Were there any Jazz Guitar players who had showmanship like a Chuck Berry

**VinceMGuitar** · 06-29-2015, 03:30 PM

I think Metheny is the ultimate Jazz "Rock Star." I think his body language is great. Lots of excitement to see and hear. Frankly I remember being somewhat indifferent to many Metheny Group tunes until I saw them live. Then for some reason I got it. I guess I needed to see his live presentation.

**TommyCorsica2** · 06-29-2015, 03:55 PM

Wait, has no one every heard of Slim Gaillard? ... McVouty?
Check him out.
Less physical "schtick" than Berry, but every bit as fun.

**henryrobinett** · 06-29-2015, 04:00 PM

Metheny is about the only one i can think of.

**mr. beaumont** · 06-29-2015, 04:13 PM

No dance moves, but John Pizzarelli can have an audience eating out of his hand in minutes. A real entertainer.

I've posted this before...gets a roomful of adults singing along with kids' nursery rhymes.

**PatrickB** · 06-29-2015, 04:22 PM

Check out Emily Remler's videos. A joy to watch, she's practically dancing.

**grahambop** · 06-29-2015, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by TommyCorsica2

Wait, has no one every heard of Slim Gaillard? ... McVouty?
Check him out.
Less physical "schtick" than Berry, but every bit as fun.

Oh yeah, he was cool. Saw a film about him once. He used to play the piano with the backs of his hands, or leaning over the top of the piano from the back! And he was a kind of rapper before rap was invented.

**grahambop** · 06-29-2015, 04:42 PM

There used to be a guy in Airto and Flora Purim's band called Jose Neto - he was quite a showman. He played an electric nylon-string like it was a rock guitar.

**22tango** · 06-29-2015, 06:20 PM

Oscar Aleman:

**Patrick2** · 06-30-2015, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by NSJ

Not sure if serious.

Bird was famous for playing absolutely still. Trane was deeply embarrassed when he had to take a gig that involved "walking the bar". Miles was famous for turning his back on the audience.

Have be you tried to play jazz while doing windmills with the right arm and executing jumps and splits? And then smashing the guitar into an amp?

You woyld be the first one, I suspect.

lololol . . . yeah, I'd have payed big money to see Metheny, Burrell, Ellis, Pass and othe jazz guitar greats duck walking across the stage and doing leg splits like Chuck Berry did as he was playing his solos. How about Bucky Pizzarelli moon walking in the middle of an improv? Or, seeing George Benson "do the twirl" like Prince while blowing.

**grahambop** · 06-30-2015, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by Patrick2

lololol . . . yeah, I'd have payed big money to see Metheny, Burrell, Ellis, Pass and othe jazz guitar greats duck walking across the stage and doing leg splits like Chuck Berry did as he was playing his solos. How about Bucky Pizzarelli moon walking in the middle of an improv? Or, seeing George Benson "do the twirl" like Prince while blowing.

Or Bill Evans spinning round and round in a revolving piano suspended above the stage, like Keith Emerson.

**Patrick2** · 06-30-2015, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

No dance moves, but John Pizzarelli can have an audience eating out of his hand in minutes. A real entertainer.

I've posted this before...gets a roomful of adults singing along with kids' nursery rhymes.

IMO, John Pizzarelli get way too little respect in the world of jazz.

**Patrick2** · 06-30-2015, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by grahambop

Or Bill Evans spinning round and round in a revolving piano suspended above the stage, like Keith Emerson.

Ha!! Good one!! Here's another . . try to picture Oscar Peterson doing a Jerry Lee Lewis!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=1dC0DseCyYE

**daveg** · 06-30-2015, 10:59 AM

T-Bone Walker was pretty active on stage and something of a showman.

I remember seeing him end an extended solo on his ES5 with a trill or similar and whilst keeping the left hand going he picked up his little Gibson Amp with his right hand and walked off stage with it.

DG

**Patrick2** · 06-30-2015, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by daveg

T-Bone Walker was pretty active on stage and something of a showman.

I remember seeing him end an extended solo on his ES5 with a trill or similar and whilst keeping the left hand going he picked up his little Gibson Amp with his right hand and walked off stage with it.

DG

T-Bone was known as a blues man . . not a jazzer.

**daveg** · 06-30-2015, 12:35 PM

Yeah Patrick, but he WAS appearing on a "Jazz at the Philharmonic" show and was being accompanied by a few REAL Jazzers so where do you draw the line?? The musicians behind him were well up to what he was doing and I daresay that he could also play THEIR music.

Jazz came from the Blues and maybe it is going to turn full circle.

**EarlBrother** · 06-30-2015, 05:18 PM

Always enjoy Johns vids.Did you ever see I'm Hip?I'm gonna work that one up someday.There's the entertaining Jazz guitarist.

**EarlBrother** · 06-30-2015, 05:27 PM

Wonder why, at least it seems in this neck of the globe, Pizzarelli does not get mention.Did you ever see his live I,m Hip performance.I some day will work that one up.

**edh** · 06-30-2015, 08:25 PM

How about Monk spinning around in circles.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-01-2015, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by edh

How about Monk spinning around in circles.

I don't think he could stop or control that.

**gggomez** · 07-01-2015, 10:25 PM

James Morrison the Australian trumpeter used to put on a big show. There was a time he entered the stage on a Tarzan rope while playing his trumpet.

Louie Armstrong went the extra mile.

I guess you either have it in you or you don't.

There is a place for frowning and looking at the floor but it seems to be the norm. Love a good smile when I see a band play. If I had to make a living out of jazz I would not complain about playing in front of 5 people I would do something about it.

**AndyV** · 07-02-2015, 11:03 AM

This one comes to mind for an example of guitar player schtick .....

Danny could, of course, play jazz extremely well.

**KirkP** · 07-02-2015, 11:25 AM

Oscar Alemán?

**John A.** · 07-02-2015, 12:34 PM

Some of the early players who crossed over between jazz and jump blues and pop styles were flashy showmen. As mentioned above, T-Bone Walker was probably the one best known for his showmanship. Some others who come to mind as some combination of animated/flashy/funny: Slim Gaillard, Tiny Grimes, Carl Hogan (Louis Jordan's guitar player), Johnny Guitar Watson (who was pretty jazzy in his early days, before he went full Funk).

From what I've read, stuff like duck walking, playing behind the back, playing with teeth, and other tricks were pretty common on the chitlin circuit. I think it's a fair bet that almost anybody who played an electric guitar between 1940 and 1960 at least occasionally did some of that stuff in some contexts. But to an extent bop and other modern jazz movements were a reaction against that sort of show-biz (and minstrel show) aesthetic. There are exceptions (Dizzy Gillespie comes to mind), but among modern jazz players in general there's an emphasis on jazz as high art, and a de-emphasis of it as entertainment.

John

destinytot · 07-04-2015, 08:58 AM

Showmanship, talent and humour

**Encinitastubes** · 07-06-2015, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive

I beg to differ. Dizzy's music was entertainment on both physical and intelectual level. It's inseparable. That was the topic in another tread, but I think it's established now that Black American music, which jazz is part of, is rooted in rhythm first and foremost, and rhythm is physical.

And thinking Chuck Berry did duckwalk because it was expected from him to be a clown?? Doesnt rock'n'roll make you feel like moving and grooving?? I mean c'mon man!

To me, this post nails it. Swinging, bopping, grooving, thumpin', etc. It's physical. I always thought the greatest players transcend the intellectual part -- they just play drums with notes.