Ed Bickert

**wizard3739** · 04-07-2012, 03:09 AM

Here's one you don't want to miss!

wiz

**medblues** · 04-07-2012, 07:16 AM

Super ! Thanks !

**P4guitar** · 04-07-2012, 04:23 PM

Bickert is the taste master.

He never overplays and always manages to express just the right things in both his solo's and accompaniment. Adding to this, he's also managed to play with simpatico bassists and drummers so that the ensemble is greater than the sum of its very talented parts.

The jazz world needs more players like him.

**RonD** · 04-08-2012, 11:19 AM

Truly a master.
I'm truly thankful that I had the opportunity to see him, so many times.

**kris** · 04-08-2012, 12:10 PM

Great Telecaster jazz artist.
Nice video-you can see right hand technique...
thanks Wiz,.

**aniss1001** · 04-08-2012, 01:57 PM

I don't care what anyone says Bickert is a giant in my book

One of the greatest ever. No idea why he isn't as famous/respected as many other greats.

His grasp on chords is fenomenal. His single lines are pure melody. Did a bit of transcribing. He keeps things simple in that regard.

And a great clip. Hadn't seen that one. His tele sounds better than ever. I got a bit tired of his earlier sound (eg. his recordings with Desmond). To thin for my taste. But this one is just sweet.

Thanks for posting it

**m78w** · 04-08-2012, 02:15 PM

One of my favorite players, I was lucky to see him live before he retired from gigging, definitely a night I won't soon forget!

**Space Pickle** · 04-08-2012, 02:38 PM

Hey guys, here's another classic Ed Bickert solo.

**jazzguyfromnc** · 04-09-2012, 12:58 PM

I could listen to Bickert play all day long. Just unbelievably good.

Check out the album Jive 5 by Rob McConnell. He plays so amazingly well there, and it's an interesting quintet format.

**P.J.** · 04-10-2012, 06:57 AM

Ed is wonderful. Love his work w/ Desmond and on his own. Duo, trio, quartet, quintet...it's all wonderful w/ Ed. He is also a fantastic vocal accompanist. Plus, he plays a Telecaster!!

PJ

**Cunamara** · 04-10-2012, 11:56 PM

Ed is simply one of my two or three favorite jazz guitarists- he and Jim Hall at the top with Tal Farlow and about 10 others really close. But there is something just so satisfying about how Ed (and Jim) play. Sometimes when you listen to someone improvise there is this sense of inevitability- that they just played the very perfect line or chord in the very perfect place. Ed does that a lot.

**monk** · 04-12-2012, 12:00 PM

Ed Bickert is the epitome of good taste. He's one of those players who always plays the right thing at the right time. Along with the Street of Dreams video, there are several other videos from the same concert under the Canadian All-Stars (1992) heading. Here they are working out on Hoagy Carmichael's Judy with a wonderful solo by Bickert.

It's a pity no one got him into a studio for some instructional or up-close perfomance vids before he retired.

**eddy b.** · 04-12-2012, 04:14 PM

Man the CD "This Is New" with Ed and Lorne Lofsky is what inspired me to get into straight ahead jazz guitar, it blows my mind how good he is. So much taste and control, Ed Bickert is my all time Favorite.

**Jim Soloway** · 04-13-2012, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by aniss1001

One of the greatest ever. No idea why he isn't as famous/respected as many other greats.

Mostly life and career choices. Ed was extremely successful in Toronto for many years and did very well both gigging and playing sessions. He apparently didn't want to travel a lot and he seemed to be happy with the career he had.

About the video, I was just watching this the other day and I was stuck by how great Ed's tone was on this. it had much more clarity and high end presence than I normally associate with his playing. I don't think I've ever heard him better than this. I think Dave Young should get some special props as well. He's one of the finest bass players I've ever heard and has been for an incredibly long time. (Terry Clark's pretty cool too

)

**kris** · 04-13-2012, 11:04 AM

Telecaster - artistic playing and thinkig.

