The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I've been a fan of his for a long time but I've just discovered some of his late 60's stuff which is interesting and different.




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  3. #2

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    I don't think he gets the attention he deserves. Maybe his single note lines weren't always as clear as Joe Pass, Raney, etc. But I feel like the components of his playing were among the most integrated - developed into a coherent style.

  4. #3

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    I really dig Barney Kessel (and DIG is the right term, according to Maynard G. Krebs).

    I agree with this statement: components of his playing were among the most integrated - developed into a coherent style.

    I posted this a few days ago in the What I'm Listening To thread: nice single line, block chords, bends, slurs, dirtiness, it is all there and there is such joy in the playing here. Yea, I know the "but he is too sloppy" take: I have seen that (saw him live 4 times), but he was a risk taker. In this song he gets very close to the edge, but lands on his feet each time.


  5. #4

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    I love him. Great chord melody arrangements, and nobody swung harder. He can be deep, and also fun to listen to. He knows how to draw the listener in.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bebop Tom
    I love him. Great chord melody arrangements, and nobody swung harder. He can be deep, and also fun to listen to. He knows how to draw the listener in.
    Yea, "draw the listener in". Love that line; I saw most of the greats during the 80s and 90s, (Pass, Farlow, Roberts, Kessel,,,etc..),

    I found Kessel shows to be the most engaging. Kessel talked to the audience and he was very open about tying to make the show engaging for US in the audience. He would say things like "I can come out here with this band, play a set of standards, and then leave, and while that would be OK, it isn't what I like to do": Instead Kessel mixed it up. E.g. start a song with a chord-melody. Play a song with just the piano player. With just the bass player; play the song in 3\4 etc... So warm and open to the audience (of course it helped that I was the geek in the front row!).

  7. #6

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    I consider myself a fan but hadn’t heard those, thanks for sharing.

  8. #7

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    He was definitely very creative and his style really varied. He was also a member of The Wrecking Crew.

  9. #8

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    Great, great player.
    His 'sloppiness' is of course, him 'going for it'. I think I read somewhere that he was trying to phrase like a saxophone.
    Anyway, always dug Barney, and yes he would always engage the audience when I saw him.
    The 1st time I caught him he was holding court during a break and was talking to a bunch of us wide eyed young players. One of them was obviously inebriated and kept interrupting Barney.
    Then he interrupted again asking for tips. Barney said firmly "you need to straighten yourself out first"
    The guy slinked away.
    Another time he came through town as a duo w/ Herb Ellis. I had a pair of tickets and about had to beg a friend to go, couldn't give the spare away!
    I remember him quoting Eleanor Rigby in one of his solos, took me a second to place it!
    My friend wouldn't stop thanking me on the ride home.

  10. #9

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    one of the odder barney k releases...on his own label..and his first live gig recording...fresh from heavy studio work he cut this live set in an l.a. club...on fire indeed! and distributed by his then enthusiastic admirer- phil spector- via philles records

    barney kessel- on fire



    cheers

  11. #10

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    "On Fire" is terrific and really, it's hard to find a bad Barney Kessel record. He generally brought his A-game whenever the red light was on. I loved how complete Barney was in integrating single notes, chord melody, various double stop intervals and strum effects with a real compositional feeling and amazingly consistent, unflagging swing feeling. I also really love how he used open strings in a very guitarist way to sustain some less usual chord voicings. If Johnny Smith was up there on a perfect, etherial plane, Barney was down at street level sweep picking, bending and doing whatever he had to do to try to swing. That sloppiness is part of his sound and once in a great while, it sounds like he's perhaps frustrated because his technique can't quite pull off what he's hearing. But man, what an enjoyable player to listen to!

    His arranging often had a real cinematic flavor for dramatically telling a musical story. I think he did some of his best work with this trio. Shelly Mann's style really meshed well with Kessel's arranging ideas and Ray Brown had a self-effacing way of blending with whomever he was playing that made the group better. Case in point:
    .


    Lastly, I don't hear many other players approach chord melodies in quite the orchestral way that he conceived them. I don't know why but I find more of a sense of drama and joy in BK's chord melodies than say, Joe Pass or Herb Ellis.:
    Last edited by AndyV; 12-24-2019 at 09:35 AM.

