Posts Tagged Pat Martino
Matthew Warnock Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on January 15, 2012
Matthew Warnock is a great guitarist and educator with a impressive CV which includes stints teaching and studying in many US universities. Matthew is coming over to teach in the UK at Leeds College of Music and I hope we can meet up at some point to hang out. You can check out his playing on his Youtube channel.
Q: What/who were your initial influences?
I first got interested in guitar by listening to classic rock and blues, so my earliest influences were Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Once I got hooked into jazz, I was influenced by some of the usual suspects, like Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino and Mike Stern, but I have always been drawn to cats like Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert and Ted Greene.
Q: Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I spent most of 2011 living in Belo Horizonte, Brazil where I was performing 10-15 times a month, so I was gigging a lot and getting the chance to play with some great Brazilian musicians. I recently relocated to Manchester, and have decided to gig a bit less right now because I want to really focus on finishing my first record. The album will be all solo-guitar, and I’ve got the tunes worked up already. I just need to get into the studio and begin the recording process.
Q: What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
My desert island guitar is the Koentopp Telecaster that I own. It’s a custom build by Dan Koentopp, a Chicago luthier who makes the most beautiful sounding guitars I’ve ever played. So, I’m lucky in that I searched for years for a guitar that really brought my personality and musical intentions out in the sound of the instrument, and I finally found those qualities in Dan’s guitar.
Q: Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
I would have to say that it was a tie between the first time I ever saw Ben Monder in Montreal, he was playing with his quartet and they absolutely killed it, and a Mike Stern show I saw this summer in Brazil, where he played with a Samba trio. Both of these shows were full of energy, the bands were interaction at a very high level and the intensity was just electric. Two shows I will never forget.
Q: Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
A few of the guitarists that I really like that I think more people should check out are Lenny Breau and Ed Bickert. Two Canadian guitarists, well Lenny was a transplanted Canadian, who I grew up listening to and two of the best chord players in the business. I will never get tired of hearing either of those guys play, in any ensemble, and I always try and turn people on to their records whenever I get the chance.
John Clarke Interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on September 1, 2011
John Clarke from the Southern Jazz Guitar Society contacted me and very kindly answered our interview questions. I will do a feature on UK jazz guitar societies soon.
What/who were your initial influences?
Jim Hall (‘Jazz Guitar’ with Carl Perkins and Red Mitchell), Barney Kessel (‘Four’ with Hamptom Hawes), Wes Montgomery (all the Riverside recordings)
Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I only average half a dozen gigs a year, and this year it’s less than that, but I play in public twice a month at jam sessions. Last year, one of the bands I play in supported the Clark Tracy Quintet at the Reading Jazz Cafe, and another band I play in has played at The Marlborough Jazz Festival, the Brighton Jazz Club, the Reading Jazz Club and the Southampton Jazz Club in the past. The close proximity of London, and the dearth of gigs there for pro musicians means that, now, these local gigs can attract London jazz musicians for modest fees, so there are fewer opportunities left for local semi-pros and good amateurs.
What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
My ’59 Gibson L7 with Kent Armstrong custom archtop pick-up, but a similar vintage L5CES would be even better. I also have an Ibanez AS200 bought c. 1990, which is an exceptionally nice guitar.
Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
Wes at Ronnie Scotts, I guess, but Pat Metheny at The Shaw Theatre c. 1980, and Mike Stern at the Bracknell Jazz Festival c, 1987 also stand out
Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
Depends on the era (my taste covers all from fifties to the present). Pre 1980 – Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Pat Martino, and Jimmy Raney are my favourites. Post 1980 – Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Mike Stern, or for a more conventional sound, Peter Bernstein and Jesse Van Ruller.
John Clarke
Basingstoke
Tom Painter interview
Posted by DJ in Jazz Gtr Interviews on February 26, 2011
Tom Painter is a fantastic luthier who has built us a few archtops, you can read more here
1/What/who were your initial influences?
Barney Kessel was my first influence in jazz guitar. He just had so much enthusiasm and a bluesy style that was really accessible to me at the time (my late teens). Later, I discovered the other masters Pass, Farlow, Benson, Martino, Breau, etc. I was also really interested in Bossa Nova, the Bossa guitar was and still is just fascinating to me.
2/Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?
I don’t gig right now. I played through college, in the school jazz program and with my own group.
3/What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?
My “desert island” guitar would have to be one of mine or a really fine classical guitar.
4/Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?
I saw Jimmy Bruno when I was 18 or so in Philly. His level of musicianship blew me away…almost incomprehensible. He was such a nice guy too….let me play his Benedetto! I felt the same way when I met Pat Martino.
5/Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?
With YouTube, we see there are so many people around the world playing at such a high level it’s just mind-boggling….and very humbling. I’m a little old-fashioned in my taste, for me, Jimmy Raney is the Leibniz of bebop guitar. The beautiful logic!
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.
