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Does anyone know what model/make guitar Jim Hall is pictured with on the cover of Live (1975) - I think the model is a Benedetto?
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12-12-2012 05:00 PM
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I'm pretty sure that's his D'Aquisto
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yes, it's his first D'Aquisto, all acoustic. Jimmy made him one w/ a built in pick up later.
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New Yorker. Jim didn't use it much, he felt bad and he gave it back to Jimmy not too long after that point.
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That was one of my first Jim Hall albums. Great music, beautiful guitar, awesome 'stache.
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You know the complete run of music from that recording is now available in very limited edition, don't you? That was merely the first set of a week's run at the Bourbon club in Toronto. The rest of the week is just as good. And there are only a hundred or so left for sale.
David
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Thanks for responses - I have only just started to use the forum and I'm impressed by the generousity of members with their help and knowledge
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That record is just insane... Jim is so underrated.
Does anyone know the amp? A poly maybe?
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I'd like to know what guitar he used on the recording. Any details about the pickup and amp would also be great.
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I figured he had the D'Aquisto with the pickup by that recording. The amp could very well be a polytone...it's a great, dry, modern tone...
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Underrated? I'm a fan, but in my experience many people that like and/or play jazz (guitar) like Jim Hall.
Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
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@ Mr b it does sound a lot like a Poly
When I say underrated I mean he does not get all the credit he deserves. His role in the development of the modern jazz guitar should be more well known imho.
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I think of Jim as the father of modern jazz guitar really...the first guy to really move beyond bop. And hell, he was doing that in the '50's!
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I'm gonna guess his old Gibson amp, but that's more a guess. He used to use that a lot back in the day, IIRC/AFAIK. Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
Funny thing with that album, though, cuz even though Jim's posing with his D'Aquisto, I'm pretty certain that it's his ES-175 he's playing on the recording. (P-90 pickup or HB? Anyone know for certain?) The older photos from that time (mid-'70s) still always seem to show him with the ES-175.
Also odd about these releases (the original release -or- especially the new Vol. 2-4—which, BTW, is GREAT!) is that there's no guitar gear being noted anywhere. I'd have thought—purely from a compleatist standpoint, of course—that the gear used at those gigs would have deserved a detailed page of its own in the neat 40+ page book that comes with the new (and historical) "box" set. Hmm.
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Could not agree more. No one on earth would do those Sonny Rollins, Paul Desmond, Art Farmer records.. his comping and motifs / triads playing was a complete revolution. I am not even starting on the Bill Evans ones... Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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I doubt he took the amp to Toronto... but who knows! Originally Posted by ooglybong
I'm gonna guess his old Gibson amp, but that's more a guess. He used to use that a lot back in the day, IIRC/AFAIK.
Funny thing with that album, though, cuz even though Jim's posing with his D'Aquisto, I'm pretty certain that it's his ES-175 he's playing on the recording. (P-90 pickup or HB? Anyone know for certain?) The older photos from that time (mid-'70s) still always seem to show him with the ES-175.
Also odd about these releases (the original release -or- especially the new Vol. 2-4—which, BTW, is GREAT!) is that there's no guitar gear being noted anywhere. I'd have thought—purely from a compleatist standpoint, of course—that the gear used at those gigs would have deserved a detailed page of its own in the neat 40+ page book that comes with the new (and historical) "box" set. Hmm.
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D'Aquisto? I don't believe so, not in 1975. At that point, to the best of my knowledge, Jim was still using his ES-175. Lotsa pictures out there from those days, inc. some in the new release's 'book'. Unfortunately, no photos were made/included from that exact gig, AFAIK. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
(Really... who knew that (a) there would likely be an album made from those bandstand tapes?; and (b) that it was all that significant a gig to have deserved photographic documentation?)
Guitar-wise, I think that, by the time the Live album was eventually *released*, Jim owned his acoustic D'Aquisto (pictured there on the hand-tinted cover), and then the one with the pickup coming along some time soon after. To my mind, I've always thought that the D'A was his new baby and since there were apparently no gig photos to use, then why not pose with it? (Great cover, too! )
AFAIK, the first album Jim would have used his D'Aquisto on was possibly 1976's Commitment, and then his ArtistHouse duo album, Jim Hall & Red Mitchell. Both these albums show his D'Aquistos on their covers (the acoustic on Commitment's rear cover) and the tone is, IMO, noticeably different from the Live album, a bit more wooden and acoustic in nature, a tonality describing then his later '80s work and so on.
