The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Many old issues of BMG are available here: BMG Magazines - Classic-Banjo

    They are a real time capsule of a vanished area.
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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Thanks for posting! TF was aware of Ed Bickert as early as 1959. I wonder what happened to TF's guitar method book, and the planned album with Jimmy Raney?

    I looked at some of the other issues, and one had an article by Chris Spedding on Rene Thomas, and an article on Wes by Jack Whitfield.

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    Thanks for this mag.

  5. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    Thanks for posting! TF was aware of Ed Bickert as early as 1959. I wonder what happened to TF's guitar method book, and the planned album with Jimmy Raney?

    I looked at some of the other issues, and one had an article by Chris Spedding on Rene Thomas, and an article on Wes by Jack Whitfield.
    I have the book The Jazz Style of Tal Farlow - The Elements of Bebop Guitar by Steve Rochinski.

    Good book that has chapters like Single Line Solo Construction, Chord-Melody Reharmonization Techniques, and Solo Transcriptions.

    Useful info and one that has keep me busy for over two decades.

  6. #5

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    Tal Farlow's career, which began with his birth on June 7th, 1921...
    Tal was such a boss, throwing down hot licks on the very day he was born.

    Speaking of Tal's mention of Ed Bickert, someone named Sandy Freeze published a web page on GeoCities (which still somehow survives online) that mentions Tal catching Ed play live in the 1950s and then joining him for an impromptu jam session that supposedly went on all night:

    Part II: Ed Bickert, Pluck If Not Adventure

    Some gigs in small groups, playing "schmaltzy" type music for older people in restaurants, weren't as creative as Bickert may have wished, but paid the bills and got him in the "biz". Eventually, Bickert was to say hello to the inventive Tal Farlow who stepped into an after-hours club where Ed was playing. Imagine! They played guitar until sunrise, the next morning. Jamming with this other, more fleet-fingered, American country boy earned Ed hyperbolic praise, from one local scribe. From there, Bickert found his own distinct talent had a place amongst the likes of a new generation of Toronto's professional musicians.
    Ed and Tal both famously preferred to spend the bulk of their careers off the road and away from New York City, and they both grew up learning jazz mainly through the radio, out in the sticks. And they were both rather reserved personalities. Makes sense that they would have a mutual appreciation society. Tal was 11 years older than Ed.
    Last edited by 44lombard; 08-06-2020 at 06:48 PM.

  7. #6

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    What happened to that Farlow-Raney recording? Buried in a vault somewhere? I hope someone finds it.

    John Galich

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by jmgalich
    What happened to that Farlow-Raney recording? Buried in a vault somewhere? I hope someone finds it.

    John Galich
    In the article, it said it was a project that Farlow planned to do. I don't know if they ever did it. I heard that there was a tape of both of them playing together at Tal's house, but I think it's only available if you buy that French Tal bio that costs well over $100.
    Hope you're doing okay in these trying times, JG.

  9. #8

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    When I was a barely old enough to get into a club I caught Tal and asked if he could sign this 1967 Sonny Criss record he was on w Cedar Walton, Bob Cranshaw and Lenny McBrowne. Never was an autograph guy even as a kid, but Tal, Barney Kessel and a couple others were my big influences and the exception then, and you could actually talk to them on breaks! Anyway, Tal asked where I got the record, it was kinda hard to find then. As he's signing it while I'm gushing over his playing on it he says in that No'th Carolina drawl, "y'know I wasn't supposed to be on this record, Jimmy Raney couldn't make it and they called me last minute"



  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by wintermoon
    When I was a barely old enough to get into a club I caught Tal and asked if he could sign this 1967 Sonny Criss record he was on w Cedar Walton, Bob Cranshaw and Lenny McBrowne. Never was an autograph guy even as a kid, but Tal, Barney Kessel and a couple others were my big influences and the exception then, and you could actually talk to them on breaks! Anyway, Tal asked where I got the record, it was kinda hard to find then. As he's signing it while I'm gushing over his playing on it he says in that No'th Carolina drawl, "y'know I wasn't supposed to be on this record, Jimmy Raney couldn't make it and they called me last minute"


    I bought that album, too. I remember thinking, "Something sounds weird with Tal". Then I bought "The Return of Tal Farlow", and I realized this wasn't the Tal I knew and loved from the 50s....

  11. #10

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    yeah, the layoff wasn't good for Tal, he never really got it back, Sonny on the other hand is blowin as usual [Cedar too]

  12. #11
    The jazz life is hard on some people and for some, it's hard to maintain the fire of youth and the central nervous system chops as they age. Tal's unique musical conception never dimmed even if his early astounding chops did.

  13. #12

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    Tal never stopped playing. He didn't play in New York or tour much after 1958, when he married his wife Tina, until his "come back." But he played local gigs, had students, set up a tape loop system at home for practicing, etc. He maintained relationships with people in the jazz community such as Jim Hall, Jimmy Raney, etc. Yes, when you're playing in the competitive pressure cooker of New York six nights a week your chops probably stay sharper and he didn't seem as accurate at tempo later in life.

    But I think a big piece of what happened was Tal changed how he thought about his approach to music. Rather than being in stasis playing mid-50s bebop, he moved on to other things. He was clearly paying attention to shifts in the jazz landscape. His chordal playing became more complex and orchestral with moving voices, counterpoint, etc. which he had not been playing so much in other settings. I hear some Bill Evans rather than Art Tatum, for example. So while there is a tendency to lament the sad decline and the downfall of Tal Farlow after his "comeback," I think maybe he just changed his focus and interest in the music.

    If you listen to his interview with Jody Fisher towards the end of his life, it seems clear that he was playing towards a concept that was different from what had been the case early in his career. His ear for extended harmony is sometimes way out there, to my ears anyway, even though I like it and I have some trouble following it at times. But then sometimes Ed Bickert's extended harmonies lose me, too, even though I really enjoy that.

    If you haven't seen "Talmadge Farlow" by Lorenzo De Stefano, you should. It covers Tal around the time of the "comeback."