The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Definitely an important guitarist in the history of jazz, kind of a missing link between Django, CC, and the bop guitar players.
    More gifted melodically than Chuck Wayne, a much stronger player than Bill D'Arrango, here's a good explanation of why he was so obscure, even though he recorded with Bird on Dial Records (but got no solos except for the second take of "Yardbird Suite").
    Arv Garrison - Jazz Research

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  3. #2

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    hah great post s....of course know'em from bird...don't know if i'd put him above d'arango and wayne though!!

    stir it up!

    cheers

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    hah great post s....of course know'em from bird...don't know if i'd put him above d'arango and wayne though!!

    stir it up!

    cheers
    Definitely above D'Arango, who was a very weak player in the 40s, and Wayne's equal at least.
    However, Kessel was on the scene, along with Irving Ashby, and Garrison, Ashby and Kessel were featured at one of the Jubilee Concerts of the 40s, and the author of the article has heard a recording of the concert. Garrison stood up well to both Kessel and Ashby, playing "How High the Moon" on Garrison's feature.
    I guess I'd have to group Garrison along with Kessel and Ashby as one of the top players of that period. Wayne had better chops than any of them, but rarely said anything interesting, IMHO.

  5. #4

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    excellent article sgcim, much of it I never knew as well as the pic from UCLA w/the all stars, though I'd heard about the concert before.
    Wini and Viv look like they could have been twins in that one shot.

  6. #5

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    portrait of the artist

    (i believe i've posted it here before!)



    was just listenin to bird west coast dial sessions..after goin to LA with diz, he stayed behind...hooked up with some great LA boppers and wound up relaxin in camarillo..thats where arv comes in!..west coast

    tiny grimes (east coast) was also with early bird...went from tremendous art tatum trio with slam stewart to bird...tiny played a lot of guitar on 4 strings...he played a tenor guitar, but tuned like a guitar D-G-B-E!!!...

    cheers

  7. #6

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    ps- chuck wayne burned pretty hard with george shearing quintet...1949!...shearing was blowin hard back then...softened up a bit soon after tho...till louis stewart-nhop trio days



    cheers

  8. #7

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    That's most likely a '39 L-5P he's using in that pic.
    The Dearmond isn't up against the fingerboard because the boards were flush w/the top that year and there isn't enough room. a friend had the exact same set up.

  9. #8
    I managed to track down the recording of Arv from the 1946 Armed Forces Radio Service "Jubilee" concert that had features of Barney Kessel playing Cherokee, Irving Ashby wailing on Rhythm Changes, Arv Garrison playing How High the Moon, and Les Paul burning on Honeysuckle Rose.

    When interviewed once, BK had no recollection of the date!
    Les Paul's last chorus has what sounds like all four of the guitarists playing in harmony, just like his double track recordings of the 50s. This was live, so it couldn't have been LP using multiple tracks.
    It's interesting hearing BK playing swing 8th notes as opposed to the bop 8th notes he later adapted to.
    You have to fast forward to hear the four guitarists towards the end of the clip. Garrison more than holds his own with the others, and demonstrates cleaner technique than the others.
    AFRS Jubilee! : WA4CZD : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

  10. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    I managed to track down the recording of Arv from the 1946 Armed Forces Radio Service "Jubilee" concert that had features of Barney Kessel playing Cherokee, Irving Ashby wailing on Rhythm Changes, Arv Garrison playing How High the Moon, and Les Paul burning on Honeysuckle Rose.

    When interviewed once, BK had no recollection of the date!
    Les Paul's last chorus has what sounds like all four of the guitarists playing in harmony, just like his double track recordings of the 50s. This was live, so it couldn't have been LP using multiple tracks.
    It's interesting hearing BK playing swing 8th notes as opposed to the bop 8th notes he later adapted to.
    You have to fast forward to hear the four guitarists towards the end of the clip. Garrison more than holds his own with the others, and demonstrates cleaner technique than the others.
    AFRS Jubilee! : WA4CZD : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
    It doesn't allow a direct link, so you have to click on #46 on the LH side of the list, and then fast forward to about the middle of the mp3 to access the guitar portion of the concert.

  11. #10

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    archive.org is a treasure..so much great stuff to be found..those files are all downloadable

    they also have les paul shows in the archive


    so much great stuff available there


    cheers

    ps- arv g comes in about the 20:40 mark in the #46 file^...doin a les paul inspired how high the moon

  12. #11

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    The sessions with Bird I have remembered since I heard them, some 55 years ago. He had a great sound and a deft touch and made a deep impression on me, but I never knew any more about him until now, so thanks much!

  13. #12

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    btw, thats' the Vivien Garry Trio with Wini Beatty, piano & vocal; Arv Garrison, guitar; Vivien Garry, string bass & vocal...in pic i posted above ^

    v garry is also in the #46 archive.org transcription...singin a tune sans trio


    the trio also appeared on another jubilee, but not archived

    cheers

  14. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by neatomic
    portrait of the artist

    (i believe i've posted it here before!)



    was just listenin to bird west coast dial sessions..after goin to LA with diz, he stayed behind...hooked up with some great LA boppers and wound up relaxin in camarillo..thats where arv comes in!..west coast

    tiny grimes (east coast) was also with early bird...went from tremendous art tatum trio with slam stewart to bird...tiny played a lot of guitar on 4 strings...he played a tenor guitar, but tuned like a guitar D-G-B-E!!!...

    cheers
    It seems hard to believe now, considering Tiny Grimes was playing back in the 30s and 40s, but I got to to see TG live at that great "Guitar Concert" at Town Hall back in the early 70s in NYC.
    It was a wildly eclectic concert featuring everyone from John MacLaughlin coming out in a robe with his wife playing autoharp, to George Barnes playing in a duo with Bucky P.
    Chuck Wayne opened it with a disappointing set featuring a trio with an electric bass player playing up tempo standards, which sounded all over the place, with no anchoring of the tonality.
    Tiny blew the place up with his swing bag, which had people hollerin'!

  15. #14

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    Speaking of Tiny, this is a good lp he made w Hawk, but be on the lookout for his lp "Big Time Guitar" on United Artists, it's excellent.


  16. #15

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    Amazing! Thank you very much, indeed!
    I had no idea there were recordings of the radio programmes of the AFRS.
    A teenager in the ‘60s in Izmir, Turkey where the biggest NATO base was (Cuban crisis period; that was the American answer to the Soviet activity in Cuba), we listened to the AFRS day and night.
    Many years later, I discovered that it was considered by the likes of John Peel, the best pop music station in the world. It basically had all the best DJs from the States contributing.
    But the point of this story is: whenever a cool charts programme ended, we would switch off (as the next thing would be C&W or jazz).

    I got hooked on jazz ‘subliminally’ as it were: Whenever I couldn’t be bothered to turn off the radio when jazz started, it would play on in the background, until one day I realised that I was actually looking forward to it - especially the sound of jazz guitar - I absolutely got addicted to that sound; totally different from rock/pop we were listening to. Especially the classic Herb Ellis, BK, Wes M, et al.

    Many many great memories of those days, with the Forces radio as the soundtrack!