**jamieh** · 04-13-2012, 11:56 AM

Great vid!

**Cunamara** · 04-13-2012, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

Mostly life and career choices. Ed was extremely successful in Toronto for many years and did very well both gigging and playing sessions. He apparently didn't want to travel a lot and he seemed to be happy with the career he had.

About the video, I was just watching this the other day and I was stuck by how great Ed's tone was on this. it had much more clarity and high end presence than I normally associate with his playing. I don't think I've ever heard him better than this. I think Dave Young should get some special props as well. He's one of the finest bass players I've ever heard and has been for an incredibly long time. (Terry Clark's pretty cool too

)

Jim you're right about Ed's tone on these videos. He was well-recorded and had a great sound for this. I wonder what his setup was by this point. Of course, in my hands that guitar and amp wouldn't sound anywhere near as good!

Dave Young is a spectacularly good bassist. His work with Lenny Breau on the Bourbon Street recording is fabulous, too. Dave manages to have both a rock solid and an elastic approach to time simultaneously.

**daveg** · 04-14-2012, 03:33 AM

Wes Montgomery's recorded sound was transformed many years ago by mixing a DI'd signal with a miked version.

The result would be similar.

Also compare his sound with the HB equipped Tele to the earlier non-HB version which is available on YouTube?

Here's one:

It's not the one I was looking for but it serves to illustrate the point (I think?).

DG

**Cunamara** · 04-14-2012, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by daveg

Also compare his sound with the HB equipped Tele to the earlier non-HB version which is available on YouTube?

Here's one:

It's not the one I was looking for but it serves to illustrate the point (I think?).

A more direct comparison (e.g., trio setting) might be this video from the Canadian All stars gig rather than the ones with the whole band:

This presumably has the same setup as the other videos from that gig. He might be going both mic'd and DI, I don't know.

What's interesting to me is how similar he sounds between the videos with the single coil and the humbucker; the latter tone has a bit harder attack to my ears, but the bloom of the notes is very similar. I may like his single coil sound just a wee bit better. So much of a player's tone is in the hands, of course, so it's no surprise he sounds substantially the same...

Yesterday I compared my Tele (Dimarzio Area T pickups) with my Strat which has just a humbucker (F-spaced Stew-Mac "Golden Age" pickup which is surprisingly nice) in the neck position. The amp was an Egnater Rebel 30 on the clean channel. The differences between the two were pretty subtle and would probably be lost on a gig once there is a drummer and bass and some horns. The Area Ts are stacked buckers and lose a little bit of the Tele twang and shrillness, which is good for jazz, and are noiseless which is good for where I play. The Golden Age pickup is not as bass heavy as the Classic 57 which preceded it. Like Ed, looking at the videos, I find the humbucker works best if set low into the body with the polepieces raised up a bit.

**kris** · 04-14-2012, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by daveg

Wes Montgomery's recorded sound was transformed many years ago by mixing a DI'd signal with a miked version.

The result would be similar.

Also compare his sound with the HB equipped Tele to the earlier non-HB version which is available on YouTube?

Here's one:

It's not the one I was looking for but it serves to illustrate the point (I think?).

DG

great sound.

**HighSpeedSpoon** · 04-14-2012, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by aniss1001

I don't care what anyone says Bickert is a giant in my book

One of the greatest ever. ...

Thanks for posting it

My feelings too.

**kris** · 04-14-2012, 02:09 PM

I like very much Paul Desmond Quartet CD " Like Someone In Love" with Ed.
Great live CD from 1975 Toronto.
These big sustain chords-exelent.

**ChaseBlackburn** · 05-08-2012, 01:47 AM

I love everything he has done!

**David B** · 10-11-2012, 06:27 PM

Hope folks don't mind me resurrecting this thread but I don't think I've seen these clips in any Ed Bickert discussions so far. Some early footage with Ed still playing a Gibson ES175: