Jonathan Stout: Pre-Bebop Jazz Guitarist (and JGO member)

[AllanAllen]

[ruger9]

Loved that! You don't see clarinet enough in the 3- and 4-piece combos. What a lovely instrument, I actually love it more than sax for SWING.

[jameslovestal]

Loved that! You don't see clarinet enough in the 3- and 4-piece combos. What a lovely instrument, I actually love it more than sax for SWING.

I agree. Nice to see a clarinet in a swing setting, but not an only Django music type setting.

[Oscar67]

Loved that! You don't see clarinet enough in the 3- and 4-piece combos. What a lovely instrument, I actually love it more than sax for SWING.

Check out Martin Taylor’s album Two For The Road with Alan Barnes.

[Cunamara]

I like the clarinet for bebop and more modern styles, too. Beautiful instrument that too often gets unfairly relegated to "period" music such as swing, early Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman stuff. I get that the sax fingering is easier, but I just like the sound of the clarinet better (especially than tenor sax, my least favorite instrument in jazz).

[sgosnell]

Howard Alden has recorded with Anat Cohen on clarinet. Videos on YouTube. Good stuff. He has also recorded with Ken Peplowski, also good stuff. The guitar and clarinet go well together, starting in about 1939 and continuing til now.

[jameslovestal]

I saw them a few times when they were on this tour.

[campusfive]

Hey Seattle-area folks:

I'm teaching at Matt Munisteri's "Red Hot Strings" camp in Port Townsend, WA May 14-18.
After the camp, I'll be in Seattle for a few shows.

For anybody on this board, I'd highlight the Sunday 5/19 show, since it'll be the only gig outside of a swing dance setting. Fretboard Journal head honcho Jason Verlinde actually recommended the venue to me, so I think it'll be a great show.


And the rest of the shows:

[sgosnell]

I like Jonathon Doyle's playing a lot. I'm not sure if he's still based out of Austin, because I haven't heard much about him lately. He's done some work with Joel Paterson in a quartet with guitar, and with other bands with guitar, so he's not unfamiliar with it. I would love to see that gig, but Seattle is much too far and snaky for me, way down here on the third coast. It would be nice if someone could do a video of any of your appearances, but that might not be possible. Good luck up there.

[campusfive]

I like Jonathon Doyle's playing a lot. I'm not sure if he's still based out of Austin, because I haven't heard much about him lately. He's done some work with Joel Paterson in a quartet with guitar, and with other bands with guitar, so he's not unfamiliar with it. I would love to see that gig, but Seattle is much too far and snaky for me, way down here on the third coast. It would be nice if someone could do a video of any of your appearances, but that might not be possible. Good luck up there.

Jonathan Doyle has been based out of Port Townsend, WA for probably 5 years or more now. He's such a great guy, and a great musician. Hopefully there'll be some video, but we'll see. I would love to get down to Austin again, if for no other reason than to jam and hang with friends like Dave Biller or JD Pendley. Thankfully, Whit Smith is also teaching at Red Hot Strings so I'll get see and jam with him there.

[marcut]

I'll be at Red Hot Strings next week and I'm really looking forward to taking some classes with you along with some other awesome teachers there. Seems like a great learning opportunity in a very nice setting.

[Sam b]

Dying to go to that camp. Have a great time!

[campusfive]

I'll be doing a very special show coming up... my annual Charlie Christian birthday concert.
It's scheduled for Sunday August 4th, 2024 at 6pm.

It's a one-of-kind show, because we'll be going through Charlie's repertoire and biography chronologically, as well as playing the repertoire using original instrumentation and arrangements.

I hope some JGO forum members might be able to make it.

[AllanAllen]

Jonathan Stout, Yuji Kamihigashi & Hirofumi Asaba playing Sweet Georgia Brown

[campusfive]

We had a great night celebrating Charlie Christian last Sunday, and the live stream is available to watch.

I hope you dig it.

[lang&django]

Thank you for live streaming that, I was really hoping it was going to be!

Joked with a friend about flying out just for the show, maybe next year.

Any plans on printing the poster? I know you've done it a few years in a row, would be cool to get a couple of the years printed up.

[campusfive]

Thank you for live streaming that, I was really hoping it was going to be!

Joked with a friend about flying out just for the show, maybe next year.

Any plans on printing the poster? I know you've done it a few years in a row, would be cool to get a couple of the years printed up.

I've got plenty of posters - DM me and I can get one sent out for you.

[campusfive]

So I had an amazing time at the Fretboard Summit, and while I was there, I was convinced I needed to just pull the trigger and submit this new EP to bandcamp, so I did.



