The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I know this is a long shot, but does anyone own this issue and be willing to share pictures of the article with Ed? It would be greatly appreciated, since there are so few interviews found online where he discusses his own playing, concepts etc.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Found these online:
    Ed Bickert article in November 1984 issue of Downbeat-bickert1-jpg
    Ed Bickert article in November 1984 issue of Downbeat-bickert2-jpg
    Ed Bickert article in November 1984 issue of Downbeat-bickert3-jpg
    Ed Bickert article in November 1984 issue of Downbeat-bickert4-jpg

  4. #3
    I was already familiar with that article, but thanks anyway! The same writer, Mark Miller, actually wrote the Downbeat article I'm looking for.

    Btw, the above posted article confirms Ed's much debated string gauges during the Desmond-period! I suspect he switched to thicker strings later on.

  5. #4

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    Thanks for printing that out.
    It is the first time he mentions the gauges of his strings, and just like I've been saying all along, they're pretty light. There's no way he could have done some of those chordal things he did back then on a set of 12s, without sounding clumsy.
    A 13 for a B is more common with a set of 10s than 11s, and the 16 for a G string is more part of a set of 9s.
    The 24 and the rest of them are also more common with 10s, so he's basically using a set of 10s with an 11 E string and a 16 G string.

  6. #5

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    I wonder if some of those string gauges were about balancing the sound, since for many years he had a standard Telecaster neck pickup. When I was using a Charlie Christian style pickup on my arch top, I found some pretty odd string gauge combinations to have an even balance. When Ed switched to the Gibson pickup, he then had adjustable pole pieces and maybe greater freedom in string gauge choice.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    Thanks for printing that out.
    It is the first time he mentions the gauges of his strings, and just like I've been saying all along, they're pretty light. There's no way he could have done some of those chordal things he did back then on a set of 12s, without sounding clumsy.
    A 13 for a B is more common with a set of 10s than 11s, and the 16 for a G string is more part of a set of 9s.
    The 24 and the rest of them are also more common with 10s, so he's basically using a set of 10s with an 11 E string and a 16 G string.
    Exactly! On his later recordings you don't really hear the same kind of dense chordal improvisation. According to Lorne Lofsky Ed used 12s when they played together in the 80s and 90s. I wonder if changing the neck pickup had an effect on the choice of strings..

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by ikusan
    Exactly! On his later recordings you don't really hear the same kind of dense chordal improvisation. According to Lorne Lofsky Ed used 12s when they played together in the 80s and 90s. I wonder if changing the neck pickup had an effect on the choice of strings..
    What year did he change the neck pickup to a humbucker?

  9. #8
    From what I understand it was soon after his work with Desmond in 1975, so Pure Desmond and the Toronto live recordings were all done using the stock tele pickup.

  10. #9

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    He gigged with Desmond in '76 and reportedly changed shortly after that, so perhaps late 1976 or early 1977.

  11. #10

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    Those are two different dates- I want exactitude!
    Now that I've got his string gauges, his orange Roland Cube, I've gotta get the right Tele with the right pickup!

  12. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by sgcim
    What year did he change the neck pickup to a humbucker?
    Luthier Grant MacNeill, who worked at a Toronto guitar shop called The Twelfth Fret, says he installed a humbucker for Ed in the Telecaster in 1978:

    ?SOLD? Legendary Ed Bickert Tribute Fender Telecaster – The Twelfth Fret • Guitarists' Pro Shop

    Grant doesn't specifically say the original single coil neck pickup was still in the guitar, but I would assume that Ed only swapped out the pickup once, as he seemed to not be a gearhead at all. And Grant's memory could be faulty on the year being 1978, of course. Recordings made by Ed soon after this include the Ruby Braff album with the Ed Bickert Trio (1979), 'Days Gone By' with Sonny Greenwich (1979), and 'The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate' with Ed's trio (1981).

    Bickert's 'At the Garden Party' duo album with Don Thompson was recorded January 22, 1978. On the cover, Bickert has the humbucker, but cover photos are often shot weeks or months after recording sessions, so I wouldn't assume the cover shot means anything in terms of what Ed played on the album. The 'Out of the Past' trio record, recorded in 1976, would in theory have the single coil.

    But honestly, comparing Ed's (single-coil) tone on his studio version of 'When Sunny Gets Blue' from 1976 to the tone on his live version of 'Crazy She Calls Me' from 1990 at the Concord Jazz festival, it's so close. With his touch and ear, he seemed to be able to get his sound consistently through the years, despite different amps and the pickup switch to the humbucker. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the humbucker can sound very similar to his recordings from 1974-1977

    I do find his tone got noticeably darker (on record, anyway) in the second half of the 1990s (some of that could be recording engineers shading his tone)--it's a bigger shift to my ears than when he actually swapped out the original neck pickup for the humbucker. An example of where I notice him really turning down the treble is the 1994 Maybeck Recital Hall duet with Bill Mays on Concord Records. Also his last two records with the trio that had Mike Murley and Steve Wallace, from 1999-2000.

