The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I just came across this and have to share it. Some really nice Jim Hall.



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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Title is misleading because all Jim Hall is excellent! I believe this is the finest bass and guitar duo ever.

  4. #3

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    I just got the Artists Share 2 volume Uniquitites. Any one else get this new unearthed volume of Jim Hall gems? 2 CDs of his last trio recorded live in Japan.

  5. #4

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    You don't usually hear music that interesting on talk shows any more. What wonderful musicians Jim surrounded himself with.

    Am I alone in not liking Jim's tone on his D'Aquisto as much as his ES-175? On the Desmond albums or the Live! recordings (the cover of Live! shows the D'Aquisto, but photos of the gigs from the Vols. 2-4 recordings show the Gibson) versus These Rooms, for example. Was it the guitar or was it also switching away from the old Gibson GA-50? Or maybe Jim just aimed at a different sound by then and got exactly what he wanted- and doesn't have to answer to me.

    His Sadowsky was an improvement IMHO, but still not as appealing to me as the ES-175. At one point he had all three instruments at the same time but played the Sadowsky in public, presumably he'd have played the one he liked best.

  6. #5

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    Great performance, thanks!

    If I'm not mistaken, that appears to be a young and hairy Larry Goldings on piano!

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cunamara
    You don't usually hear music that interesting on talk shows any more. What wonderful musicians Jim surrounded himself with.

    Am I alone in not liking Jim's tone on his D'Aquisto as much as his ES-175? On the Desmond albums or the Live! recordings (the cover of Live! shows the D'Aquisto, but photos of the gigs from the Vols. 2-4 recordings show the Gibson) versus These Rooms, for example. Was it the guitar or was it also switching away from the old Gibson GA-50? Or maybe Jim just aimed at a different sound by then and got exactly what he wanted- and doesn't have to answer to me.

    His Sadowsky was an improvement IMHO, but still not as appealing to me as the ES-175. At one point he had all three instruments at the same time but played the Sadowsky in public, presumably he'd have played the one he liked best.
    Might have been beyond his control, who knows what amps you might get playing the Tonight show? Amazing that he was on, though. Any idea what year this is?

  8. #7

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    Big Jim Hall fan. Sometimes like his tone.. sometimes not.. sometimes really don't care for it. A good reminder that tone isn't everything.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cunamara
    You don't usually hear music that interesting on talk shows any more. What wonderful musicians Jim surrounded himself with.

    Am I alone in not liking Jim's tone on his D'Aquisto as much as his ES-175? On the Desmond albums or the Live! recordings (the cover of Live! shows the D'Aquisto, but photos of the gigs from the Vols. 2-4 recordings show the Gibson) versus These Rooms, for example. Was it the guitar or was it also switching away from the old Gibson GA-50? Or maybe Jim just aimed at a different sound by then and got exactly what he wanted- and doesn't have to answer to me.

    His Sadowsky was an improvement IMHO, but still not as appealing to me as the ES-175. At one point he had all three instruments at the same time but played the Sadowsky in public, presumably he'd have played the one he liked best.
    I think a lot of the difference is the amps. I heard him several times with The D’Aquisto through the Gibson amp (which he continued to use on local gigs well into the 1990s before he switched to the Kolbe rig) and then on the Kolbe rig. They were quite different sounds. Also, I suspect that as he got older he went for a brighter sound due to some high-end hearing loss.

  10. #9

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    I have often wondered if aging guitarists (i.e., me) gradually go for a brighter tone due to high end hearing loss- it souns the same to them. Bob Weir's guitar tone is just punishingly bright these days, and he spent a couple of years standing in front of a 26,400 watt PA system with 604 speakers...

