The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    1) Coltrane, Giant Steps
    2) Coleman Hawkins, Body and Soul
    3) Stan Getz, Autumn Leaves
    4) Charlie Parker, All the Things You Are
    5) Cannonball Adderley, Autumn Leaves

    All of these are first-rate. Many others are first rate too. (I would have found a spot for Lester Young's solo on "Lester Leaps In.") What might be interesting for us guitar players is to ponder some of our favorite saxophone solos and consider how that influences the way we solo on the guitar.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Dexter Gordon Blue Bossa.

  4. #3

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    Best of All Time for a music that is all about evolving, exploring, and pushing boundaries. Everything on that list is what 40-50's a lot of Jazz since then. Where's Ornette, Dolphy, Shepp, and more modern players Garnett, Branford, Brecker.

    I can deal with lists like this more if titled something like significant solos in history of Jazz.

  5. #4

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    Never Heard Getz's Autumn Leaves before. That's very nice.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stevebol
    ^^^
    Dexter's Blue Bossa? I hope I never grow up then!

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by docbop
    I can deal with lists like this more if titled something like significant solos in history of Jazz.
    Feel free to make your own list!

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Feel free to make your own list!
    I do all the time it's my Playlist on my computer changes constantly. As for sax lately Dayna Stephens, Kenny Garrett, Coltrane, Will Vinson, and Chris Potter. I add some J.D. Allen and Lee Konitz for some sax trios now and then.

  9. #8

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    Solo starts at 1:21. (A Quincy Jones arrangement by the way).
    Last edited by Tom Karol; 08-30-2014 at 02:18 PM.

  10. #9

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    * Stan Getz, 'Her' the whole piece was done by ear.


    * Al Cohn 'Krazy Kat solo at 1:40


    * Stan Getz 'Blood Count' live with Kenny Barron



    Just for something you might not have listened to, all great tunes/solos.

    Tom..

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by docbop

    I can deal with lists like this more if titled something like significant solos in history of Jazz.
    well, if we're just sticking with saxophone

    Coleman Hawkins - "Body and Soul" ...you get tired of seeing it on lists, but its influence is just so deep. if you want to be contrarian, maybe pick "The Man I Love" or "Sweet Lorraine" or "How Deep is the Ocean" instead

    Lester Young - "Lester Leaps In" is a good choice, but my pick would have to be the one-two punch of "Lady Be Good"/"Shoeshine Boy" that he did with Basie's small combo. who knows how many countless musicians learned the solos on those two cuts (there are recordings of Charlie Parker playing "Shoeshine Boy" note-for-note, and Warne Marsh/Lee Konitz would play the "Lady Be Good" solo as its own head).

    there's also the legendary solo he did on Billie Holiday TV special on "Fine and Mellow"... a guy at the end of his life digging deep and playing the most pithy, languidly erotic blues you'll ever hear

    Ben Webster - "Cottontail." if the audience demands that you play the same solo from the recording night after night, then it's probably a pretty good solo. poor Paul Gonsalves had to follow Ben... but he gets his day later

    Charlie Parker - too many great solos to count, but so many musicians still recall the shock of hearing "Koko" for the first time.

    Don Byas - "I Got Rhythm" (live duet with Slam Stewart) this was a legendary recording of sorts that was passed around among musicians. Greg Osby was the one who brought it to my attention. i don't know if he's really playing in B or if the recording just transposed it up a half step, but either way it's a stunning display of his command of the instrument

    Johnny Hodges - "Indian Summer." Sinatra said this was the "best solo he ever heard." he might be onto something

    Sonny Rollins - "St. Thomas." there are solos of his i prefer to listen to over this one, but man... EVERYONE learns this solo.

    Coltrane - "Giant Steps" is an obvious choice, but his solo on "One Down One Up" from the Half Note radio broadcasts might be just as influential. even though they were only officially released in 2005, bootleg recordings were passed around by musicians from the beginning. Liebman, Grossman, Brecker, and pretty much the entire next generation of Trane-inspired sax players made those recordings their bible.

    throw in some Ornette, some Ayler, maybe some Konitz/Marsh. pretty good group

  12. #11

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    Others that haven't been mentioned yet that I also listen to and try to assimilate in some way

    Jackie Maclean
    Benny Golson
    Wayne Shorter
    Johnny Griffin
    Joe Henderson
    Eric Dolphy
    Art Pepper
    Peper Adams
    Booker Ervin
    Stanley Turrentine
    Hank Mobley
    Tina Brooks
    Sonny Stitt
    Lou Donaldson
    Oliver Nelson
    Fathead Newman
    Gene Ammons
    Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

    Of course there's a whole lot more, even from that classic era alone, worthy of checking out, but the above mentioned along with the others mentioned in earlier posts are the ones I listen to every week. It's a little ambitious to think I might one day sound on par with any of those players, but hey, nothing wrong with setting the bar nice and high, right?
    Last edited by princeplanet; 08-31-2014 at 02:21 AM.

