nice clear sound on that one, and Joe plays perfect lines, from which I reckon I basically learned the essentials of bebop.

[AllanAllen]

That’s easy, Johnny Smith Moonlight in Vermont.

[princeplanet]

Another really good solo I remember transcribing (I wrote this one out, as opposed to the Wes one which I only memorised) was Just Friends by Joe Pass (from the Catch Me record).

Nice clear sound on that one, and Joe plays perfect lines, from which I reckon I basically learned the essentials of bebop.

Yeah, lots of great language there. I still prefer Pat Martino's Just Friends though - and equally abundant useable language. Worth spending time on either, or better still, both!

[grahambop]

Yes I also have the Pat Martino one in the Steve Khan book, I have worked on it a bit.