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Just wondering if anyone can clear this one up for me. Barney Kessel's favourite guitar had been fitted out with a Charlie Christian pickup, and I think he also had the fingerboard replaced with an ebony one. But what was this guitar? Most internet sources say an ES350, but I have also heard L7 (Steve Howe says this I think). And where does this famous guitar reside now I wonder?
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10-15-2009 02:30 PM
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I've heard it was a ES-350.
Originally Posted by Meggy
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I'd bet on the ES-350, that appears to be the instrument that he's holding on album covers of the day.
Interestingly, there was also an endorsement deal: Kessel and "Kay" guitars ... Kay made an upscale (for them) Barney Kessel model, actually serveral models. I'm not sure if Kessel ever played one, the only photo I can find of him is a standing photo, Barney is holding a Christmas-wrapped gift box, from which protrudes the neck of what appears to be a Kay guitar.
From personal experience, Kays ranked along with Silvertone, Harmony, Supro, Danelectro and other "mail-order" guitars that were difficult to play, inconsistent and didn't sound very good. I suspect that Kessel's relationship with the company, like many such current relationships, was based on $$$.
Kessel later renewed his loyalty with Gibson.
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I tend to think ES350 too, although having looked at the L7, the shape is pretty similar. I think you're right about the Kay - I read that Kessel was not very complimentary about it in conversation! I'm not sure he always got on very well with Gibson either - there are videos on YouTube where you can clearly see that the Gibson logo on his guitar has been covered with black tape.
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Kay built some great, if somewhat unconventional, guitars in the 1930s. My "butterfly" (a flamed maple jumbo with butterfly inlays on the peghead, fingerboard, and neck heel) is actually based on a 1937 Kay jumbo owned by the luthier. He had it on a stand in his living room, and everybody who came by (all of them guitarists, naturally) picked it up, played it, and tried to buy it from him.
It was the opposite of the butterfly: minimal binding or trim, dots on the fingerboard, but it spoke with the voice of a piano.
Back to topic: I've read several places that Kessel's guitar was an ES-350. For us older guys, his performance on Julie London's Cry Me A River (Ray Leatherwood on bass, no drums) defines taste.
I'm not surprised to hear he had run-ins with Gibson. He once wrote a column for Guitar Player (back before all the players in the ads became tattooed teenagers) and he was pretty opinionated.
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he also talks about it on youtube.
I thought that was what you were refering to so I didnt chime in sooner.
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A friend, who lived in NYC at the time, saw Burrell at a small club in the late '60s and was struck by his "primitive" equipment (his words, not mine). Originally Posted by ingeneri
He described the guitar as a "big blonde thing with a pickup that looked like it was taped to the body". That could well have been his impression of the Christian pickup, thinking that it was a conventional P-90, secured to the body with a piece of electrical tape, LOL !
Cheers,
randyc
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Originally Posted by dh82c
That's an interesting monologue. What particularly struck me was his statement that "when I hear it on a record, that's exactly how I heard it in my mind". That seems (perhaps) disengenuous or maybe the man just had little use for false modesty ?
Nevertheless, one of the finest (to me) jazz guitarists ever. I liked all of the jazz poll winner records but one that I thought especially highly of was his arrangements of Bizet's "Carmen". Some interesting and highly entertaining music ...
Thanks for the YouTube reference,
randyc
PS: Reading over LPdeluxe's post regarding Kay guitars, I looked up some of them in my "Guitars of the 1950's" book. They do seem to be a cut above the Harmony, Silvertone, Supro, Danelectro stuff. And I have recently seen a couple of good Delta Blues artists playing old Kay guitars, apparently with satisfaction.
My experience with these instruments is limited to a few solid bodies that I played in the early 60's and may not be representative of the Kay line in general. As anyone who has read my posts knows by now, I tend to be snobbish about this stuff. Sorry !Last edited by randyc; 10-15-2009 at 11:11 PM. Reason: add PS
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I've seen a few fifties and sixties models -- Kay was always a lower end manufacturer, but back in the thirties even inexpensive guitars had pretty good tone woods. I am sure, too, that the luthier I spoke of tweaked his quite a bit. He was into replacing braces, shaving tops and whatnot. One original feature of the jumbo was a nice fat vee neck, which he replicated on the butterfly.
Laying in bed last night, I got to thinking about Julie London. She was married to Jack Webb (Sgt Friday of "Dragnet") and later divorced him and remarried. She and her second were on a drama series called "Emergency" that my wife was addicted to. It depicted the adventures of a pair of fire dept EMTs. When they had occasion to haul some poor wreck into the emergency room, Julie was there as the nurse. The ER doctor was played by her husband, Bobby Troupe, better known to musicians as the songwriter who wrote "Route 66."
That's all the trivia I have for today.