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cunamara
    I have often wondered if aging guitarists (i.e., me) gradually go for a brighter tone due to high end hearing loss- it souns the same to them. Bob Weir's guitar tone is just punishingly bright these days, and he spent a couple of years standing in front of a 26,400 watt PA system with 604 speakers...
    This is absolutely true in many cases. When I was getting started in recording, a seasoned engineer took me under his wing. One day he gave me his Revox 4 track. He said his hearing had changed, he knew his high end was gone and his recording days were behind him. He told me 'Of course I know how to compensate, but my ear is not something I can trust'.
    Even more of an issue is upper end hearing loss in people who deal with sound in loud db venues night after night. There've been venues that have had noticeable shifts towards the loud and high end db spectrum, and it's not always a conscious decision. Sound engineers can unwittingly push bad sound night after night and it sounds fine to them. I'm sure some of us have been in venues where this has been the case.

  12. #11

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    From the comments section under the video on yt

    @jassW



    I was working for John Snyder at Artists House, and was thrilled to get to record this at Sweet Basil with the engineer Chip Stokes who had a little East Side recording studio. It was recorded completely live to 2-track, no editing, on either a Studer or Nagra open-reel machine. Sounded considerably better on the vinyl and cassette than here.. You'll note that we also captured a few electronic bursts of ugliness from Red's highly-prized, custom amp (which was prone to such things and a bit of a problem, but Red wouldn't part with it). Included with the record was also a nice little booklet we put together for the record, including a lead sheet for Jim's tune Waltz New, (counterfact on Someday My Prince Will Come, here at around 15mins there was also a selected discography with a couple of comments from Jim, and notes on the recording equipment. Red Mitchell was on Jim's first recording as leader, a fine trio recording. Like all the greats, at 26 or so for that recording, Hall was fully formed. Red had been living in Sweden for decades before he came over to play and record this with Jim. I could go on. Been some time since I listened to this. Sure can tell it's Mitchell, particularly with his tuning (in 5ths like a 'cello, but an octave lower). Still don't know how he managed getting around on that, and stay in tune. You can hear Jim's sweet old Gibson GA-50 amp here, which other photos show, customarily, sitting on a chair behind him. I can't be sure, but I think he posed with the D'Aquisto, but played his old ES-175 with the pickup Atilla Zoller wound for him a decade or so earlier, with the Van Eps string damper always in the raised position (never ever saw him use it).

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by dot75

    I was working for John Snyder at Artists House, and was thrilled to get to record this at Sweet Basil with the engineer Chip Stokes who had a little East Side recording studio. It was recorded completely live to 2-track, no editing, on either a Studer or Nagra open-reel machine. Sounded considerably better on the vinyl and cassette than here.. .
    I've been documenting artists in my town and NY for 5 decades and in that time I'd recorded in and gotten to know the characters of the rooms, to record live performances with as close an approximation as I could to the live audience. There was a room I'd recorded extensively in and Jim Hall was playing a 3 night run. It was being recorded for his label and broadcast on the PBS station.
    I set up my rig (direct to two track), set up to be innocuous and unimposing, and his label's engineering team and their studio set up their rig, close mic placement and wires all over the place, mic boom stands leaving only a tight labyrinth to navigate through (mic on every drum...).
    Jim played from a high chair and sounded amazing, the sound of his D'Aquisto blending with his small solid state amp. I noticed that there was not a single room sound mic in all that array, not a single mic to capture the sound of his woody guitar or the strum and finger noise as he comped a la Freddie Green behind the band.

    At the break, I was talking with him and I noted that I love the sound of the air, the guitar and the wood and flesh that was so alive. He agreed that that's what inspires him while he's playing with dynamics and blends of sounds. Then I asked him why the only mic on him was 3 inches from his amp, wouldn't they be missing the sound that HE hears? It was the first time that he became aware of his performance as part of a record. So much of his sound he just left to the engineers he entrusted.
    A lot of musicians I know are acutely aware of their own performance sound, and don't even listen to their recordings after they leave the booth. I don't know about Jim, but I do know that that particular recording doesn't excite me, but I have my own live copy and it's exciting as the day I was there in the audience.
    A lot of what we know for an artists music is deeply prejudiced by the engineer and their own obsessions and sensibilities. I'm so grateful that Jim Hall did have minimal and thoughtfully engineered performances (Thank you Don Thompson!) and they are by far my favourites.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    There was a room I'd recorded extensively in and Jim Hall was playing a 3 night run. It was being recorded for his label and broadcast on the PBS station.
    Was this ever released??? I would LOVE to hear that!

