Posts Tagged John Mclaughlin
Paco de Lucia (1947–2014)
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr News, Youtube Jazz Videos on February 27, 2014
Although himself not a jazz guitarist, I feel his passing deserves recognition as his music had such passion, soul and other worldly skill to it. I first came into contact with his music through a woodwind repairer at our shop who gave me a tape of “Friday Night in San Francisco” years ago and it flipped my head as I’d never heard guitar playing like it! Subsequently in 1996 I went out to buy “Antologia” which at the time was only available on import (£30 and I was skint!) but it proved to be an outstandingly good purchase as it still gets listened to on a regular basis. At that time I didn’t really understand how his career had moved flamenco forward into world music and into the ears and hearts of people around the world but now understanding a bit more about that really brings the music a whole new edge.
My favourite Paco tracks are ‘Zyrab’, the truly incredible ‘Guijaras de Lucia’, Rio Ancho, ‘Monasterio de Sal’, and his contributions to the 3 Guitar Trio albums.
I’ll leave you with a track from John McLaughlin’s mid 90’s album which saw a reprise of the guitar trio for the track that John wrote with Paco in mind ‘El Ciego’
Two Week Guitar Special in Oxford
Posted by DJ in Gigs, Jazz Gtr News on November 21, 2013
Just doing this really quickly as I’m about to rush down to London to see Remember Shakti as part of the London Jazz Festival week. I’ve been lucky enough to see them twice before and I can’t wait to see them again…!
Anyway I’m just doing a quick post as Adam Taylor contacted me regarding a couple of special events he is running in Oxford, I’ll let him explain.
I have a two week guitar extravaganza coming up and thought it would be something you and your followers would be interested in. I have two great guitarists coming and would love to make the nights as successful as possible. Next week (Mon 25th Nov) I have Dan Messore playing at the club, with myself and a great rhythm section. Then the week after (Mon 2nd Dec) Pete Oxley and the spin trio plus me will be performing.
Here are the fb links with the info and website links:
Mon 25th Nov Dan Messore:
https://www.facebook.com/events/430175233771875/?ref=22
Mon 2nd Dec Pete Oxley:
https://www.facebook.com/events/648955245127811/
And here are the links for the club:
https://www.facebook.com/oxfordjazz
https://twitter.com/oxfordjazz
And here is my website:
http://adamztaylormusic.com/
If you are in the area please do support!
Bumped into….
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr News on April 7, 2011
John McLaughlin!!!! How strange after just doing the transcription the other day. I met him at Frankfurt Musikmesse by accident with the master virtuoso percussionist V. Selvaganesh from the amazing “Remember Shakti”
John McLaughlin Transcription
Posted by DJ in Youtube Jazz Videos on April 4, 2011
I knocked this up earlier….enjoy!
David Angus interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on February 10, 2011
INITIAL INFLUENCES
In the mid 60’s I played rhythm guitar in a fairly regulation type r ‘n b
group in the Lancaster area having made fair copies of a Fender Jazz Bass and a Stratocaster for a ‘name’ guitarist who later became a top London session player. I imagine that Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry were the sounds that first caught my ear and of course the first Elvis album ( Blue Moon, Mystery Train etc., ). Bizaarly, I then heard Monty Sunshine play Petite Fleur (jazz!) in Chris Barber’s band and later the music of Sydney
Bechet and so took up clarinet for three or so years learning to reading in
the process.
After a career in design, teaching and retail management which left little
free time, I returnedto the guitar when my wife and I moved to Derbsyhire in the mid-1990s and for some time focussed on BB King and in particular Chicago Blues. My first lessons were with Andy Gatford in a back room at Foulds and I still have his excellent notes to crib from now when
I give the odd lesson! The instrument itself brought me to jazz and although
Wes had caught my ear in the 60’s it was not until we retired here to South -West France that I really became aware of the diversity of jazz guitar. Additionally, every town in this part of France has a music college and all French youngsters are taught Solfège. There is tremendous enthusiasm for music ‘en direct’ ie live and the span of genres is mind boggling but even here
( 1 1/2 hours north of Toulouse ) there are many pro and semi-pro jazz trios and quartets playing bebop and standards although not surprisingly the predominant style is manouche or gypsy jazz.
GIGGING
Jazz jam sessions hereabouts ( we are in a rural area ) are fairly thin on
the ground and in spite of my earlier comment re-pro level gigs the scope for ‘advanced beginner/intermediate’ players is fairly limited. Jamming with friends is very much the order of the day and I meet regularly with an English friend here who writes jingles and film music and has a profesional studio. He tends to lay down piano tracks and then we work on standards for fun. I have until recently been one of three ‘programmateurs’ who choose the headline acts for the Cahors Blues Festival ( oldest in France: www.cahorsbluesfestival.com ) and have played from time to time with committee members. I have also co-organised one or two charity
concerts here ie Tsunami, Haiti (Gary Brooker et al )etc. and this has
resulted in useful 1:1 jamming situations.
