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I saw Tommy Friday night, second row in the center. I saw Andres decades ago in about the 20th row.
Tommy wins in entertainment value, hands down. The two and a half hour show never was boring, even to my 15 year old son. It was a lot of fun and incredible playing.
A hundred years from now, Andres will be a more important historic figure. He deserves that, too. He was amazing in a very different way. But the word "fun" was not part of the review.
I found this video of Tommy in concert. It's long, but check it out. He exudes joy, and it was contagious Friday night.
If you are pressed for time, start the video at 45:00 and finish out that tune. You'll see how his guitar got its wear pattern.
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12-03-2017 10:57 AM
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Oh, Marty, what are you saying? That Tommy is a better musician? Better guitar player? Better entertainer? Just better? I can't get my head around this "versus". We are musicians. We live, love, and share music. Each of us doing our best, in full knowledge that we can only please some of the people some of the time. It's not a popularity contest. I'm sorry, Marty, I just can't follow you in this one. No hard feelings.
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Rob, I should have been clearer.
The Andres Segovia concert was in a fairly large theatre with maybe a 20 row balcony. There was no amplification at all. His playing filled the auditorium, but the audience sat motionless in order to hear. It was a quiet spectacle. Andres had a deadpan face throughout. He was the greatest living classical guitarist at the time and truly a legend. His playing did not disappoint.
By contrast, Tommy had the audience on its feet, singing along, and laughing. He did things with the guitar I've never seen.
I can't tell you who was a better musician because both of them were stunning. Tommy was a superior showman and was highly focused on the audience. Andres was clearly focused on the music and made little eye contact with the audience.
As I reflect on it, it wouldn't have worked to switch the audiences. Tommy's audience was a little drunker and higher than Andres'. The Segovia audience won on the jewelry, white gloves and teeth counts.
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Two completely different worlds there. Segovia is a classical guitarist and concert artist. Tommy Emmanuel is a concert performer too but to a completely different audience. With Segovia, he is the entire show. He is condescending to grace you with a display of his "closeness" to the composers whose piece he plays. You could say that Segovia is letting you have a glimpse of his world, kind of from outside of it. Tommy Emmanuel, on the other hand, is throwing his world wide open and inviting you to step inside it and, so to speak, become his "good buddy" for at least the length of the concert. Both of these are valid ways of performing, although the music presented in the two situations is completely different, like a church service versus a lively party. I can dig both because I play rock and blues guitar - and I am also a trained classical musician who built my own harpsichord as part of my college music major. The two worlds of popular music and art music are pretty much separate. It is great to be able to enjoy and perform in both, but I haven't seen much useful interaction between them.
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Unfortunately I will have to miss Tommy play in Lincoln this Tuesday due to a prior commitment...
I have seen that video--superb player and showman, certainly one of the best steel-string players around these days.
You may have heard his story of playing guitar for Chet Atkins when Chet was in bed with his terminal illness. He was a good friend and brought some great joy to him in his final days.
Re' Segovia--what more can be said? The Picasso of classical guitar. His influence is huge.
Not much nail there. Beautiful playing well into his 80's.
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Tommy Emmanuel is a great entertainer as well as an instrumentalist and his love of what he is doing flows out of him during a performance. I had the recent pleasure of seeing John McLaughlin and Jimmy Herring on their Meeting of the Spirits tour and while the musicianship displayed was top notch, the visible signs that John and all his band mates really enjoyed what they were doing was infectious and made at least for me made the whole event more enjoyable.
I will be seeing Tommy Emmanuel in April of next year and I'm looking forward to an enjoyable time.
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Marty~ Thanks for the post. I have tickets to see Tommy Emmanuel in San Francisco next month. Looking forward to it!
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tommy emmanuel is a tremendous player and great entertainer...any guitar player would be captivated by his performances
segovia is art of the highest degree..no fun, no smiles, no shenanigans...the music is all
no compare
ok to enjoy both tho!!!
cheers
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I asked my friend/teacher Larry Coryell what he thought of Tommy Emmanuel once. He said" Chet Atkins on steroids". I love Tommy's playing and have gone to see him more than once. But compared to Segovia? I think the NFL guys have a saying "Come on Man"...
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It don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing... or roll over Beethoven, tell Tchakovski the news... Go Tommy!
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Marty, Marty, Marty ........."you cannot be serious" !
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either we keep this thread for comedic value or we toss it.
Comparing artists is what I hate about the internet.
Segovia was a Spaniard
Tommy was an ozy
Better question is: how were Segovia's contributions to the guitar similar/ different than Emmanuel's?
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Segovia famously hated amplification.
I could see Tommy playing something, completely unamplified and Segovia approving.
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Segovia reminds me of my very first guitar teacher. It was a Classical dude in the strictest form. I asked him to teach me how to strum chords, instead he tortured me with scales and Bach. I quit guitar for a few years because of him. You know, Segovia may have been a genius, but what I heard he was grumpy and intolerable... Bad memories!
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No contest
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You are correct, there is no contest. They are in different disciplines.
Let me make some more cogent comparisons. Scotty Moore vs. Chuck Berry. Jimi Hendrix vs. Eric Clapton. Berry and Hendrix were showmen and dominated the stage. Listening to albums is very different.
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When I saw Blade, with Wesley Snipes, I was living in Boston. The audience was excited but pretty tame. By the time Blade 3 came out, I was living in Philly. That audience was out of their seats, fighting in the aisles. Maybe there was a fight over some boisterous guy with a father and his kid. That theatre was a riot compared with Boston.
Originally Posted by Marty Grass
I guess Blade 3 was a better movie.
DavidLast edited by TH; 12-04-2017 at 12:13 PM.
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Tommy's one of those immensely talented, hard working, impossible not to appreciate while watching musicians...whose music does absolutely nothing for me.
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Tommy Emmauell vs. Tommy Lee Jones... hm... i am not really sure...
Tommy Emmanuel vs. Emmauelle Beart... this one is easy to choose...
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Segovia - no fun ?
I saw him perform around 1975, at age 83. He was just celebrating the birth of his youngest son.
Beat that Tommy !
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Actually Segovia was not completely humourless or deadpan. When I saw him at a ripe old age, he excused himself from playing an encore by saying (with a cheeky smile) 'I could carry on, but the guitar...she is tired.'
Which is a nice way of putting it.
Also I'm pretty sure he made a quip at some point about becoming a father at his age (as mentioned above).
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Andres VS Tommy
Is there a God VS no God
Only one way we'll ever settle this, Segovia needed a better agent while he was alive.
David
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He's got plenty of time Originally Posted by newsense
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