  13. #12

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    Sonny rollins-oleo ( modern jazz giants)
    John Coltrane-So What
    Charlie parker-Billie's bounce
    Sonny Rollins-without a song
    Sonny Rollins-All the things you are(with coleman Hawkins)

    These are my favorites, clearly I'm a fan of Sonny Rollins.

  14. #13

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    I've got to mention the late and GREAT Tubby Hayes. Almost everything he played was worth listening to, but in this video you get him ripping a blazing solo while playing with a truly great band. He comes in a 1'40", but listen to the whole thing. You just don't get jazz like this on TV anymore, or anywhere else for that matter:


  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    I've got to mention the late and GREAT Tubby Hayes.
    Glad you did. I was unfamiliar with him. That's a great performance.

  16. #15

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    My dad was a sax player, and we had a Tubby Hayes record. We didn't have many records, so I heard it over and over again. A truly great player. If he had been American, I'm sure we would have all heard about him.

    Read all about him on his wiki page: Tubby Hayes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
    My dad was a sax player, and we had a Tubby Hayes record. We didn't have many records, so I heard it over and over again. A truly great player. If he had been American, I'm sure we would have all heard about him.

    Read all about him on his wiki page: Tubby Hayes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Thanks for the background. Sad story, but he made some beautiful music.

  18. #17

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    John Coltrane - Pursuance - A Love Supreme

  19. #18

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    One of my favorite all time tenor solos. I transcribed this long ago and give it to many of my advanced students.

  20. #19

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    And one of my favorite Coltrane performances.

  21. #20

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    I always loved Paul desmond's solo on Darn That Dream . . . Ed Bickert's comping was great as well.


  22. #21

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    Well, from the consensus of this thread, it's easy to see that jazz sax from this century doesn't hold a candle to sax solos from 40-50+ years ago for most. Jazz isn't dead, but it's most popular musicians are....

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    Well, from the consensus of this thread, it's easy to see that jazz sax from this century doesn't hold a candle to sax solos from 40-50+ years ago for most. Jazz isn't dead, but it's most popular musicians are....
    Well, either most of us are out of touch with "Modern" Jazz post 1970 - or Modern Jazz is out of touch with us, maybe?

    I don't think it's just a "guitarists" thing, I've noticed other instrument's jazz forums share a similar predilection for classic era Jazz.

    Maybe it's a Forum "thing" - maybe young and/or modern players don't use/need Jazz forums as much as we do?

  24. #23

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    70s forward? Current sax players - Donny McCaslin. Amazing composer and player.

    Chris Potter. Great. Dave Liebman, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Gary Bartz, George Adams, Eric Alexander, Dave Schnitter, Billy Harper to name a few greats.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by henryrobinett
    70s forward? Current sax players - Donny McCaslin. Amazing composer and player.

    Chris Potter. Great. Dave Liebman, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Kenny Garrett, Gary Bartz, George Adams, Eric Alexander, Dave Schnitter, Billy Harper to name a few greats.
    I know the first 5 better than the last 5 in your list, and saw Potter live recently. Like the others, phenomenal player, way above my head- just didn't move me like the 50-60's greats do.

    Out of curiosity, do you like these guys as much as the classic players named earlier in this thread? Or will you be diplomatic and say you "like them all - but for different reasons..."

  26. #25

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    BTW, is it just me, or does anyone else not care so much for Giant Steps? I always thought Coltrane himself never even cared for it much beyond it being a challenging "exercise" at the time, on his way to other ideas....

    Seems overrated as an influence too, I mean, I know "Coltrane Changes" are still taught, but hasn't that approach fallen out of favor these days? I've known guys who can really slay on it, but will admit they don't really like it that much. There seems pressure on really strong players to impress on these changes as sort of a "rite of passage" or something.

    When I play the original to my non jazz pals, no-one has ever liked it!