Of course, at my age ( a young 65ans! ) I just need the extra 10,000 hours
to get together my chops!!
GUITARS
When I left the UK ( almost 8 years ago now ) Dan was just getting together
his jazz guitar stock and archtops seemed much less interesting at that time. I seem to recall purchasing one acoustic flattop and one Strat from the
shop and a Laney amp ( or maybe the Fender DeLuxe 90 ). However, almost as soon as we arrived here I bought an Ibanez Artcore jobbie and loved the feel and tone although I now realise how humble it was. Shortly after, I was
in touch with the guy who established Peerless Guitars in the UK having
ordered a Jazz City direct from Korea. This resulted in my establishing numerous retail accounts from Toulouse to Bordeaux for Peerless. I also found a number of endorsees including Big Jim Sullivan and Bill Nelson for the marque and set up the link with Matt Otten who has had 1000,000s of hits on You Tube with the 2 models I sent him. I later on somehow ( quite legitimately! ) acquired a Peerless Monarch and a Renaissance Custom for my troubles. I love both guitars ( both all-solid )but find the mini- humbucker on the Monarch a little thin sounding and routinely play the guitar through a Boss EQ and the Renaissance Custom ( 330 clone ) now
has a Benedetto A6 in the neck – love it. They keep company with a Baja Tele
( SD Alnico II in the neck ) and French Lag Tramontane acoustic for ‘grab
and go’.
My ‘Desert Island’ choice is probably an Eastman depending upon my pension ‘lump sum’ when it arrives!
BEST (JAZZ GUITAR) GIG
Not sure how to quantify this one. I feel I ought to include John McLaughlin – Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1974 . However in recent years we have seen excellent concerts ( mostly at the fantastic Marciac Jazz Festival in
the Gers ) Al de Meola and Stanley Clarke and twice now, the incredible
Bireli Lagrene ( bebop as well as the manouche material.) Off to see him in
Nerac with Sylvan Luc in a couple of weeks. Last October we also saw John
Scofield with his trio at the Jazz Sur 31 festival ( 60 concerts in and
around Toulouse each autumn. Spoilt for choice! Best thing here too is the
average age of the audience at these gigs – mostly around 30ans.
GUITARISTS TO CHECK OUT
For me, BIRELI LAGRENE is probably one of the greatest living guitarists –
forget all the magazine surveys! Just catch him if you can. This is the guy
who had the entire repertoire of Django down by the time he appeared at the
Montreux Festival aged 14ans! Beyond that, I rate highly, Anthony Wilson (
who plays with Diana Krall ), Ted Greene, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, MIMI FOX, Bobby Broom, Grant Green, John Scofield, Russell Malone, Joe Pass and of course the vastly underrated Jimmy Bruno.
Dan Johnson interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on February 3, 2011
What/who were your initial influences?
I originally got into jazz through the Jazz/Funk scene and the resurgence of jazz/funk/soul compilations in the 90’s. A lot of that music had become cheap for people to put out on albums as it wasn’t popular at the time so there was loads of one hit wonders and vaults of stuff that was available for release. I was (and still am) a massive James Brown fan and found very quickly that a lot could be learnt about phrasing from the Godfather of soul and Grant Green. Those two shaped my early woeful attempts at playing jazz, least I had some idea of phrasing if not any idea what was going on harmonically! I used to (and still do!) see Phil Robson play loads of gigs in Derby and he’s always playing great, encouraging and sets a high standard to try and get to! These days I seem to listen to lots of sax players.
Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I am gigging as much as I have time and creative energy for which is usually 2 or 3 a month or so depending on whats happening. It’s not a great deal but I do have a full time job as well. Currently I play with a modal, slightly odd, Hammond jazz quartet as well as guesting with various duos and trios. I would like to try and get a gtr/upright bass/drums combo together, I’ve got a plan of who to use and ideas for tunes are coming together slowly…!
What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
Well guitarwise I think I’ve got it with my Eastman T146SMD, it’s light responsive and got a great sound. Weirdly (working where I do) I’m not a great gear head when it comes to chopping and changing guitars all the time, I try to get something good and stick with it. I occasionally think I’d like a Benedetto Bravo, but they’re very expensive and might not give me the sound I want, I prefer having a bit of lightness to the sound rather than the traditional Joe Pass type of 175 sound. Don’t get me wrong, I love that sound but it just doesn’t work for me.
Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
Difficult one….for out and out jazz guitar I think the Pat Martino at Ronnies was great, but I equally enjoyed the 2 times I’ve seen John McLaughlin with Shakti. Special mention to a set I saw George Benson do in California, wow!
Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
I recently stumbled upon Adam Rogers who is great, I see him as a guitarist who is taking on the Brecker torch. He covers the whole spectrum of modern jazz and has got such facility on the instrument that he can seemingly just think aloud spontaneously through his instrument.