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Hey Guys,
In case you might have missed this story, here's an inspiring excerpt from a recent interview with jazz guitar legend Kenny Burrell:
It was published earlier this year. The composite photo that I put together features an insert of KB jamming with B.B. King at Kenny's 80th birthday party. Joining them on stage that night was Stevie Wonder and Dee Dee Bridgewater. To read the entire interview online, including some cool side stories (with photos) of the guitars favored by KB, click here. Hope you enjoy it!
On a personal note, my dad's favorite jazz guitarist was a toss-up between Freddie Green and Barney Kessel, but the one who first really moved me was Kenny Burrell. I loved his bluesy approach, fat tone and phrasing, especially on his 60's recordings with the legendary Jimmy Smith on organ. Two of the albums that stood out the most to me back then were "Blue Bash" and "Organ Grinder Swing." I'd play those tracks over and over again, but what was even more exciting were the times that I had the opportunity to catch KB live in small clubs.Last edited by JazzOnSix; 10-24-2014 at 06:48 AM.
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10-24-2014 05:48 AM
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My first influence in jazz guitar...
A shipmate of mine (I was in the US Navy) said if I liked jazz guitar to check out Midnight Blue...
I bought a copy in 1966...still have it...LP...play it almost weekly...
Great article of Kenny...
Time on the instrument...
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"Midnight Blue" was my first KB album too, though I found a "Best Of" CD too (-all Blue Note stuff) and played that over and over as well.
I like that term "freedom palette" for the blues.
Great stuff, Mark S. Thanks!
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Most of the "baby boomer" guitarists that I know either point to Burrell's Midnight Blue or Howard Robert's H.R. is a Dirty Guitar Player as the album that opened their ears to jazz guitar.
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Especially like the last paragraph of your KB excerpt. Thanks for posting that!
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I sure like both of those, but no jazz guitar record has blown me away like Wes's "Smokin' At The Half Note." I love KB and HR, but to my ears, Wes topped everyone with that one.
Originally Posted by monk
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Great article! KB was one of my first inspirations on jazz guitar. Classically trained - I did not know that. But it does not surprise me.
Jay
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I agree that Smokin made my head explode and may be the best jazz guitar record ever. But before that Kenny was actually my second exposure to jazz guitar with Jimmy Smith on Organ Grinder's Swing and I immediately heard the connection between the blues based rock I was playing and jazz. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
My first exposure to jazz guitar was Johnny Smith and I admit that at the time I had NO idea what the heck he was doing Kenny's playing was more accessible to a starry eyed teenager and along with the previously mentioned HR Is A Dirty Guitar Player got me deeply into jazz guitar.
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Among all of the player's I love Kenny Burrell would still be my favourite, I guess, for his great versatility and musicianship and definitely for being a musician who can get down with just playing the hell out of a blues with only a very very few notes (make that a pentatonic). I have lots of K.B. records and I will have more.
"Midnight Blue" was one of my first jazz records and that was way before I really got into liking jazz.
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Hey Guys,
Great comments! Glad that you enjoyed the interview and I'm not surprised whatsoever to hear how Kenny's playing and recordings over the years have resonated with so many of you.
With all due respect to the players mentioned (among many others) who have personally influenced my work, perhaps the reason why KB initially appealed to me is explained in those opening comments. He wears his deep love for the blues proudly on his sleeve, so the soulful message is there no matter what he's playing.
Historically and as you saw in the story, that fact was not lost on the likes of legendary artists like Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, many of whom have referred to Burrell as their "favorite" jazz guitarist.
Besides the emotional element in his work, I believe that another reason for his popularity cross-genre and among aspiring guitarists is that KB's playing somehow seems accessible and not too intimidating. At least that's the way I felt early on, and I've heard that from a lot of players over the years.
Naturally, Kenny's discography is unlike any other and I have a long list of favorites. However, here are four albums among them from the 60's that most of you will recognize:
I had mentioned in my first post about catching KB live on frequent occasions back in the day. Here's more on that..
The El Matador was a jazz club on Broadway, in the North Beach district of San Francisco. It was a venue that both Kenny and pianist Oscar Peterson (my main jazz influence) liked to play whenever they came to town.
What was amazing about the club was the fact that major artists would get booked for two weeks at a time. They'd play two sets each night, six nights a week. You never see anything like that nowadays, but even more extraordinary was that there was no cover charge, just a two-drink minimum to hear these great players blow it out. And if you arrived a half-hour before the early set started, you could grab a table right in front, literally within 10-15 feet of the performers. Since I was a minor at the time, I had to use a phony ID to get into the club. No problem ;-).
