Sam Dunn Interview

I had the pleasure of meeting Sam in the shop and as is the way of the socially connected world we live in I saw we had many mutual musical aquaintences. I’ve since had the pleasure of checking out Sams playing which seems to cover the whole range of jazz guitar from gentle solo guitar to burning bebop playing. I strongly recommend you head over to his website and check out his fantasic playing, teaching concepts buy a cd or even better try and catch him live with one of his many musical endeavours.

Cheers Sam!

Q: What/who were your initial influences?

Blues, and bluesy rock was my way in! I loved, and still do, guitarists like Albert King, BB King, Stevie Ray, and of course Hendrix. I had a band when I was at school, just jamming on 12 bar riffs that we’d learned, with my friend playing bass and his dad playing drums. His dad is a massive jazz fan, so after we’d finish playing, we’d have dinner and he’d put on jazz record or two. One evening, when I was about 13, after attempting to rock out on ‘3rd Stone from the Sun’ or something similar, he put on ‘Bean Bags,’ which is a really swinging album led by Coleman ‘Bean’ Hawkins and Milt ‘Bags’ Jackson. The guitarist on it absolutely blew me away, I was instantly hooked. Bluesy, but playing ‘weird’ notes! It was a real moment of epiphany for me, I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life. So it’s all my bass playing dad’s fault! The guitarist on the album was a very young ‘Kenny Burrell.’ This was in the pre internet days, so finding out information was a lot harder than it is for students of jazz today- I’d visit local libraries, and take the train up to London to visit jazz CD shops. I eventually discovered Django, Barney Kessell, lots more Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Joe Pass in particular remains a massive influence; I love how he would just sit and play a tune, as opposed to working out a formal arrangement. I found a few transcription books, and made my way through them as best as I could, and learned a lot from magazines like ‘Just Jazz Guitar’ and ‘Guitar Techniques.’ There was nobody that lived near me who could teach jazz guitar so I taught myself, transcribing (very slowly at first) and learning songs from records, CDs and tapes. I think that it should be a challenge to learn this music; it really is a life long mountain to climb, which is something to be celebrated. I feel like I’m still scratching the surface, and it’s exciting to be in my mid thirties and still feel I have a ton of music to learn! I continued to teach myself as best I could until I ended up going to Leeds College of Music and then later the Guildhall, to study formally. Later on I discovered more contemporary approaches to playing jazz, but I’m glad I did it in an almost chronological way.

Q: Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?

I’m kept pretty busy between my teaching and gigging around Yorkshire and beyond. I have a few projects on the go – my trio is always fun, with Bassist Garry Jackson and drummer Steve Hanley. It’s pretty loose and open, we play standards, and my compositions. Rehearsals are great fun, we tear the music to pieces and make it our own. I play as a duo with pianist Paul Wilkinson, we’ve just released an album of originals called ‘Open House’ which got a nice review in JJG. I’ve got a new band that I’m really excited about which will be a lot of fun – called ‘The Perpetual Motion Machine.’ Its got myself and my old pal Jamie Taylor playing guitar, and Riley Stone Lonergan and Ben Lowman on Sax, with Garry and Steve on drums. We have our first rehearsal in a few weeks, and have a few gigs booked in later in the year. I play with vocalist Sophie Smith when our schedules allow, and we have a few gigs booked in for the spring, and in a few projects let by others. I teach guitar at a local private school, and also run weekly jazz workshops for Sheffield Jazz, and Heart in Leeds. So it all keeps me busy to say the least!

Q: What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?

I finally got it! Last year, an old friend was selling his late father’s 1966 Gibson ES175DN. It really is the best guitar I’ve ever played, the sound is just magic, and the neck is to die for. I have a 7 string Benedetto prototype that I bought from Howard Alden, which was an early incarnation of what later became the ‘Bambino Deluxe,’ and I just got a Comins GCS1ES for gigs where I’m too scared to take either of the above. I love the sound of 7 string, but I think I’m going to always be a dabbler at best – I love playing my 175 too much!

Q: Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?

Thats a hard question! I loved seeing Russell Malone with Ray Brown and Benny Green many years ago in Wigan of all places! So strange, being in Wigan and thinking, there’s the bassist from ‘Charlie Parker with Strings!’ Anytime I see Adam Rogers he always blows me away. I’m not fussed if there’s no guitar on a gig – I’m more interested in the music than the instrumentation. Brad Mehldau always has something new to say. I recently saw Derek Trucks, and he was great! His tone and phrasing were just fantastic.

