For the last few years, I have been enjoying the music of The Black Keys. I was first drawn to the band because they have a drum and guitar setup, much like one of my favorite bands, The White Stripes. I quickly came to realize that the two are not anything alike in terms of sound other than a nice raw feel and not too much production. I have also enjoyed the minimalism with which they present themselves in a live setting.
I am a massive George Benson and Thomastik-Infeld fan and combining both of them into a single product creates a perfect storm of compressive talent and expansive harmonics. George Benson GB114 Nickel Flat Wound strings by Thomastik-Infeld are my new, favorite, standard guitar strings. I use them for Jazz and Blues and Rock.
Continue reading → The George Benson GB114 Thomastik-Infeld Nickel Flat Wound Jazz Strings Review
If you have any sort of mainstream musical career, one of your best bets for creating an afterlife legacy is to record a Christmas album or two or ten. Every sugary Pop star for the last 30 years has some sort of wintertime holiday album for sale. Bing Crosby is the reigning king of the Christmas album and his fine, monetary example, is what leads all new singers-in-search-of-longevity into lining up to record these, often tired, musical memes.
I prefer my holiday music with a Jazz tinge and I’ll share with you three of my all-time favorite albums. First up is magnificent Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas” where he fires up his six-string archtop and lets us have it right between the eyes. Kenny’s playing is always dynamic and ferocious and he adds tremendous energy and innovation into these seasonal standards. Kenny’s whipping strings will hypnotize you and set you back on your heels. He sets the jewel standard in Jazz guitar no matter the tonal topic.
Magnificent Blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin died yesterday in New Jersey. He was 80. He had been sick for at least a couple of years:
“He always played the right thing at the right time,” Jimmy Page, one of Sumlin’s many admirers, once said. Sumlin, who played his beloved 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar without a pick, was a key inspiration for Keith Richards (who reportedly helped Sumlin with his medical bills in recent years), Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, among others. Inspired by Sumlin’s piercing lead guitar on Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” Hendrix sat in with fellow guitar icon Eric Clapton in 1967, the only time the two performed together.
Rolling Stone named Hubert the 65th greatest guitarist of all time:
We learn through experience. Sometimes the experience is direct. Other times, we experience the experiences of others through immersive reading and learning. “The History of Jazz” is a terrific iPad app that, for under $10.00USD, will give you a wonderful new way to learn about the makings of Jazz.
You must be logged in to post a comment.