My greatest recollection of catching Mr. Burrell at the El Matador was one night when I asked him to play "Blues for Del," a tune he had recorded with Jimmy in the early sixties on Blue Bash. Kenny smiled when he saw that the request was coming from such a young fan, and naturally he lit the place up with this slow swing blues number. As any student who's taken my blues course knows, this tune is one that I've played and taught for years. But this is what inspired me to learn it in the first place, and I like to think that after all of this time I can now do some justice to my mentor in performing it. Check out this unreleased studio take:
Blues for Del (Tribute to Kenny Burrell)
Hope you enjoy it, and if any of you are interested in hearing more recordings dedicated to Kenny, just let me know. I can also try to post some notational examples of licks directly related to KB and heavily-influenced by his original work.
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that is lovely and relaxed man ... Originally Posted by JazzOnSix
Hey Guys,
Great comments! Glad that you enjoyed the interview and I'm not surprised whatsoever to hear how Kenny's playing and recordings over the years have resonated with so many of you.
With all due respect to the players mentioned (among many others) who have personally influenced my work, perhaps the reason why KB initially appealed to me is explained in those opening comments. He wears his deep love for the blues proudly on his sleeve, so the soulful message is there no matter what he's playing.
Historically and as you saw in the story, that fact was not lost on the likes of legendary artists like Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, many of whom have referred to Burrell as their "favorite" jazz guitarist.
Besides the emotional element in his work, I believe that another reason for his popularity cross-genre and among aspiring guitarists is that KB's playing somehow seems accessible and not too intimidating. At least that's the way I felt early on, and I've heard that from a lot of players over the years.
Naturally, Kenny's discography is unlike any other and I have a long list of favorites. However, here are four albums among them from the 60's that most of you will recognize:
I had mentioned in my first post about catching KB live on frequent occasions back in the day. Here's more on that..
The El Matador was a jazz club on Broadway, in the North Beach district of San Francisco. It was a venue that both Kenny and pianist Oscar Peterson (my main jazz influence) liked to play whenever they came to town.
What was amazing about the club was the fact that major artists would get booked for two weeks at a time. They'd play two sets each night, six nights a week. You never see anything like that nowadays, but even more extraordinary was that there was no cover charge, just a two-drink minimum to hear these great players blow it out. And if you arrived a half-hour before the early set started, you could grab a table right in front, literally within 10-15 feet of the performers. Since I was a minor at the time, I had to use a phony ID to get into the club. No problem ;-).
My greatest recollection of catching Mr. Burrell at the El Matador was one night when I asked him to play "Blues for Del," a tune he had recorded with Jimmy in the early sixties on Blue Bash. Kenny smiled when he saw that the request was coming from such a young fan, and naturally he lit the place up with this slow swing blues number. As any student who's taken my blues course knows, this tune is one that I've played and taught for years. But this is what inspired me to learn it in the first place, and I like to think that after all of this time I can now do some justice to my mentor in performing it. Check out this unreleased studio take:
Blues for Del (Tribute to Kenny Burrell)
Hope you enjoy it, and if any of you are interested in hearing more recordings dedicated to Kenny, just let me know. I can also try to post some notational examples of licks directly related to KB and heavily-influenced by his original work.
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I love KB. He is always in the pocket too...always groovin.
Speaking of KB and the blues, his solo on Nica's Dream from the Album "KB Blues" is well worth checking out. It's so good, that's the version of Nica's Dream on the Horace Silver "best of" compilation album! (Silver is on piano, but still...the tune was originally recorded with Silver as leader in another group and one would have expected for them to use that version).
Also, one of the pros I've studied with told me how he had a dream one night of his mom visiting him and telling him "never forget the blues in your playing"...and since then he hasn't! I think he was trying to tell me to use more blues in my playing...
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Love that blues take, Jazz on Six! Sounded just like vintage KB. Great playing.
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Mark S, I love your KB recommendations. I too loved his work with Jimmy Smith. This track remains an all-time fave. Great groove, Kenny's solo is a marvel of timing and feel, and Jimmy was great too.
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Jeff, thanks to you and everyone else for the kind words. You know.. the entire reason I've played a Gibson S400 since 1971 was because I was so floored by KB's tone. Back then I was also playing through a Fender Twin Reverb, again due to Burrell. The amps have changed over the years but I'm still using the same archtop whether I'm playing jazz, blues, latin, funk, etc. Originally Posted by jbyork
One of my all-time favorite KB releases was his epic 1958 quintet album with John Coltrane, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. That record featured one of Burrell's best bebop originals, so here's my quartet spin on:
Lyresto (Another Tribute to Kenny)
I never could find a lead sheet for this tune, so years ago I ended up transcribing Chambers' bass line and Flanagan's piano voicings to figure out the harmony. The head itself is just superb, and even has some slick and unusual blues twists.
Here's a transcribed excerpt from the opening of my 3-chorus, 96-bar guitar solo:
For those of you familiar with the original recording, you'll note that I quoted the first 6 bars of Kenny's solo. My father always said that if you can't walking away humming at least part of an improvised solo, it wasn't worth remembering. Burrell is one of the greatest ever at playing something that really sticks in your head, which was certainly the case here.