Q: Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?

I’m sure anyone reading this will be familiar with the ‘biggies’ playing contemporary jazz guitar; Adam Rogers, Gilad Hekselman, Lage Lund, etc etc so I’d like to mention a few of the excellent players near me if I may. There was a group of us at Leeds College of Music that have gone on to be working pro jazz musicians, playing in very different styles. Simon King is an outrageous guitarist, and also plays several other instruments to a baffling level. Tam De Villiers is now based in Paris, and is quite amazing, check him out! John Kelly, Nick Svarc, Jamie Taylor are all great as well, and have totally different voices on the instrument.

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Brad Williams Interview

I was contacted via Twitter by Brad and had a listen to his Youtube channel and loved what I heard; tasteful, in the tradition but not in anyway painting by numbers if that makes sense- check it out. I was glad he agreed to an interview. Thanks Brad!

What/who were your initial influences?

My very earliest influences were stacks of 45 RPM records my parents owned. Scotty Moore with Elvis Presley was a big one, Steve Cropper with Otis Redding was another. At 12 I was exposed to Hendrix, and at 15 to Wes Montgomery and Grant Green. Then I started going out as a teenager in my hometown of Memphis to hear Calvin Newborn at least one night per week— this was in the late 1990s.  But my single biggest guitarist-influence, to this day, is Charlie Christian— such an incredible sound and conception, and true, deep feeling in every note. His influence exploded out in every direction— through Wes and Benson obviously, but also through T-Bone Walker into the blues, then Junior Barnard on the country side of things, and Chuck Berry and beyond into rock. Charlie Christian is truly the electric guitar’s ‘big bang.’ More than guitarists, though, I’m most influenced by any musician who delivers real depth of feeling and real, honest individuality. There are too many to list, and fortunately there’s no reason to narrow it down.

Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?

I’m doing a lot of writing and producing these days, in all sorts of idioms, and a fair amount of performing. Not all of it is improvisation-centered. Last year I worked and toured quite extensively with vocalist José James, and currently I’m playing and writing a bit with artists like Kris Bowers, Cory Henry, Samora Pinderhughes, and Sly5thAve, as well as some more song-oriented projects with lots of great artists like Adesuwa, Kimberly Nichole, and more. Really just staying busy and keeping my vision very broad. My organ trio record, which features Pat Bianchi on B3 and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, comes out 4 September. I’m very excited to see the public’s reaction to Tyshawn’s organ trio drumming, which is fantastic. So many music lovers know his work in contexts very different from this, so I think a lot of people are going to really get a thrill from hearing him like this.

It was an interesting project in that we decided to do an entirely analogue capture the whole way through— we tracked and mixed to tape, and Scott Hull cut a great-sounding lacquer master from razor-blade sequenced quarter-inch reels. The LP edition will have never touched a computer at all, and I chose this way of working with a very clear musical result in mind. Rather than having the temptation to fix and edit, I wanted to enforce being true to the feeling of the moment. What was most interesting to me were all of the little things that bothered me initially. Most of those came to be some of my favorite parts of the record once it aged a bit— there’s real humanity there, and with modern recording workflows, a lot of this humanity gets eroded through little fixes, edits, and punches. I think this is because humanity and vulnerability, while engaging to audiences, can be uncomfortable when it’s your humanity and vulnerability!

What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?

I have always liked guitars— I have 20 currently. I’ve always, from the very beginning, liked to have a lot of guitars around. Amps, too! So it would be hard to pick one. At any rate, things like makes, models, and vintages are purely academic to me— I have to play a particular guitar before I know if it speaks to me or not. Another of the exact same make, model, year might not strike me the same way. There are some I own that were particularly obvious to me the first time I picked them up. I have this 1953 Epiphone Triumph Regent that someone added a pickup to in 1954. It’s a carved-top guitar—it was an acoustic originally—and the pickup was bought out of a catalog, made by Carvin in the mid-1950s. I also have a blue 1962 Fender Jazzmaster that I’d never sell, and a 1944 Gibson Southern Jumbo flat top.

