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He's one of the best players of the last 2 decades and yet, I rarely hear his name mentioned on these forums. Here's a great example of the way he swings and plays over the bar rhythms.
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04-19-2017 01:20 PM
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Great player...he's using a flat top on this too, right? Sounds great.
There's a lot of great players right now...sometimes I can barely keep up wit them, as I only listen to so much guitar...thanks for mentioning him again.
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Paul's on an Aebersold play-along with Joey DeFrancesco. Volume 123, "Now's the Time: Standards with the Joey DeFrancesco Trio."
jazzbooks.com: Product Details
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maybe it's because he was a sideman for so long.
I can't find any other reason, it's certainly not his playing, that's for sure.
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I saw him last month with Tain Watts. Heck of a show!
I have chatted to him before--he's a very nice guy. I hear he's also a good teacher.
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Paul Bollenback and Vic Juris two great guitarists that don't get mentioned enough.
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Paul Bollenback is great. I even tried to get a thread going about him once myself. I saw him last year with Mike LeDonne and he was fantastic. He did an amazing bit with harmonics (plucked, not the Lenny Breau harp thing). I also saw him a couple of years ago with Joe D. and George Coleman. Crazy energy, with Coleman still circular breathing at 80-something years old. Bollenback is definitely one of the masters.
John
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The organ trio is one of my favorite settings for guitar.
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Yeah, and they both own Borys guitars.
Originally Posted by docbop
I emailed Paul about getting a good pickup for my new B-222, and he was very helpful.
I told him, I picked up a JazzKat for a good price, and he said, "Good, it'll make a good coffee table."
He was right.
He's a total mother.
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One funny story is that we both studied with Randall Dollahan at the university of miami. Randall's infamous advice to the two of us:
- to me: "You should quit school and just play jazz guitar"
- to paul: "You should change your major because you'll never be a jazz guitarist"
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Paul is an amazing player! I have a video lesson of his on chord melody. Tremendous depth as a player. all of his albums smoke, really like Double Gemini. Thanks, Jack, good to remind people. He can be supported by buying his lessons on
Jazz Guitar Classes | Mike's Master Classes
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he truly is a master at so many things. Whether it's solo guitar, improvising, accompaniment and his command of poly rhythms - as demonstrated in the clip above - is just amazing. Plus his swing and time are impeccable.
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And he can do the most ridiculous double stop, triple stop and block chord solos you've ever heard. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone with that command of block chord playing. He took what Kessel used to do and just took it to a whole other level.
I used to hear him all the time at the "One Step Down" in DC. What a treat that was.
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Guess which guitarist plays every song although his name does NOT appear on the cover:
Mr. Bollenback is in fast company here -- I always enjoy this record!
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I wonder what he thinks when he hears any of PB's records! Originally Posted by agentsmith
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it's funny but I'm not a big fan of those organ trio groove records with bollenback as much as I'm a fan of his trio playing. His forte is is moving the rhythms and harmony around and with the groove and chord heavy backings of the defrancesco groups, I think it puts paul into a more pedestrian approach. Go hear him play in a trio or behind a singer. It's a real mind blowing experience.
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Paul and Sheryl Bailey play duo now and then and that is great, the duo format allows them to take tunes in a lot of directions. Originally Posted by agentsmith
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I went to this performance in March. Paul Bollenback Portraits of Space and Time Quartet with Mike Boone and Byrone Landham. He is definitely one to see when and wherever the opportunity arises.
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She's a former student of his too. I took 4 or 5 lessons with Paul back in the day. When I first met him, it was at a jam session and he was asking me questions about how I approached playing over min7b5 chords and then a few years later, I was in washington music and someone asked me if I had ever heard Bollenback and that he was the best player in town. At the time there was Walt Namath, Rick Whitehead, Nathan Page, O'Donel Levy, Danny Gatton and more. And I remembered what Paul sounded like when I heard him at the jam session. So I politely said, "Yes, Paul's a good player - but BEST PLAYER IN TOWN???", and the salesman said, "Go hear him at the one step on monday nights".
So I hit up my friend Jim Roberts (also a great DC guitarists) and told him about the conversation and we both had a chuckle over the over-enthusiastic salesman but we went the following monday night to the one step. Paul was playing in a trio there with Steve Williams on drums and Dave Wundrow on upright bass. When we walked into the club, Paul was soloing over Giant Steps at 1/4=320+ and playing the most ridiculously complex lines interspersed with chords and double and triple stops. Then he flips his synth pickup on and plays a wicked solo that sounded like chick corea. Jim and I sat there with or mouths wide open and both of us discussed that we could practice for the next 20 years and not come close to what he was doing. We both wondered if he had been to the crossroads because it wasn't 3 years ago that we had heard him struggling to play over Dm7b5.
It really shows how much perseverance pays off.
Originally Posted by docbop
Last edited by agentsmith; 04-21-2017 at 03:20 PM.
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Yeah, the guy definitely made some deal with the devil. He can play his ass off.
I was at a benefit party we held for Roger Borys, after his shop in Hoboken got flooded with eight feet of water from Hurricane Sandy.
I didn't know we were gonna be playing there, so I didn't practice that day.
Finally I got so juiced, I said screw it, I'll sit in, since there's no one heavy there anyway.
We're playing 'Pensativa' when all of a sudden this bald guy comes running up to the stand, and grabs a guitar.
He's digging what I'm playing, and saying, "Yeah, baby, yeah".
Then he takes a solo, and I realize, "Uh oh, I think I know who this is!"
So I turned around and asked him if he was PB, and he smiles at me.
We did something up, and he wiped the floor with me, because I was juiced and I hadn't practiced that day, so I couldn't cut the tempo.
I was honored to give him a ride home, back to NYC.
Walt Namuth was a great player, but I can't find any of his records, just the stuff he did with Buddy.
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i took some lessons with Walt also. He was kind of nutty but a fabulous player. And O'Donel Levy was a Bensonesque player and just incredibly inventive and swinging. O'Donel's stuff is on youtube.
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Yeah, O'Donel was great. I used to listen to him and Cal Green when I was first getting into jazz, and they were big influences on me.
I've gotta get me some Walt Namuth!
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let me know if you find any walt namuth. He used to have cassette albums but I no longer have them.
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Amazing, thanks. Originally Posted by agentsmith
(also amazing how I managed during the last decades to not know him)
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