Originally Posted by
VanEpsInDeChirico
I’ve always felt that jazz guitarists often had a collective obsession with clean playing that restricted their ability to rage and sound wild. No one for example, ever seems have slammed their pick across a string the way Monk slammed his fingers into the piano keys. No one ever pushed notes to the point where they sound like they are going to burst out of their musicality and become living bird calls like Dolphy. Jazz guitar is always very beautiful and not particularly abrasive and intense. This certainly makes for very nice ballads. I think often ballads sound much nicer with a guitar than piano. Especially when backing up a singer the way Kessel did with Julie London. There’s a great Chet Baker/Burrell duet called “You’re Mine You.” Stunning guitar sound. But yeah, sweetness in jazz is its strong point. As a guitarist, it is a frustrating limitation. Blues guitar is where the instrument has excelled at raging. I love it. But in that case, the harmonic simplicity and simplicity of form leaves me wanting more. To the extent that jazz guitar ever did rage, it was often in recordings that border on not really being jazz. Check out Kessel’s solo on “The Peanut Vendor.” Its pretty raging and I love it, but its hardly pushing the boundaries of modern jazz harmonically or compositionally. Its essentially a commercial jazz recording. I always thought Kessel was really good at raging when he wanted to be and wished he’d gone more often in that direction. Kenny Burrell’s solo on Gil Evans version of “Time of the Barracudas” is kind of raging, but it almost has more to do with the fact that Elvin Jones is playing like a maniac behind him on the drums. Also, absolutely has a listen to George Benson on "The Cooker." Raging! But again, its almost a soul blues number rather than jazz.
As far as some of the more post-modern (70s and beyond) guitarists go….I don’t know….even when they are pushing boundaries it all feels quite clinical, academic, and technique obsessed at the expense of soul to me.
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