Most of my guitars are old; I tend to like the ones that have been played a lot. Sometimes I feel that as with any other tool that’s worked with in the hand a lot, like they can somehow accumulate personality. That probably sounds weird. But in the end, there’s music in any guitar— it’s up to the player to find out what the guitar does and how it can be worked-with, creatively. I’m a big fan of old inexpensive guitars, for instance— there’s almost always something they do that is unique and characterful. I’d be happy with almost any guitar on a desert island, I think!

Best guitar gig you’ve ever seen?
There’s one that comes to mind for me that I’ve talked about a few times since. I was about 18 years old and went to see B.B. King in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; the hall held about 8,000 people. I was young, deep into jazz guitar studies, trying to get my hands around all the technique and my ears around all the harmony. Mr. King had a second guitarist with him— a young kid playing a big archtop— and he gave this kid the first solo of the show. The kid played great; lots of notes, some bebop-inspired language, and I remember thinking “wow, I’ve heard the B.B. King records; I know he’s not going to play more stuff than this guy!” After the younger player’s solo, which finished to polite applause, B.B. King played a single note— one of those stinging upper register notes he’s so famous for. The energy in the hall immediately elevated to this transcendent place— you could feel the electricity of the whole crowd’s emotions being stirred simultaneously. It was a transformative moment for me, because it caused me in one instant to completely re-evaluate what was important to me in music. From that point on, the question was always “is this idea in service of some kind of feeling?” Because it’s not enough, to me, to just be a clever idea or an impressive thing to demonstrate. If it’s not working toward making me feel what B.B. King made that whole hall feel that day, then it’s not what I’m after.

Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?

Well, there are all the usual ones— the legends. Charlie Christian gets a shout-out, again. Freddie Green was always another big hero of mine, due to his deep concept as a rhythm section player. For me, there’s a whole school of Memphis session guitarists that are just my favorite lately. The late Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, Skip Pitts, Michael Toles, Bobby Manuel, Steve Cropper, and— above them all, to me— the great Reggie Young. Most of your readers have heard these players somewhere or other; as session players they were all incredibly prolific, and on some important records. There are some others that are so worth checking out that don’t get as much talk these days— Oscar Moore, George Van Eps, Gene Bertoncini… As for current players, my friend Charlie Hunter has a fabulous new record out with Curtis Fowlkes and Bobby Previte. Isaiah Sharkey is another player I’m really impressed by, as is Tony Scherr… his slide work is so full of real feeling. There are really too many great ones to name.

 

 

My Introduction to Jazz Guitar

We’ve all got our own story of how we came to love jazz music and specifically jazz guitar, maybe some of you came to it recently or some of you were lucky enough to have been exposed to it at a younger age. For me I was lucky enough when I was 15 to be leant an album on cassette called “The Jazz Guitar Album” and it all started there for me. As a teenager in my bedroom playing guitar, listening to The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix the jazz guitar tape give me lots of questions but sadly not very many answers -’what on earth were they playing!?’ Although I didn’t *dislike* it, I didn’t really know what to make of it either. The names on the tape sounded very exotic like the music within – Oscar Moore, Django Reinhardt, Bola Sete, Herb Ellis etc.

Here’s the track listing and my perspective from 2014 rather than what I thought at the time

“The Jazz Guitar Album” Verve 2683065

1. Howard Roberts – Relaxin’ At Camarillo
Talk about a shot in the arm to start with! A great Parker bop track taken with incredible energy and an all round great group performance. I love the solo he takes on this; a less natural intuitive guitarist may have gone for another take to try and get it ‘perfect’ but you’d never get close to this again. For such a great natural guitarist it’s interesting to note that he’s remembered more for his involvement with education.

2. Kenny Burrell – Terrace Theme
Cool. Very cool. This track sounds like it might be a straight forward blues but then shows it’s hand with some slinky harmony over the B section. What a sound Kenny gets, I’m not sure anyone got a sound like him in jazz/blues.

3. Billy Bauer – It’s A Blue World
If you talk to any guitarist about close harmony jazz guitar they will no doubt (and quite rightly) talk about Johnny Smith BUT one of the greatest exponents was Billy Bauer. One of the (almost) forgotten greats of jazz guitar, please do search out this track as it’s such a great performance and if anyone has time to transcribe it then drop me a line!

