Minimalist guitar improvisers

[malanzas]

Hello folks! Could you give some examples of minimalist guitar improvisers? Maybe some names or videos. I mean people who improvise using few notes, in a simple style, but effective and beautiful at the same time. Thanks.

[MattC]

Not sure if he qualifies, and certainly not all the time, but Bill Frisell comes to mind as a somewhat minimalist player (at least compared to many other jazz guitarists).

[Scot Tremblay]

First name that came to my mind too, Matt. Another one that I really like is/was Emily Remler...maybe she doesn't fit a "minimalist" definition but she strikes me as saying what she had to say without extraneous verbiage...

[mr. beaumont]

Esbjorn svennson

paul motian

miles and Chet at their best...

Jakob bro

monk

[AlsoRan]

There does not seem to be many minimalist guitarist, at least mentioned so far.

I always feel pressure to put in some fast runs or fills, as though it is an integral part of guitar playing. Especially since you can't execute crescendos and decrescendos on one note the way horn players can. We Jazz guitarists seem to end things with some sort of run.

By the way, wouldn't Jim Hall be the best example of a minimalist approach, yet one that many have praised highly?

[fumblefingers]

i agree on Hall, although not all of his playing fits the description.

[Cunamara]

The guitar is not an instrument that naturally lends itself to minimalism because of its ability to play multiple notes at once. Piano is prone to the same thing.

Jim Hall sometimes plays "minimalistically" but my favorite Jim Hall stuff (the new Live Vols. 2-4 CDs from the 1974 gigs that produced Jim Hall Trio Live) is nowhere near minimalist- it's complex, dense stuff with Hall often playing lines at bebop tempos.

Miles played in what might be called a minimalist fashion- but not always, of course. I am thinking of the "Kind of Blue" or "In a Silent Way" recordings, for example, as examples of low-notes-per-measure playing.

In general, jazz is not typically a musical style that fosters a minimalist approach. There are a few exceptions, such as Miles or Paul Desmond (listen to Bossa Antigua or Pure Desmond, in particular), sometimes Bill Evans, sometimes Jim Hall, sometimes Charlie Haden. Lonnie Smith can be quite minimalist in his approach.

[coolvinny]

He's not very well known, but Les Spann plays quite minimally. You can check him out on the Duke Ellington/Johnny Hodges "Back to Back" album. He's actually primarily a flute player. I've never transcribed any of his playing but he plays cool lines.

[AndyV]

I would call Bill Frisell something of a minimalist. He doesn't play a huge amount of the notes but the ones he does play are perfect.

[jds1978]

Try Grant Green. The guy was always overshadowed by others (Wes and then Benson.)

Look for 'Idle Moments' (1963), 'Live at the Light House' (1971-72), 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' (1964) and 'Alive' (1970)

The guy was one of the originators of Soul Jazz and fit right in with the more bluesy hard bop

[P4guitar]

One of the slowest, or minimalist, guitar soloing I can recall is Peter Bernstein's "Brain Trust" CD. He used a lot of whole notes and space in his playing then that for me, added a lot of tension in his lines. There's a cut on youtube here but it happens to be one of his faster cuts

Here's a thread discussing his technique and slow approach here:

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/impro...scription.html

[edh]

Nice tune. thanks for the link.

[AlsoRan]

One of the slowest, or minimalist, guitar soloing I can recall is Peter Bernstein's "Brain Trust" CD. He used a lot of whole notes and space in his playing then that for me, added a lot of tension in his lines. There's a cut on youtube here but it happens to be one of his faster cuts
Here's a thread discussing his technique and slow approach here:

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/impro...scription.html

I really liked that CD when I sampled it on Amazon. In listening to it, I felt the same joy I felt when I first discovered Doug Raney - and it brought a smile to my face.

So wonderful to hear yet another modern player playing the type of Jazz I love the most.

[P4guitar]

It's my favorite Bernstein cd. Well worth getting.

[JakeAcci]

TruthHertz

[AndyV]

Willie Nelson.

[malanzas]

I love Willie Nelson's solo in Blue eyes crying in the rain, in one of the Crossroads Guitar Festival, with his old, ultra wore nylon string guitar. Yes, this is a good example of what I initially asked.

[JRguitar]

Ahmad Jamal.

[Stanford J17]

Ed Bickert

[Kiefer.Wolfowitz]

"Minimalism" has been applied to the frugal playing of Robert Fripp that uses looping, both analog (Frippertronics) and digital (Soundscapes), and has also been applied to some of his collaborations with Brian Eno, Andy Summers, King Crimson ("Discipline"), David Byrne, Talking Heads, etc.

These "minimalistic" works often have rapid successions of notes, like some of the works of Philip Glass, which have also been inspired by gamelan. Some academic discussions of popular music neglect the influence of "world music" (especially gamelan) and over-emphasize symphonic minimalism. Some slower Frippian pieces may be called "ambient", also.

A minimalistic performance starts at c. 3:00 in this BBC documentary.

[malanzas]

Willie Nelson playing Nuages:
Willie and Trigger:

[Petimar]

Chet Baker!

[jdazey]

John Stowell