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The Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Jazz Guitar Review

For six weeks, I have been panting with anticipation for the arrival of my new Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Jazz guitar, and on Friday, that anticipation was made into delight with the early-morning arrival of that beautiful guitar.  The first thing I noticed after opening the box was not the guitar, but rather a small, white, envelope waiting for me on the third fret and held in place by an E string on each side.  I opened the envelope and read a handwritten note from guitar builder Roger Sadowsky who personally signed a kind note encouraging me to: “Enjoy your new guitar.”

My Jimmy Bruno guitar is quite beautiful and extremely well-crafted.  Lifting the guitar out of its case, however, created a moment of Déjà Vu as I felt as if I had seen this guitar before in the guise of my Ibanez Artcore AG75!

The Sadowsky Bruno has a similar laminated sort of body and heft and weight and size and “hand feel” and, for a moment, I was a little freaked out that I was holding the bigger, badder, but more beautiful and better-bred brother of my Artcore!

Was this Sadowsky Bruno 14 times better than what I paid for my AG75?

It was time to find out.

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The Wegen Gypsy Jazz Pick Review

Over the past three years, my musical journey has been led by a string of guitars, and documented here for you in Boles Blues.  You’ve traveled with me from the Blues and the Black Cat Bone to Jimmy Bruno Jazz and now into the whole new realm of “Gypsy Jazz.”

The patriarch of Gypsy Jazz Guitar is Django Reinhardt who played his way into history despite a fire accident that crippled two fingers on his left hand.  Gypsy Jazz guitar uses a unique and athletic playing style and requires a special guitar, strings and even picks if you want to be historically correct!

I have done a lot of guitar pick reviews, and I know different picks create unique tones and influence playing style.  One thing I noticed studying Gypsy Jazz guitar videos on YouTube is that many of the performers use the same white guitar pick.  Deeper investigation led me to learn those picks are made by Wegen especially for Gypsy Jazz:

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The Idler Wheel Review

Like so many, I have followed Fiona Apple from the moment she released Tidal and have enjoyed just about every note, and have been wondering along with David W. Boles when she would release a new album and I am pleased that the time has finally come in the form of an album whose title starts with The Idler Wheel and continues for a good number of words but is still a bit shorter than one of Apple’s previous albums, When The Pawn…

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Why I Love a Rainy Day: Guitars Crave Moisture

Nothing can kill a great guitar faster than dry air.  Dry air makes us sick and dry air destroys our guitars.  Wood likes to be moist — but not too moist — and in my experience a guitar can handle too much moisture much better than it can handle too little water in the air.  Dry wood tends to crack.  Moist wood tends to swell.  Keeping my guitars properly “watered” is one of the ongoing dedications of my day — and checking the water content of the air is as regular a practice for me practicing Jimmy Bruno’s Five Fingerings.

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Why the Bass Player is the Second Most Important Player in a Band

I was told many years ago by an orchestra leader in New York City that the most important part of any band or orchestra is the drummer.  “The drummer,” he said, “is the steam in the engine.  It is the drummer who sets the beat and everything else flows from that rhythm.  Without a good drummer, you have no direction, no impulse leading you forward.”

The lesson I took away from that conversation is that the beat the drummer sets is what forces everyone into the same context.  Without that anticipatory thump, everyone else makes their own time, and you end up with chaos.

A few years ago, I remember something Late Night with David Letterman Sadowsky bassist Will Lee said in an interview about how having a bad drummer can sink a session, and how he then has to step up as the bassist and take over the role of the drummer.

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