    The producer Bill King described a 1996 session where Ed went way dark with his tone, and the supposedly the recording engineer somehow added clarity and treble to it in post-production. The two tunes sound great to me, and aren't as dark-sounding as the tone on, say, 1999's 'The Test of Time'--I don't know if the story was exaggerated or what:

    https://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2019/03/08/musician%E2%80%99s-guide-ed-bickert

    Bill King - The Radioland Jazz Session
    The stage had been set and microphones strategically placed. This would be the setting for a significant undertaking between me and my Jazz Report Magazine/Radioland Records partner Greg Sutherland. From 1995 – 1997 we recorded three tributes to giants of jazz: Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery and Stan Getz. This began as a wish list and cause to bring together some of Canada’s finest jazz musicians to a specific project. In every sense, the projects succeeded beyond expectation.
    The Wes Montgomery tribute – Portraits in Jazz in its own universe, is consequential. Over two sessions the east side of Canada was represented by six distinctive stylists: Peter Leitch, Reg Schwager, Rob Piltch, Ted Quinlan, Sonny Greenwich, and Ed Bickert. Each artist came with a rhythm section of their choosing; an original or standard with Wes in mind and a reinterpretation of a Montgomery classic.
    Every musician has a routine, and at times a peculiar set of rituals that play out before the audio engineer is set to press record. On this evening in 1996, Ed Bickert was “game on.” We worked 6-midnight – two songs in three-hour segments. Ed was slotted in the middle. With amp in place and his “living/breathing” Fender Telecaster perfectly situated on a chair next to him, we anticipated it would only be “punch the button and roll.”
    Not the case!
    Ed may have physically been in the room, but elsewhere in thought. A good portion of time passes when Ed returns to his seat, lifts the guitar and fiddles with the dials to his amp. While listening, we notice Ed’s sound growing darker and darker – more bass colouring and less treble – nothing that matched the previous players. Rather than interfere, Greg and I decided we’d leave all production fixes to mixdown sessions.
    With rhythm section in place, two songs were chosen – “September Song” and Wes Montgomery’s “Twisted Blues,” we were ready to roll. Then comes the lighting of the Marlboro. Ed smoked the hard stuff – not those chemically enhanced menthol types or cigarette “lites.” Bickert gently places the Telecaster aside, steps in front of the wood paneling then raises the glorious pleasure stick to the lips, lights and drifts out of reach of the session at hand. Meanwhile, Greg and I begin to estimate the length of time this journey will require.
    Both of us lose track.
    Ed was now on “planet Ed”, and Greg was more than willing to enlist a search party to rescue. I cautioned and suggested we wait, knowing the recording will most likely be a “one take” situation. That it was! Ed eventually found his comfort zone and delivered two remarkable responses. To this day, I can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity in those tracks. The chordal patterns and sweet, sweet improvised patches are note-to-note perfection.
    Before playback, we tinkered with Ed’s sound. Oh man, were we setting ourselves up for the “misplay of the century.” I asked the engineer “can we get a sound something closer to Pat Metheny”- and that he did. Ed arrives with Marlboro burning, listens, then nods his approval. He went for it. To this day, those two tracks are crystalline in their sound and utterly brilliant.

  13. #12

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    Yet again, the Grant MacNeill interview claimed that Bickert's strings gauge was light, in this case .010s.
    He probably bought a set of 10s at the Twelth Fret, and then replaced the 1st string with an 11, and a 17 with a 16.
    When I was in my Bickert phase, back in the 80s, I used 10s on a Hondo(!!!) Strat copy, and played it through an orange Roland Cube 60 (still have it, but the reverb doesn't work).
    It really got a great sound (it had to be a freak neck pickup, because a friend of mine told me to go down to a local music store and buy it. He said there were about ten Hondo Strats there, but he said I'd be able to pick the right one. He bought a Hondo Tele which had the sound he was looking for.
    Sure enough, one of them just had this magic sound, and I bought it new for $90 and change.
    The guitar and amp's sound got raves from musicians like Steve Slagle, Ken Peplowsky, and Rich De Rosa, so I didn't change anything until the neck pickup died on me, and couldn't be repaired.

  14. #13

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    Ed is one of my top 10 players.

    By the way, Francois Leduc has a YouTube channel (Francois Leduc - YouTube) and website (Francois Leduc Online Library) featuring transcriptions of a wide range of guitarists, including Ed. The other day, he just released Ed's "Who Can I Turn To?" from the "At the Garden Party" album. You can support his efforts via Patreon for $5.00/month.

    John Galich

  15. #14

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    Back to the original request for the Downbeat article, it can be viewed / downloaded in this pdf

    Bickert.pdf - Google Drive

  16. #15
    Thank you!!