4. Les Spann – Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
Ah Dizzy Gillespie, one of my obsessions from a few years ago (and the name of my cat). This tune is not one that many modern jazzers have played (Bill Evans did as well as Diz) and I’m not sure why as it’s a great tune with some great movement in the chords in the B section to play off. Not content with being a great guitarist Les Spann was a flute player of great skill too.

5. Charlie Christian – AC-DC Current
One of the founding forefathers of the modern jazz guitar movement. Still can’t fathom how he imagined and played all that great music before passing away too young at only 25 years old- just think about that!

6. Barney Kessel – All The Things You Are
7. Herb Ellis – Gravy Waltz
Two more masters of jazz guitar. Such great taste and tone; performances like these makes you realise why they were such legends.

8. Jim Hall – All Across The City
This really stuck out in amongst the other tracks on this album and it’s such a sparse arrangement compared to a lot of the others just featuring Bill Evans and Jim. A lovely melody and one that sticks with you and makes you realise that sometimes less is more.

9. Bola Sete – Soul Samba
Bola was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie and went on to carve out a great career which blended together Samba and Jazz in a creative and energetic way, miles apart from the Bossa Nova movement. In recent years having seen his performances on Youtube I can say that he was the happiest guitarist in the world, so infectious! To my ears at the time this tune sounded a little odder compared to the others, less chord movement but more rhythm and percussion in the guitar playing. What a master!

10. Grant Green – That Lucky Old Sun
I could write an essay on Grant Green (maybe I will one day) and how he influenced my playing. I go through Grant Green obsessional phases every so often but I have to say that this isn’t in my favourites list. It’s not a bad performance (except maybe the slightly out of tune flute) but there’s lots more to celebrate in the Grant Green back catalogue.

11. Tal Farlow – I Remember You
Another stunning performance and one which I transcribed a few years ago. Tal really played unlike anyone else mainly because of his physical attributes; he had big hands and dwarfed any guitar he played and made big interval leaps easy and therefore they just became part of his jazz language. Everyone else was blown away including a young George Benson who has cited Tal amongst others as a big influence.

12. Laurindo Almeida – Samba Da Sahra
Very stylish track with the ever smooth tones of Stan Getz. Great chord movement in this self penned tune, deserves to be played more.

13. Django Reinhardt – Nuages
His signature tune this time performed with a big band, some lovely artificial harmonics in the solo.

14. George Benson – What’s New
I’ve listened to so much GB in my life and this track was a great introduction to start searching out his work. Worth noting the great young Herbie Hancock on this track.

15. Wes Montgomery – Four On Six
Not a lot can be said of Wes that hasn’t been said already. Every note of this is carved into our heads, what a great solo!

16. Johnny Smith – Sweet Lorraine
It turns out that this was a fairly rare track. All the amazing trademark chord work is present and correct, I literally couldn’t work out (and still can’t) how this was at all possible!

17. Oscar Moore – Oscar’s Blues
18. Jimmy Raney – Buddy’s Blues
Oscar Moore was one of the important early exponents of modern jazz guitar and Jimmy Raney was one of the bebop masters. I’m glad these tracks were on the album as I looked further into their playing in later years and found much to listen to.

19. Charlie Byrd – Samba Triste
Early on I got the Byrd/Getz albums and they are essential listening to students of jazz, such great playing and compositions.

20. John McLaughlin – Binky’s Beam
Now this one really foxed me as there seemed to be some clever odd time signature stuff happening in this track and it had a great raw sound to it. It spurred me onto discover probably one of the most influential musicians I’ve ever heard. Not traditional jazz guitar, something very new and exciting was happening here..

A year or so after that there was an offer in the Sunday paper where you had to collect some tokens to receive a free CD. There were 4 in the collection (Saxes, Groups, Piano and Guitar) and I managed to get all of them mainly because I was still intrigued and I recognised a couple of names of the players.

