Frank Vignola's Guitar Night, an ongoing concert and livestream series

[Christian Miller]

You are going to have to ask Jazzisgood since he posted about Vignola and guest guitarist's just being ok not great.It's why years ago i stopped going to guitar shows.Too many negative guys just there to criticize.It's like the old joke of how many guitarist's does it take to replace a lightbulb,100,one to replace the bulb and 99 to say they could do it better.Everyone is entitled to their opinions but c'mon if you don't think Vignola is one of the best than please tell me who is so much better.

Haha, yeah.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but we are not required to take them seriously.

Obviously, in an improvised form of music the idea of mistakes is questionable anyway. The most obvious are down to imperfect execution (which often comes down to a player ‘reaching’ which id rather hear than someone playing their safe bag all the time).

And obviously as players age they can lose their chops a bit as well - or as purely random example they break both shoulders and spend years in rehabilitation relearning how to pick - but I tend not to listen to jazz for the chops.

As for unintended notes without being a mind reader, it’s impossible to know. But I think I’ve identified some on record, and they are often my favourite bits. One by Kurt Rosenwinkel, as it happens.

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[David B]

A string of guests appeared. Jocelyn Gould, Ken Smith, Dave Stryker, that's all I recall right now. Excellent show. Next week, Vinnie!

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[David B]

Dave Stryker and Pasquale Grasso backstage at Birdland this week's show, jamming on each other's guitars.

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[David B]

14 August 2024
Vinny Raniolo and surprise guest Marilyn Maye joined Frank Vignola, Ted Rosenthal, Gary Mazzaroppi and Alex Raderman.

[RJVB]

Well, that was a particularly swinging session! Does anyone know if Raniolo has a piezo of mic in his Guild? Is sounded "too" acoustic at times and I saw fiddling with his cable as if switching output jacs.

[sgosnell]

I have no actual knowledge, but that sound is pretty much the usual sound of a DeArmond 1100 on a Guild, through a Fender amp.

[RJVB]

With the original ones or also with the reissues?
(And I won't believe anyone's word that you could identify different guitar make/models from the PU output )

[sgosnell]

That's a new (at least recent) guitar with a reissue pickup. I don't think there is a big difference in sound between the originals and the new ones.

[David B]

Wednesday 21 August 2024
Sheryl Bailey is tonight's guest.

[Cunamara]

Sheryl's awesome.

[David B]

Wednesday 28 August 2024
Janis Siegel guests.

[David B]

Frank's Upcoming Special Guests:
Sept 4 - Olli Soikkeli
Sept 11 - Vinny Raniolo & Olli Soikkeli
Sept 18 - Jonathan Stout
Sept 25 - Karrin Allyson
Oct 2 - Mike Stern
Oct 9 - James Chirillo
Oct 16 - Al Gafa
Oct 23 - Alfonso Horne
Oct 30 - Sam Raderman

[AllanAllen]

Glad to see Mike Stern is still playing the gigs, even if they don't go up.

[Cunamara]

And "our own" Jonathan Stout!

[David B]

Wednesday 4 September 2025
Olli Soikkeli guests.

[rrbasic]

I really enjoy these, thank you for posting them.

[RJVB]

And "our own" Jonathan Stout!

Is that one among those that don't make it to YouTube?!

I really enjoy these, thank you for posting them.

Hmm did you enjoy Not Jim Beam, Jobim too?

[RJVB]

Aren't we forgetting something?

[AllanAllen]

Two thoughts.

1. That Parker Fly archtop sounds real good.

2. I get why everyone thinks Lage is great.

[RJVB]

1. That Parker Fly archtop sounds real good.

Read: you wouldn't guess from this recording but it does, IRL?

[sgosnell]

Not everyone agrees on what sounds good. Ken Parker has been making archtops for awhile, and enough people seem to think they sound good enough that he sells each one for close to my annual income. I'll never play one, but I wish I could. I saw that video recently, and was a little surprised to see Vignola playing one, but I know Parker traveled around demonstrating some of his archtops, and there are a number of videos of various guitarists playing one or more of his archtops, so I wasn't totally amazed. And I agree with Allan, that Parker archtop sounds very good.

[RJVB]

Not everyone agrees on what sounds good.

Of course, and I've heard proper demonstrations of Parker archtops by the likes of Michael Watts and Michael Chapdelaine that make me not doubt a second that this one also sounds great IRL.
But I think most would agree that that particular recording doesn't very good (it even looks like it was shot off a CRT in the 80s). I agree that maybe the Parker sounds better than the L5 or whatever it is that Lage is playing, in a way, and we know how those L5s can sound.

[sgosnell]

Just finishing watching tonight's show with Jonathon Stout. That was fun. I had other commitments, and had to watch it late, but it was definitely worth waiting for. I don't know how they mic'd Johathon's L5, but it was done very well, and was as loud as Frank's amplified Gibson. I didn't see a clip-on mic on the L5, but maybe I missed it. I'll probably watch again a time or two.

[Bobby Timmons]

^ That guy's friggin good. He kind of made Frank sound like a slouch on the 1st tune.

[brent.h]

As always, I love JS' playing!

FV's trad/gypsy/swing roots complemented JS quite well, I think.