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I wanted to start a thread about Peter Leitch, one of the finest and yet under-appreciated guitarists on the New York scene. Unfortunately Peter has now stopped playing due to health issues.
His autobiography, 'Off the Books', is excellent. A real, raw, look at the life of a musician playing creative music. Peter's also become a very talented photographer in the last couple of decades, with a number of exhibitions of his work.
To quote Russell Malone: "The New York jazz scene is saturated with great musicians. A lot of them don't get a lot of press, and you don't see them playing in the high profile venues. But they are out there in the trenches and playing on a high level. There wouldn't be much of a New York scene without them. Guitarist Peter Leitch has been out here on the battlefield for a long time. He is the epitome of excellence, always playing great, and never letting the standard drop."
Last edited by David B; 08-26-2016 at 01:03 PM.
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08-26-2016 07:27 AM
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Peter Bernstein was knocked out by PL's album 'Self Portrait' when I played it for him.
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good player, have had some of his records for years. nice treatment of those Monk tunes.
and rip Dwayne Burno, another good player who's missed on the NY scene.
I work w/his brother occasionally.
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Great player. he's got the same model guitar that Jimmy Raney used to play, with the Attilla Zoller pickup on it.
I read that book he wrote, also; he wasn't afraid to pull any punches in it.
I sometimes wonder if his cancer wasn't caused by that long-standing gig he had at that club located right near the WTC.
A friend of mine worked with the city on detoxing a building that got hit on 9/11, and he said that the air and buildings in that area were literally poisonous, according to the tests that he saw.
I met PL once, and he invited me to come down and sit in at the club, not long after 9/11.
I told him I was scared to death of going anywhere near that area.
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peter lived down near that area as well...the place he's playing in db's ^ linked vid is walkers..a small classic old downtown/tribeca nyc bar..great place
here's peter... from good interview @ Peter Leitch Interview With Jazz Guitar Life : Jazz Guitar Lives at Jazz Guitar Life
PL: My main guitar is an Atilla Zoller model Hofner, built in the 1970s. I bought this from Atilla himself in 1993. I also have a Ramirez nylon string guitar, and an old 1950s ES 175. I have several Polytone mini brute amplifiers. In a large venue, sometimes I will take a line out of the amp and run it through the house system. (or just put a microphone in front of the amp.) or both, if the sound person knows what he/she is doing, which doesn’t always happen.
cheers
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I always made a point of catching Peter at Walkers whenever I was in NY. I remember one particularly great night when the late Charles Davis was his musical partner. I sat with Russell Malone and we spent the breaks listening to Charles' stories about Billie Holiday and Ben Webster. Peter's the real deal:
Last edited by PMB; 08-27-2016 at 11:17 PM.
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That's really nice, love the song, love the playing... How come I've never heard about this guy before? I hear a certain virtuoso name pass-ing on this pages all the time as an 'icon', who incidentally made me allergic to even the words 'chord-melody'; but this guy is just killing it, and it's the first time I hear his name.. What up with that, jazzers? Well, better late than never I guess, wish him recovery and hope I can catch him playing live one day, maybe.
Originally Posted by David B
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Some great footage of Peter Leitch, John Hicks and Ray Drummond at the legendary Bradley's in NYC, 1996.
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Sad about Peter's health. I've been asking after him since I started playing at the room where he created a gig over 20 years ago. I hope he is feeling better. Good man, fine player...
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Am not familiar with Peter, thanks for the introduction.
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I've got a number of Peter's CD's and they're all wonderful albums. Great players and great playing. I've often wondered, too, why he doesn't have a wider following. I read his book when it first came out and it provides a great insight into the life of a working musician. Peter is also a very accomplished photographer. Thanks for starting this thread, David. B. Originally Posted by David B
I wanted to start a thread about Peter Leitch, one of the finest and yet under-appreciated guitarists on the New York scene. Unfortunately Peter has now stopped playing due to health issues.
His autobiography, 'Off the Books', is excellent. A real, raw, look at the life of a musician playing creative music. Peter's also become a very talented photographer in the last couple of decades, with a number of exhibitions of his work.
To quote Russell Malone: "The New York jazz scene is saturated with great musicians. A lot of them don't get a lot of press, and you don't see them playing in the high profile venues. But they are out there in the trenches and playing on a high level. There wouldn't be much of a New York scene without them. Guitarist Peter Leitch has been out here on the battlefield for a long time. He is the epitome of excellence, always playing great, and never letting the standard drop."
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Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Peter at his home. I'm in NYC for the week, checking out the scene.
He was in great spirits and a couple of hours flew by as we talked about New York City, music, politics and more. Peter has some great stories and always tells it straight.
I was able to fill a couple of gaps in my CD collection and Peter very generously gave me the sheet music to one of my favourite tunes of his, 'Penumbra'.
In the evening, I ran into Peter and his wife watching Russell Malone at Jazz Standard. Russell announced onstage, acknowledging Peter in the room, "no matter how big I get, I'll always look up to him!"
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I studied with Peter for a few months back around '88. I was knocked out after hearing a track from a Woody Shaw record that he was on and I saw his ad in the Village Voice.
He was a very good teacher, very much into preparing you to play on the bandstand, showing intros and endings, subs, etc. We played Milestones, ATTYA (he taught me the Bird intro), and a few other tunes. Very big fan of Jim Hall, he turned me on to To Sweden With love with Art Farmer.
I also went to a number of gigs with him and remember driving him to a gig in NJ with Rufus Reid and Jed Levy. Really a great guy. I'm sorry to hear about his health issues, though i have known about it for a while. BTW, I've never read his book, and I should!
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Peter told me that his cancer doctor read the book and has a habit of quoting lines from the book back at him! Originally Posted by Neer
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I met him at a Phil Woods clinic at LIU, where he was taking photos of Phil, and he raved so much about that Art farmer/Jim Hall LP, I had to check it out. Originally Posted by Neer
It was a weird album; just these simple, diatonic, minor key Swedish folk tunes, with simple improvisations on them.
I told a guy I session with about it, who is a good friend of PL's, and he said that Pl was a very 'dark' guy.
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His records always have been the best of bebop-guitar to me.
Wonderful player.
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David B, thank you for starting this thread. I've known Leitch's name for a looonnng time and never made the effort to check him out. What a mistake that was! The version of I Hear a Rhapsody is magnificent. Thanks to the other posters for their further suggestions.
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I just received this album - it's really great. He comes at solo playing differently than one normally hears. Highly recommended (hard to find but worth it). Originally Posted by David B
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Probably my favorite track from Self Portrait (Yesterdays is also very good):
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Just listened to "Penumbra" 4 times in a row. That's great.
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