The "Fathead" Session EP | The Jonathan Stout Quartet | Jonathan Stout
(If I'd had more time, I would've gotten Chris Wilkinson to do some proper art for it)

The story is basically that we had a gig get cancelled, and after being unable to find an alternative venue, and with musicians booked, I turned it into an exploratory quartet recording session, all captured with just two ribbon mics, specifically two Cascade "Fathead" mics. While I wasn't really prepped to make a proper album that day, I thought it came out sounding really great, and we got enough that I think it makes a really solid teaser for my trio or quartet gigs that I'm starting to do more of, and should be doing an album of soon. I realize not everybody who is interested in this kind of guitar playing wants to hear a swing dance band, so I'm hoping this will be something I can take into jazz clubs and listening rooms.

Check it out! Thanks

[AllanAllen]

First off, it sounds really good.

Is the quartet playing arrangements? Or did you discuss the unison riff for the end on I Can't Believe You're in love with me? I'm trying to get my own group to sound less like a couple guys jamming and more like.... well this.

[Oscar67]

Sounds great! Enjoying it as we speak! It’s like being in the room, exactly how I like it.

[campusfive]

First off, it sounds really good.

Is the quartet playing arrangements? Or did you discuss the unison riff for the end on I Can't Believe You're in love with me? I'm trying to get my own group to sound less like a couple guys jamming and more like.... well this.

So for this group, because it's so small, and I don't have fully written out charts, like with my other groups.
For any original tunes or obscure tunes, ie things people might not know off the top of their heads, I'll include a leadsheet.
For standards, I just assume people will know it.
Either way, for the actual "arrangement" I just write out a "road map" in words, something like:

I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me (Bb, starts on the IV)

• Intro: CLAR Last 8
• Head: AA GUITAR / B CLAR / A GUITAR
• CLAR SOLO
• GUITAR SOLO
• AA Send Off RIFF to Drums / B Bass / A Shout Ad-Lib

And then I made a "Cheat Sheet" that lives in a sheet protector, and has any of the riffs we use on the standards.
So each system of the sheet music is a different "Send off" or "Shout Riff" that people can refer to when the time comes.

(Also, anybody of the level that I'm working with should likely know that the tune in question starts on the IV chord, but even really great people can goof something like mistaking a 1st chord for the key of the tune in the moment, so having a dumb little note like that can save the trouble - and basically for all my books, the point is to make them as "unfuck-upable" as possible. And every time somebody does fuck something up, I'm always trying to figure out how to write it better so that it doesn't happen again. The book for the Campus Five is now 22 years old, and some of the charts are on their 10th iteration.

[campusfive]

Hey non-Los Angeles area folks, I've got some gigs coming up around the country, so make a note.

[AllanAllen]

So for this group, because it's so small, and I don't have fully written out charts, like with my other groups.
For any original tunes or obscure tunes, ie things people might not know off the top of their heads, I'll include a leadsheet.
For standards, I just assume people will know it.
Either way, for the actual "arrangement" I just write out a "road map" in words, something like:

I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me (Bb, starts on the IV)

• Intro: CLAR Last 8
• Head: AA GUITAR / B CLAR / A GUITAR
• CLAR SOLO
• GUITAR SOLO
• AA Send Off RIFF to Drums / B Bass / A Shout Ad-Lib

And then I made a "Cheat Sheet" that lives in a sheet protector, and has any of the riffs we use on the standards.
So each system of the sheet music is a different "Send off" or "Shout Riff" that people can refer to when the time comes.

(Also, anybody of the level that I'm working with should likely know that the tune in question starts on the IV chord, but even really great people can goof something like mistaking a 1st chord for the key of the tune in the moment, so having a dumb little note like that can save the trouble - and basically for all my books, the point is to make them as "unfuck-upable" as possible. And every time somebody does fuck something up, I'm always trying to figure out how to write it better so that it doesn't happen again. The book for the Campus Five is now 22 years old, and some of the charts are on their 10th iteration.

Thanks, this is really helpful!

[campusfive]

Just reminding folks I'll be in New York this and next week:

9/12 - Long Island Museum, Stony Brook - Duo w/ Erik McIntyre - Celebrating the guitars of John Montelone
9/14 - Yale Club of New York - Jonathan Stout Trio - SOLD OUT
9/15 - Linden's (Arlo Soho) - BRUNCH - Jonathan Stout Trio - NO COVER
9/17 - In the house band at Mona's Jazz Jam
9/18 - Birdland - special guest on Frank Vignola's Guitar Night!

Cheers!

[brent.h]

Great playing at Birdland, Jonathan!