  12. #11

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    I'm a big Kessell fan too.

    Been working on this blues of his lately. That turnaround is nifty. (And hard for me to get up to tempo!)



    And then this, his take on "Indiana." I love everything about his playing here.


  13. #12

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    I like the comment that Kessel's single-note lines are not as clear as Pass', Ellis', etc. Kessel was a huge user of the slur. This intentionally blurred some of his single-note lines.

    I grew up on Barney Kessel. I have BK albums on just about every format. I even have his albums from the 50s and 60s on commercial reel-to-reel tape. I think my favorites are the several "Pollwinners" albums that BK did with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown. Those will make anyone a Kessel fan.

  14. #13

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    Another BK fan here. His "sloppiness" reminds me of the way old school blues players approached their instruments - they played like they talked (think southern accents here for example).

    Years ago while learning "Just Friends" I happened upon a great live version by Barney and I learned the intro and head to it - still working on it, especially the fast lick in the break. I wish this album would be available on CD.



  15. #14

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    Barney is one of my favorites. A true musical genius.

    I have many of his recordings and will be listening to his music for the rest of my days.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by TOMMO
    Another BK fan here. His "sloppiness" reminds me of the way old school blues players approached their instruments - they played like they talked (think southern accents here for example).

    Years ago while learning "Just Friends" I happened upon a great live version by Barney and I learned the intro and head to it - still working on it, especially the fast lick in the break. I wish this album would be available on CD.


    that's probably my favorite of his many lps

  17. #16

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    I've listened to Kessel for decades. I go through cycles of not being able to get enough of him and then not being able to stand him. He is a very complete musician but his "guitaristic" moves, the slurs, chord stabs, etc. that are brilliant tools in his hands are all to easily assimilated into my own playing as crutches and substitutes for playing clean. Kessel could play super-clean--he did studio work!-- so his slurs and such are intentional, not "sloppy." But I find that stuff gets into my playing and I don't deploy them with the taste and verve that BK did.

    He's a fantastic player but if you listen to him, you will soon sound like him, sometimes not in the best ways.

    I haven't said this well... maybe someone can help me out here.

  18. #17

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    Barney is one of my very best heroes. I consider him as the most advanced guitarist when it comes to playing in block chords. And what a drive he always had!

    Cheers.

  19. #18

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    My favorite Barney on record:


  20. #19

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    Double post

  21. #20

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    the one that even non jazzers love

    a defining moment in kesseldom!..even tho he had played with bird prior! hah

    julie london- cry me a river



    cheers

  22. #21

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    I loved Kessell's work with Julie London. "Cry Me A River" is classic, of course, but I also love this one.


  23. #22

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    Thanks, everyone, for this thread! I've been an on-and-off Forum member for ten years. During that time, Barney Kessel has received very little attention. I sense the same with e.g. George Benson and Andreas Öberg - too sovereign and commercial for the "soul" of their music to be appreciated. Admittedly, I don't listen systematically or enough, but Barney has always been very high on my list. I've been wondering what's wrong with me. To see so many of you "come out of the closet" in this regard makes me happy indeed.

  24. #23

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    Barney was a mentor to me, I spent a lot of time with him, dinner on his birthday when he was in Boston, etc. My first hand at "producing" an event was an afternoon workshop with him and Herb at Sandy's Jazz Revival in Beverly, MA, and they were fabulous teachers and very down-home and open. Barney practiced 3 hours a day when he was on the road, I asked hm what he could possible be working on, and he said "whatever gives me trouble",which was an eye-opener. My favorite track is "On A Clear Day" from one of his many trio records, I forget which one, but it cooks from start to finish. Barney had a deep curiosity about the human condition, and recommended several really interesting books for me that had nothing directly to do with music, but really helped me become a better player by becoming a better listener.

  25. #24

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    Has anyone here read the bio of him written by his (second?) wife Jo?

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  26. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
    Has anyone here read the bio of him written by his (second?) wife Jo?

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    No - have you and is it worth reading? I love musician biographies / autobiographies.