“The Great Jazz Guitarists” OJCGS1 (1994)
1. Charlie Byrd Trio “Let’s Do It”
2. Joe Pass “She’s Funny That Way”
3. Barney Kessell “Easy Like”
4. Barney Kessell “Tenderly”
5. Wes Montgomery “Repetition”
6. Wes Montgomery “D Natural Blues”
7. Wes Montgomery “Four on Six”
8. Barney Kessell “My Old Flame”
9. Barney Kessell “Jeepers Creepers”
10. Kenny Burrell “I Didn’t Know About You”

There was no looking back now and the other CD’s in the collection started to broaden my appreciation especially for Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Joe Pass’ tune on this album was the first time I’d heard anyone deal with jazz on a guitar as a solo instrument. I loved that tune so much I tried to learn it from the album and although I thought I had it down pretty much perfect, time and wisdom showed me otherwise. Oh well I was never going to be a solo jazz guitarist!

Do search out these artist and tunes if they are unfamiliar to you and hopefully they will inspire you like they did (and do) to me.

Dan J.

Underrated Jazz Guitarists #1 William Ash

In no particular order, just as they come to me I will post up guitarists I think deserve further recognition 🙂

I’ve listened to the criminally underrated William Ash for a few years now and his albums are some of my favourite to listen to on my iPod on my walk to work. I can’t remember how I came across them but if you think you’ll like a Wes vibe but on steroids then you’ll love this stuff. He seems to be able to play with his thumb like Wes but also with a pick where necessary.  Oh and also he is the most ridiculous block chord soloist you’ve probably ever heard, check out the track ‘Joanne’ (or any others really) from ‘Moonlight and Stars on iTunes.

Recommended Listening

“Moonlight and Stars”, “The Phoenix” and “The Long Road” all great albums for fans of jazz guitar.

I couldn’t find a website to link to and there’s not much on Youtube so go to iTunes to get hold of his stuff.

David Preston Interview

If you’re down London way then make sure you check out the David Preston’s monthly residency at The Cornershop
Great writing and flawless execution, these guys have really got their stuff together, have got a very hip sound and are great players. You can keep up with them via Youtube Soundcloud & Twitter

Make sure you do; ones to watch!

Q: What/who were your initial influences?

I started off listening to John Williams and the Beatles very early on, that led me to Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Zepplin and Cream.
My first big jazz influences however were Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Metheny’s Question and Answer and Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way are the records that gave me the jazz bug. I still remember exactly how I felt when I first heard Roy Haynes’ intro to the first tune ‘Solar’.
I also have a special place for Oasis, Noel Gallagher is an incredible songwriter and guitarist, an uncommon influence I know but I guess it had to happen sometime!

Q: Are you gigging much at the moment and any projects in the pipeline?

I’m really excited to be starting a monthly residency in April with Kevin Glasgow and Laurie Lowe. We’ll record an album this summer. I’m hoping to do some more gigs with Peter Ind this year as its always a blast playing with him and to tour my own group later in the year. Fingers crossed i’ll also be working again with Melody Gardot at some point too.

Q: What’s your ‘desert island’ guitar or have you got it!?

I play a Gibson cs356 and I’m pretty happy with it at the moment, she’s temperamental with the weather so a desert island might put her out of shape. If i had a choice between anything built by Gary Mortoro or Linda Manzer i’d be one happy guy.

Q: Best (jazz guitar) gig you’ve ever seen?

Its a tie between Metheny at the Royal Albert Hall, Speaking of Now Tour or Metheny at Hammersmith Apollo for the Way Up Tour.

He played really raw at the Albert Hall, really going for it, but I remember literally not being able to speak after seeing him at the Way Up show however, so maybe that one!

Q: Which guitarist(s) would you recommend for other people to check out?

Obviously all the greats, but some guys lesser heard and/or known playing on the scene now:
James Muller, Julian Lage, Joe Cohn, Greg Duncan, Nir Felder, Chris Thile (mandolin player but he’s awesome) and Jakob Bro to name a few. Alex Machacek & Bryan Baker are doing some really interesting things in the fusion area.
For classical guitar, Su Meng and Roberto Aussel, they both sound absolutely incredible.
As far as older guitarists, I recently came across a guitarist who (I think) is still alive called Bill Jennings who plays on alot of Jack McDuff albums whos great. Also George Van Eps, Ed Bickert, Tiny Grimes, Tony Rice and Billy Bauer are all awesome.
Ant Law is worth checking out here in London, he’s writing some really interesting music.
I really wish Stuart Hall, Steve Topping and Paul Stacey would play more in London too because they are ridiculously good players and I’d go to every show!

The Great Wes Montgomery

Love his version of “Round Midnight”.

Matthew Warnock Interview

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.