Jazz Recommendations

[ralphpnj]

In response to a few posts over in this thread (http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...ayer-now/page9) which mentioned the late, great jazz guitarist Grant Green's "Idle Moments" recording, which by the way is an excellent straight ahead "Blue Note" jazz date featuring an all star line up, superb songs and great playing, I figured that this thread needed an update to get it moving again.

So far a few piano and trumpet players have been spotlighted so now it's time to shine the light on a few lesser known guitar players. Unfortunately one of them is no longer with us.

Emily Remler was a very talented straight ahead guitarist who died at the tender age of 32 back in 1990 but luckily for music lovers not before she recorded a series of very good albums for the Concord label. Of these recordings my personal favorite is "Catwalk", a quartet date from 1984 featuring Remler along with trumpeter John D'Earth, bassist Eddie Gomez and the highly unrated drummer Bob Moses. The recording features seven Remler originals and based on the strength of these compositions and the quality of her playing one can only bemoan the lose of such talented individual at such a young age. In addition to this fine recording all of her other recordings are also recommended.

One of my other favorite lesser known guitarists is New York's own Jack Wilkins. Although recording for forty years Wilkins only has 20 some titles recorded under his own name and of these "Merge", a reissue of of two 1978 dates is the one would recommend as the best introduction to this fine guitarist work. All nine tracks on this CD are simply smoking. The opening track "FUM" and the closing track "Freight Trane" (a Tommy Flanagan hard bop tune first recorded on a John Coltrane and Kenny Burrell date in 1958) do not simply smoke, they are both fully on fire. Highly recommended (as is the Coltrane/Burrell recording).

[jh901]

I'm just underway getting to know the well-known jazz guitarists such as Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, etc. Fortunately, much of their work is captured on CD rather well in the Victor Japan (VDJ) series, DCC Gold, Japan Blue Notes Works, Analogue Productions SACD (Hybrid), etc.

[emalvick]

Haven't seen it mentioned here, but since we're talking about guitars, I find some of Charlie Hunter's work pretty amazing. Separating his more jazz-like performances from other genre-bending albums isn't easy, but if you like guitars, he's pretty exciting. I saw him live many years ago now, and he was quite good.

I also find John Scofield interesting, although I've been less impressed with his output than others, when I do enjoy his albums they are fantastic. My favorite is A Go Go from 1998 (now I'm feeling old as that seemed so new to me but that's 15 years ago). He is a bit more jam-band than jazz, but the album mentioned does have a modern jazz feel to it.

[ralphpnj]

Haven't seen it mentioned here, but since we're talking about guitars, I find some of Charlie Hunter's work pretty amazing. Separating his more jazz-like performances from other genre-bending albums isn't easy, but if you like guitars, he's pretty exciting. I saw him live many years ago now, and he was quite good.

I also find John Scofield interesting, although I've been less impressed with his output than others, when I do enjoy his albums they are fantastic. My favorite is A Go Go from 1998 (now I'm feeling old as that seemed so new to me but that's 15 years ago). He is a bit more jam-band than jazz, but the album mentioned does have a modern jazz feel to it.

Two very good guitarists. Both Scofield and Hunter along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell are musicians who refuse to fit into any one category. Sure all four of them can and are excellent straight jazz guitar players but they all play many other kinds of music and most of it equally valid.

[darrenyeats]

I've recently discovered "Pat Metheny Trio Live" double album, which I find enjoyable.
Darren

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

[ralphpnj]

I've recently discovered "Pat Metheny Trio Live" double album, which I find enjoyable.
Darren

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

Another Pat Metheny recording you might want to give a listen to is "80/81" an all star quintet recording from, you guessed it, 1981 featuring the great Charlie Haden on bass, the incomparable drummer Jack DeJohnette along with tenor sax giants Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker. Make sure to get the double CD release because all the songs are worth hearing. And of course Metheny's playing is outstanding throughout the recording.

[RonM]

Emily Remler was a very talented straight ahead guitarist who died at the tender age of 32 back in 1990 but luckily for music lovers not before she recorded a series of very good albums for the Concord label. Of these recordings my personal favorite is "Catwalk", a quartet date from 1984 featuring Remler along with trumpeter John D'Earth, bassist Eddie Gomez and the highly unrated drummer Bob Moses. The recording features seven Remler originals and based on the strength of these compositions and the quality of her playing one can only bemoan the lose of such talented individual at such a young age. In addition to this fine recording all of her other recordings are also recommended.

I remember buying my first Emily Remler recording, I think it was Transitions, as a premium chrome cassette, remaindered at a bookstore. Loved it. It was not too long after I bought it that I heard she had died. Another great jazz talent lost to heroin.

Recommendations from Ralph are great, but I really like her duet album with Larry Coryell, Together.

Edit -- I got curious and did a search for availability of Remler's music. Virtually nothing. East to Wes is on iTunes, and various compilations, but none of the other core albums. I personally have both Together (with Coryell) and Transitions, both of which I got from eMusic because I couldn't find CDs. But neither are on eMusic any more either. Very odd. It's the kind of situation where one might feel morally justified resorting to torrent-land, and in fact I do see a complete discography listed there, at a gigabyte (!). However, that one seems to be dead.

East to Wes and Firefly are available from Amazon.com, and some of the others are listed from third-party sellers, but at really high prices.

Edit 2: I found this great summary of Emily's recorded career, well worth reading: http://geardiary.com/2012/09/26/musi...-emily-remler/

[darrenyeats]

[Duplicate post]

[darrenyeats]

Prodded by a PFM Sinatra thread, I've finally splashed out on the DVD-A of Sinatra At The Sands. Not cheap, even used, but I'm looking forward to it!
Darren

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

[ralphpnj]

Prodded by a PFM Sinatra thread, I've finally splashed out on the DVD-A of Sinatra At The Sands. Not cheap, even used, but I'm looking forward to it!
Darren

Will you be ripping the high resolution audio from the DVD-A and then listening to it via your SB Touch?