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Has anyone else heard of Lorne Lofsky?...
I never even knew he existed until a week ago. I recently walked into my local record store in search of some jazz albums and saw his LP "It Could Happen To You" sitting randomly in some bin. What caught my eye was the sweet-looking guitar on the album cover, which I'm guessing is an ES-175. I also read the blurb on the back of the album and saw that Oscar Peterson "discovered" him and produced the album. It was cheap, so I figured I'd give it a shot and I'm glad I did.
It's a very good album, though I wouldn't call any of the music groundbreaking. What I really liked was his tone. He had a real fat, round tone, and it was almost percussive at times. If you didn't know he was playing a guitar, you'd think for a second that it was a Hammond organ or even a steel drum at times. Real nice.
Besides the Oscar Peterson connection and that fact he's Canadian (it said it on the back of the album), I know nothing else about him. Anyone else know him? Any recommendations for other albums?
BTW, I didn't take the picture included here. I just found it online...Last edited by rsantos11; 12-01-2016 at 11:35 AM.
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12-01-2016 01:06 AM
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I was just listening to that album again this week. A student of mine played It Could Happen To You for his college audition recently so apart from studying classic takes of the tune by Chet Baker, Miles, Sonny Rollins etc., I had him check out guitar-based versions by Lorne Lofsky, Jimmy Raney and Akio Sasajima.
Some nice LL on this clip with Oscar Peterson:
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Find If you can:"this is New"
1990 Concord Jazz
Ed Bickert guitar
Lorne Lofsky guitar
Neil Swanson bass
Jerry Fuller drums
done in the Toronto studio of Phil Sheridan in december1990
cheers
HB
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LL is a fine player, but no guitarist should make albums with guys like Bickert, or Jimmy Raney for that matter; they'll make you sound like you overplay, sound stiff, and play too many musically empty patterns.
Originally Posted by Hyppolyte Bergamotte
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I love his playing. His use of quatral voicings, intervals of stacked fourths, is so personal, tasteful and distinctive that he's easily recognizable. It's true that he's got some association with Ed Bikert, I like their collaborations, but I also like his lines and music in his own right. I have some really nice recordings, not easy to find.
He's had some really nice DVDs too.
David
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He teaches at York University. He's fairly well known on this forum although his name only comes up occasionally
Last edited by va3ux; 12-01-2016 at 08:44 AM.
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Lorne sounds great on 'This is New' with Ed Bickert (I have it), he certainly stands up well to Ed on that recording at least. Originally Posted by sgcim
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Yes! Certainly! I used to have that album on tape when I just started. It's a great album. Lorne anyway plays fantastic! Originally Posted by rsantos11
It was never released on Cd right? I looked for it. I wore out my tape ages ago
Jens
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Thanks for all the responses. Good to see he's more well known than I thought. Now I'm wondering how to hear more of his music. He doesn't have many CDs available on Amazon, and the ones that are there are kind of expensive, so I'm assuming they're not plentiful. He only has two albums available to stream on Spotify and they seem like later stuff. I guess back to record shop I go searching through more bins...
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I'm Canadian so of course am a huge fan of Ed Bickert, Oscar Peterson, etc.
Check out the superlative pianist Brian Browne (a fellow Ottawan)
Welcome to BrianBrowne.com
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I'll look out for this one. It looks available on Amazon, but it seems expensive. Not sure why. But thanks for the recommendation... Originally Posted by Hyppolyte Bergamotte
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I love his playing. Anyone who is really a jazz guitar aficionado will know about LL and appreciate his playing. I don't know why he doesn't get more attention.
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I think the only reason Lorne doesn't get more attention is there just aen't enough recordings of him out there (and he's a consummate sideman, so unless you know who he's worked with, you might not even know where to start)
Great player. Kind of in that Ed Bickert vein, but his own thing.
OP, thanks for starting this, I'm due for a LL binge listen today, I think.
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Thank you and it's my pleasure. I'm glad he's getting some appreciation out there... Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Coincidentally on my way in to the office this morning an Oscar Peterson tune was playing on Sirius with some wonderful guitar accompaniment and I knew it wasn't Pass, Ellis or Kessel . . . a few minutes later it came to me that it was Lorne Lofsky. His solo was "lights out".
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Guess I need to do some research and figure out what tunes or albums he was a sideman on... Originally Posted by ESCC
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Looks like a lot of his stuff is not available on CD from what I can see. I guess I lucked into finding that LP. Gotta love dusty old record stores... Originally Posted by JensL
It was never released on Cd right? I looked for it. I wore out my tape ages ago
Jens
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I found his website and it looks like he's available for lessons. That would be cool. Now all I need to do is cover the cost of the flight from LA to Toronto every week... Originally Posted by va3ux
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LL plays a solid body and uses a thumb pick and I love his tone. It gives me perspective and I welcome it.
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He has 2 albums available as downloads on amazon uk and iTunes.
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I dug his stuff with OP!
A for something completely different, from those OP dates.
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Now that's somewhere I'd like to spend a couple of hours.
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Know of Lorne for years. I really like Lorne's playing.
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The first time I heard him was on the cable TV show that Oscar Peterson used to have.
He was playing a black Les Paul that was feeding back a lot.
When he played solos, he sounded like a blues rocker.
Then I bought the CD he made with Ed Bickert "This Is New", and he sounded completely different.
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There is a fair amount on YouTube:
lorne lofsky - YouTube
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