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No, I think that I'll keep it to myself 'cause that same friend knows that I had that DeArmond pickup on my accoustic 12-string and gave BOTH of them away ! (Fortunately, to a family member, that's the only good news in that story. Well, not quite, the DeArmond had been given to me by MY uncle, it was a freebie.) Originally Posted by ingeneri
But, to put things in context, when the first "real" accoustic pickups came out (Barcus Berry, IIRC), the old DeArmonds were regarded with amused contempt ... a free, giveaway pickup wasn't unusual at all. But of course back then, we knew it all !
cheers
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I was just mooching about through today's posts and came across the discussion of BK, and this from the Youtube link. From most of the things I've heard about him he sounded rather unpleasant. I'm sure I can be just as unpleasant - so why can't I play like this:
To pick up from that other 'Epi thread' (Meggy will understand this) I saw Barney Kessel at The Royal Theatre in Lincoln - along with Martin Taylor and others. That would be in the late 80's. On the same tour he played a couple of numbers I believe with the already-mentioned Leo Solomon Trio at the Humberstone Country Club. Barney Kessel - in Cleethorpes.
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There are a lot of potentially great jazz players here, based on that criterion. Originally Posted by RAQ
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Thank you to everyone for posting, some very interesting information there, much of which was news to me at least! Just to add a little extra information: on a few of the YouTube videos, for example one with his trio playing "Autumn Leaves" he can be seen playing what I believe is a prototype that Ibanez made for him. It appears to similar in shape to a Gibson 175, and obviously he found this instrument to be worth playing. A shame maybe that a production model never came about. Originally Posted by RAQ
He gave a seminar at Leed College of Music which I was able to attend (in the late 80's I think) - I would say that he was definitely not one to suffer fools gladly LOL, but he came over as a nice guy with enormous enthusiasm for the guitar, jazz, and all music for that matter.
RAQ, in fact I did myself see Barney at the Country Club, although that was more like 1981 or 82, and as I recall he did the gig solo - I had never seen a "proper" jazz guitarist before, you can imagine the effect he had! The one with Leo must have been a later tour - wish I'd been at that one too though, I know he liked to play with pianists! Some would take issue with you for describing Humberston as part of Cleethorpes! (although it might as well be...).
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OK, sorry, I meant no offence - but if you're reading this in Texas or Originally Posted by Meggy
Some would take issue with you for describing Humberston as part of Cleethorpes! (although it might as well be...).
Chicago, Skegness is probably part of Cleethorpes.
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No offence was taken RAQ, I'm sure Cleethorpes is quite happy with your definition - there must be a few hardcore Humberstoners (if that is the word?) out there, though I doubt any are reading this forum! And yes, given how many times you could fit the entire UK into the same area as Texas, these distinctions do seem somewhat funny! Originally Posted by RAQ
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Texas isn't really THAT much larger than France. Originally Posted by Meggy
And yes, given how many times you could fit the entire UK into the same area as Texas, these distinctions do seem somewhat funny!
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Oh Ha Ha! You had to mention France didn't you! Originally Posted by lpdeluxe
Texas isn't really THAT much larger than France.
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That's like the story I heard of someone getting a call from a relative in London: "Could you drive to the St. John's airport and pickup your Uncle Harry?" "Uh, I live in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, on the Pacific ocean. St. John's Newfoundland is closer to London than it is to Victoria. Maybe you should pick him up!". Originally Posted by Meggy
And yes, given how many times you could fit the entire UK into the same area as Texas, these distinctions do seem somewhat funny!
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Hasn't the UK annexed France yet? I thought that was the point of the EU. Originally Posted by Meggy
Oh Ha Ha! You had to mention France didn't you!
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Some would take issue with you for describing Humberston as part of Cleethorpes! (although it might as well be...).
Britain has some pretty interesting names (people and places)
course we (Canada) have some good ones too ...... Moosejaw , Winnipeg ,etc etc.
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Originally Posted by markf
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Well, there is the small matter of a thousand years or so of antagonism between us, the odd war here and there etc... But that's all forgotten these days, we are all members of the EU and as such are the best of friends now! Originally Posted by lpdeluxe
(.... )
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That's how I understood things to be. Originally Posted by Meggy
Well, there is the small matter of a thousand years or so of antagonism between us, the odd war here and there etc... But that's all forgotten these days, we are all members of the EU and as such are the best of friends now! (.... )
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I had the good fortune to briefly meet Barney sometime around 1980 - he was playing the guitar mentioned earlier in this thread which had the Gibson name blacked out with tape. I asked him why he had done that, and he said that he'd had so many repairs done to the guitar and so many parts replaced over the years that there was hardly any of the original Gibson left so he covered the name over.
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I suppose that Kessel's remark could also be interpreted as an expression of his resentment that Gibson no longer needed his endorsement of their products. Odd that he just didn't buy another guitar or have one custom made if he really felt that way.
Howard Roberts, as I recall, went through a similar love/hate thing with Gibson. I think that he also had a much-modified (it is said) ES-350, maybe the one that he traded for from Jim Hall ? The one that he always referred to as the "black guitar" ?
I probably should look this stuff up before stating it as fact, so regard both of the above thoughts as anecdotal, based on a flawed memory.
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