When the harmony shifts to Abm7-Db7 in bars 7-8 and beyond it's more from my language vocabulary and other jazz influences, spanning Bird, Benson, Oscar, Wes, Trane, Farlow, etc, etc. Hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for more..Last edited by JazzOnSix; 10-28-2014 at 11:14 PM.
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I learned this tune as soon as I heard it from Mark!My ears just gravitated to it.True,Mr Burrell is there but its what Mark does with it that drives home the point of core language and just the overall point of how to put a solo together that says something!Thanks Mark for being there and creating such a nice website and tools to work with!
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KB "accessible and not too intimidating" in other words beautifull melodies. For mine his lines are just silky perfect. Absence of meandering scales and modes. Music of the highest order.
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Thanks, YoCat! I think you know my solo from that take better than I do ;-). Speaking of KB and his influence on me, here are some related licks transcribed from one of my funky blues originals: Originally Posted by YoCat
Both the head and solo for "The Soul Factor" were inspired by Chitlins Con Carne. The above excerpt is from the third solo chorus. To hear the entire studio track, featuring Bob Magnusson on bass and Mike Sandberg on drums, click here.
As I'm sure everyone knows, KB's classic Chitlins Con Carne (Midnight Blue/Blue Note) is one of his most popular tunes. Over the years this funky blues has been covered by numerous artists, including Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Jimmy Dawkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Horace Silver and so many others. It's one of my favorite ways of playing the blues, and I've written quite a few originals in this style.
Here's a question for you guys..
Can anyone familiar with Kenny's recordings (hint: 70's) identify the source of the call & response theme in the lick example shown above? The track in question was originally in the key of D, but over the years I've played around with the concept in several keys, and in this case replaced his single-note stabs with double-stops. I'm sure that he would approve ;-).Last edited by JazzOnSix; 11-10-2014 at 03:29 AM.
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Close call, Jeff. You've got the right album but the wrong track. While I love that tune (one of many that Wolf chose for his epic book on KB - highly recommended), "Love Is the Answer" was the source for the lick. Here's a shot of the album cover plus one of Kenny and Mr. Marshall taken down in SoCal a few years ago: Originally Posted by jbyork
"God Bless the Child" (CTI) is one of my favorite records by Kenny, and you might be aware that my good friend has been teaching alongside him at UCLA for several years now. Burrell was one of Wolf's early jazz guitar inspirations, something we share in common. You can imagine what a joy it is for him to be involved every week with one of the greatest legends of jazz guitar. That's why he was such a natural fit to conduct the recent interview with Kenny for Vintage Guitar.
Btw, you can find "Love Is the Answer" on YouTube, and the lick/theme starts at about the 2:13 mark. All for now..
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Hey Guys,
Speaking of Midnight Blue, here's a shot of Kenny Burrell and the Six Guitars jamming on Chitlins Con Carne at Kenny's 75th Birthday Concert (December 2006 - UCLA, Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA):
Wolf, who organized the affair, is playing a Heritage Super KB (Kenny Burrell Super 400) custom archtop guitar. From left to right, Paul Jackson Jr., Anthony Wilson, Kenny Burrell, Jacques Lesure, Wolf Marshall, Dr. Wayne Goins and Calvin Keyes.
Mr. Marshall told me that playing a solo chorus on Chitlins with Kenny backing him up on rhythm guitar was something that he'll never forget. It must have been a pretty good solo, because it was right after this performance that KB invited Wolf to collaborate with him in teaching jazz guitar at UCLA.
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And I came to appreciation of KB through his solo concert
Amazon.com: Kenny Burrell: Tenderly: Music
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Dr. Wayne Goins----didn't he write a biography of Charlie Christian? I read that a couple years back. Fellow forum member Monk recommended and I learned a lot about CC. Originally Posted by JazzOnSix
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I've been listening to Kenny all morning, and I'm pretty sure it has just made me a better person.
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Yes, Mark.. it was co-written with Craig McKinney. And for anyone who's a fan of CC I would also highly recommend Marshall's book ("The Best of Charlie Christian" - A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Styles and Techniques of the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar). Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
It's one of his Signature Licks series published by Hal Leonard, and of course the others are devoted to Kenny, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, etc, etc. None of these are biographies per se, but there's a lot of biographical information included along with the complete transcriptions and discs. When I did the Just Jazz Guitar cover story interview with Wolf back in February of 2006, I was astounded to learn of his articulate and thorough process in writing these books, including exact replications of the original tracks performed by top studio players.
On a related note, the Marshall book that everyone was waiting for was the one on Kenny Burrell, but there were legal issues involved that delayed publishing. I won't name names, but one guy had cornered the rights to both Midnight Blue and Chitlins Con Carne and refused to allow them to be used. It's a great book but it's such a shame that those two epic tunes had to be left out. All for now..
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