If there is a billboard of Jazz guitarists, Pat Metheny definitely has to be at top of the list. When it comes to jazz music, Metheny is there whether its in a jazz group, a duet or as a solo guitarist. Metheny’s music style involves elements of progressive and contemporary jazz, post-bop, latin jazz and […]
Tag Archives: jazz
Wayne Krantz
Wayne Krantz is an American jazz fusion guitarist. He has played with top artists such as Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Billy Cobham, and others, but is most active as a solo performer. Interested in his sound and gear? His main guitar is a slightly modded Tyler Studio Elite w/ Suhr Vintage single coils, Duncan Full […]
Richie Kotzen
I am sure you have heard of the band called Poison or Mr. Big, they were/are two American hard rock bands which contributed to the Glam Rock-Metal scene at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 1990s. Richie Kotzen played the guitar for both bands. He recorded one album with Poison in 1993 […]
John Scofield
John Scofield is one of those guitarists that can surprise you very easily. He is super versatile, and he can play it freaking good! Jazz, Rock, Funk, Soul, Blues. I own only two CDs that I bought without knowing what to expect and both of them are completely different. One is a full on jazz […]
Luis Salinas, Magic Fusion!
Last week I introduced you to Rod and Gab, those innovative, guitar explorers doing great stuff. Now, I want to introduce you to another Latin American guitarist, Luis Salinas from Argentina. He is of course very well known on that side of the World, but he has also been doing his thing on stages in […]
Manzer Pikasso Pat Methany
Okay, breathe deeply; when we’ve modified our guitars to the hilt will it then be time to modify our bodies?
“I’ve gotta gig this weekend, can I install a couple of extra sets of hands please Doc?” This Manzer custom build for Pat Methany features 42 strings…and yes Pat is still only using two normal hands of five digits.
[gallery columns="2"]Known as the Pikasso guitar, after its likeness to the cubist paintings of Pablo Picasso, this one pictured belongs to jazz supremo Pat Metheny, one of the most famous jazz guitar players of our time.
The Picasso guitar was built for him by luthier Linda Manzer in 1984 and can be heard on his song “Into the Dream” and on the albums Quartet, Imaginary Day, Jim Hall & Pat Metheny, Trio Live, and Metheny Mehldau Quartet his 2007 second collaboration with pianist Brad Mehldau. The guitar can also be seen on the Speaking of Now Live and Imaginary Day DVDs. Pat Metheny has also used the guitar in various guest appearances on other artists’ albums and on the Legends of Jazz TV show, where he referred to it simply as a 42- string guitar.
Bill Frisell – glacial effects
In a recent post featuring Adrian Legg I slyly suggested that Bill Frisell was definitely another idiosycratic guitarist to look for in your listening research. Bill has always been an exponent of an healthy array of effects – most notably delay, reverb, chorus and more rarely pitch shifters to create unique tones and sounds; a uniquity exaggerated by his jazz leanings combined with clean sustain and an emotionally oblique sense of melody.
He does however ensure that his use of processing, or effects, don`t colour his sound in a way that might obscure the emotional intent or message. and seems incapable of descending into gratuitous, meaningless affectation. Bill often sounds as if his notes are shards of ice slowly melting as they descend through warmer water and the overall impression is of a glacial and ambivalently jazz-blues fusion. It`s a novel approach to sound, feel and melody that conjures up a sense of constant ideation. Use it…
Jazz, Blues, 78 rpm and Guitar solos II
So what happens after the roaring twenties for the guitar in Jazz ? Torchbearers Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang paved the way for an explosion of guitar innovation fresh from Paris France in the form of Django Reinhardt, violinist Stéphane Grappelli plus Reinhardt’s brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar. These cats used the first ever cutaway guitar – The Selmer.
Chet Atkins
About twenty years ago I went out to buy a Chet Atkins record and what I came back with contained the impressive instrumental Kicky.