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Hey, people simply took their amps along back in the old days. Solid state wasn't anywhere nearly as nice as it is now, and what, with a four-night engagement just several hours north of NYC, well, why not bring the Gibson along for the ride? Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
Heck, maybe he had, per rider, a rented Fender something-or-other on the bandstand, for that matter.
But you're right, who knows? I just wish that the info had been included in the (GREAT) new release's book cuz, let's face it, I'm betting that most of its buyers are guitarists!
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I join the Jim Hall fan club Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
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Originally Posted by ooglybong
D'Aquisto? I don't believe so, not in 1975. At that point, to the best of my knowledge, Jim was still using his ES-175. Lotsa pictures out there from those days, inc. some in the new release's 'book'. Unfortunately, no photos were made/included from that exact gig, AFAIK.
(Really... who knew that (a) there would likely be an album made from those bandstand tapes?; and (b) that it was all that significant a gig to have deserved photographic documentation?)
Guitar-wise, I think that, by the time the Live album was eventually *released*, Jim owned his acoustic D'Aquisto (pictured there on the hand-tinted cover), and then the one with the pickup coming along some time soon after. To my mind, I've always thought that the D'A was his new baby and since there were apparently no gig photos to use, then why not pose with it? (Great cover, too! )
AFAIK, the first album Jim would have used his D'Aquisto on was possibly 1976's Commitment, and then his ArtistHouse duo album, Jim Hall & Red Mitchell. Both these albums show his D'Aquistos on their covers (the acoustic on Commitment's rear cover) and the tone is, IMO, noticeably different from the Live album, a bit more wooden and acoustic in nature, a tonality describing then his later '80s work and so on.
I was always pretty sure commitment was the D'Aquisto, because he plays the guitar unplugged on several tracks. I wasn't sure about Live! but I found the tone quite different from Concierto, recorded a few months earlier, which I beleive to be the 175...but it's hard to compare live to a studio album anyway...but the tone on Concierto and Commitment are quite different, so I assume they're different guitars.
Although I always though "Big Blues" sounded more like the 175 tone, and that's from '78.
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I totally agree with you about Concierto and Big Blues sounding like the 175 (much rounder tone, warmer and not quite so woody as the D'Aquisto), but I have a theory. Much like you or I would use different guitars for different gigs, I'm going to bet that so did Jim back in that 'transitional' period. Back then, CTI was a pretty big jazz label, esp. working with Creed Taylor, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit that they (Taylor or Jim or both) decided to use the 'smoother' sound of the 175 on those recordings. (And I think it totally worked, too, but then again, how could it not with Jim Hall?) Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
To my ears, though, the guitar recorded on the Live! album sounds more like Concierto and Big Blues than the guitar on Commitment (both the acoustic, of course, but also the electric) as well as on the Red Mitchell duo album; both these albums were done for much less prominent labels, ergo the opportunity to possibly experiment more with his tone. It could have also been that Jim was already thinking towards his future D'Aquisto tonality at that point and used guitar and amp to head more in that direction anyway.
Eh, but who knows? That's my theory anyway.
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This page suggests the laminate D'Aquisto's started in 1978 ...
1979 D'Aquisto Hollow Body Electric
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I don't really have anything to add to this, other than I would love to own an early 50s 175 with the single p90, dream guitar.
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Thanks for that link and some interesting info! Originally Posted by Bill C
The Commitment album (as far as my LP goes) features a lovely huge shot across the back cover of Jim's D'Aquisto of the time, an acoustic model finished in almost a reddish violin color, more red than the 'Classic' finish I've seen on Eastmans. (BTW, since it's a hand-tinted photo on Live, it could still be that same reddish guitar, manipulated into that lovely sunburst he's posing with.)
Jim Hall and Red Mitchell dates from 1978, and Jim's there on the cover with his electric D'Aquisto. Got me what he used for an electric guitar on Commitment, but to my ears, it sounds more like the 'woodier' D'A than a 'warmer' ES-175 most of the time. I also have to suppose that it's entirely possible that Jim managed to get his D'A electric earlier than the official production date. Eh, who knows?
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I'm in on the Jim Hall fan club. I am a total admirer, just sorry it took me so long to discover him.
Great info above on his gear choices. One thing I love about his sound is the sort of airy quality it has, not at all mid-heavy like Wes. I always figured he is getting that mostly with his pick attack and placement. Any other input on this?
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