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Jazz Guitarist Recommendations.

les24preludes said:
Nice guy. I talked to him occasionally at Ronnie's. They used to nickname him "The Human Guitarist". He was great live.

I haven't read the whole thread yet, and I don't know if one of the giants of the jazz guitar has been mentioned yet. No, he's not an American, he's a Canadian. Ed Bickert. I do love Grant Green, in good part because of his recordings with Larry Young and Elvin Jones. But as a guitarist my vote goes to Ed Bickert and his Telecaster.

Where to find him? He's on 2 albums with Paul Desmond for starters. I like him with his Canadian band, with the hugely talented Don Thompson on Bass. Check him out - he has a unique chordal language and is a true original. I just love his playing.


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I really like that. I’d not come across him before. Good 70s style too: I love both his battered guitar and his taste in knitwear
 
I've had this recording since my teens in the late fifties.
Not that well known, but look at the names, in my write-up, of the musicians who were willing to be his, "sidemen."

 
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The guitar work on this album is excellent, it’s a pretty “guitar forward” composition

Jim Hall largely to thank for that
 
boneman said:
I've seen Jim Hall mentioned with Sonny and yes, spectacular! I relatively unknown set from him with Tom Harrell is to me is right up there. Joey Baron, Steve LaSpina complete the group. One of my favourite tracks. Groove is a delight!

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Other great collaborations with Jim Hall include Chico Hamilton’s first (yellow) record, eg ‘Blue Sands’, with Jimmy Giuffre at Newport on the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day ‘Train and the River’ although he is not seen, only heard. And with Sonny Rollins on his return from a break (but I’ve forgotten the record title!)
 
GavinA said:
Other great collaborations with Jim Hall include Chico Hamilton’s first (yellow) record, eg ‘Blue Sands’, with Jimmy Giuffre at Newport on the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day ‘Train and the River’ although he is not seen, only heard. And with Sonny Rollins on his return from a break (but I’ve forgotten the record title!)
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TBH I think anything Jim Hall plays on is amazing :D
 
Because he's one of my favorites, and he hasn't been mentioned yet... Kevin Eubanks (yeah, the same guy who ended up playing Led Zeppelin covers in Jay Leno's band).

Here's an early solo example:

And here's my favorite piece from my favorite album of his (guitar, bass, piano trio) – Eubanks takes the spotlight beginning ~6:30 mark:

His GRP output suffers from the smooooooth jazz disease, but I think Live at Bradley's and his debut album "Guitarist" are amazing.
 
kasperhauser said:
Because he's one of my favorites, and he hasn't been mentioned yet... Kevin Eubanks (yeah, the same guy who ended up playing Led Zeppelin covers in Jay Leno's band).

Here's an early solo example:

And here's my favorite piece from my favorite album of his (guitar, bass, piano trio) – Eubanks takes the spotlight beginning ~6:30 mark:

His GRP output suffers from the smooooooth jazz disease, but I think Live at Bradley's and his debut album "Guitarist" are amazing.
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Good call. His playing with Dave Holland is worth checking out if you don’t know it and often far from smooth

edited to add a clip

 
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Amazon Prime have Wes Montgomery's "Incredible Guitar Of" on vinyl at £13.99p today.

Music is course excellent but this gets good reviews as a competent pressing as well.
 
Tumeni Notes said:
Kessel, Ellis and Charlie Byrd had a band with the three guitars to the fore - with due modesty, they went out under "The Great Guitars" - albums on Concord label
Kessel, Pass, Ellis, Farlow all have albums as leaders under their belts - Discogs or Wikipedia for discographies.
Kessel, along with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown, recorded a series under the heading "The Pollwinners", celebrating the three of them winning Downbeat readers polls...
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I've been listening to a bit of Charlie Byrd lately (more the Brazilian stuff than straight jazz) and, coincidentally, ran across this. An hour well spent.
 
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hermit said:
Before he became famous as a crooner Sacha Distel was a jazz guitarist. Afternoon in Paris is a lovely album that he made with pianist John Lewis in 1957. It was reissued on the French label Sam Records in 2021. Well worth tracking down a copy imo.

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I have that on my Discogs wantlist, and I've been offered, so far, two or three copies at between £80 and £130 ....

Also, since others have mentioned Kessel, an anecdote from one of his guitar seminars in the 1980s; can't recall how the conversation got around to Distel, but Kessel was particularly praise-worthy of him. Roughly paraphrased;

"All that 'mwa, mwa, Mon Cheri" stuff (as he made exaggerated French smooching noises), that's just an act. He's a really serious player"
 
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