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by jbromusic
    Was this ever released??? I would LOVE to hear that!
    It was released as Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar. I don't know who engineered that recording, I won't comment.
    The recording I made has the run in that room, recorded to capture the acoustics of the band live but it will never be released.
    I also have really inspiring recordings of bass duos with Jim, all of them recorded with mic's about 4 feet from his GUITAR, and the amp not mic'd. Jim knew me and he knew it has always been my solemn vow that anything I recorded would be accessible to the artists but never released nor shared or traded. This policy has served me well. Jim allowed me to record and occasionally he'd ask me after the show "Can you send me this one?" , of course.
    A few years ago a bass player asked me for some recordings I'd made of a band with Mike Stern. He got digital masters and he himself released it.
    Jim is one of those artists who is so much better in a live situation. His performances were always masterpieces.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    It was released as Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar.
    Ah ok. Yes, I have that CD (as well as just about everything he ever recorded). I don't remember it sounding bad but it also didn't stand out like his "Live" recordings from Toronto '75 or Live In Tokyo '76.

    Jim was the coolest. I remember meeting him in Hamilton, Ohio (Miami University) before I moved out to the east coast. We knew the promoter of the show and got to go backstage afterwards. I was talking with him and mentioned how "Live" was life-changing for me. He mentioned that Don Thompson had recorded more material from that string of shows and I told him that I would love to hear that stuff. He asked me for my address and I totally forgot about it. Two months later I got a package from Jon Snyder in the mail. Jim had asked him to send me a CD of unreleased material from Toronto '75. How cool is that?!? That CD ended up being included as CD2 in the "Live" boxset that was released in 2012.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by jbromusic
    Ah ok. Yes, I have that CD (as well as just about everything he ever recorded). I don't remember it sounding bad but it also didn't stand out like his "Live" recordings from Toronto '75 or Live In Tokyo '76.

    Jim was the coolest. I remember meeting him in Hamilton, Ohio (Miami University) before I moved out to the east coast. We knew the promoter of the show and got to go backstage afterwards. I was talking with him and mentioned how "Live" was life-changing for me. He mentioned that Don Thompson had recorded more material from that string of shows and I told him that I would love to hear that stuff. He asked me for my address and I totally forgot about it. Two months later I got a package from Jon Snyder in the mail. Jim had asked him to send me a CD of unreleased material from Toronto '75. How cool is that?!? That CD ended up being included as CD2 in the "Live" boxset that was released in 2012.
    I KNOW!!! Right? I was recording a gig and Terry Clarke was the drummer. Afterwords he asked me for a copy, I said Of Course! The Live in Toronto was my favourite, and I wish there was more. We exchanged contacts. A little while later I got a packet of a whole bunch of cassettes. The whole run. They were the treasure of my massive archives and I'm so glad they put it out on CD.

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
    I KNOW!!! Right? I was recording a gig and Terry Clarke was the drummer. Afterwords he asked me for a copy, I said Of Course! The Live in Toronto was my favourite, and I wish there was more. We exchanged contacts. A little while later I got a packet of a whole bunch of cassettes. The whole run. They were the treasure of my massive archives and I'm so glad they put it out on CD.
    Amazing! I also wish there was more of that Toronto '75 stuff out there. It's my favorite jazz guitar trio music ever recorded. The Tokyo '76 and Jazz Impressions of Japan are right up there with Toronto though, so at least we have those recordings.