I've decided that Thursday is my lucky day, and it is certainly my highlight for each week.
Thursday is the day of the week that my friend David Gitlen stops by to teach me a jazz guitar lesson. After the lesson we spend time listening to a jazz guitar CD that David has brought along for me to hear, while sipping a little espresso.
David is a superb jazz guitarist, and has played / studied guitar with jazz guitar luminaries Jim Hall and Joe Pass. David often picks up the guitar and plays along with the CD while we are listening to demonstrate a certain technique or principle to me about jazz guitar. It is both amazing and illuminating!
In the spirit of sharing some great music, I thought I would start a new series of blog posts - "The Jazz Guitar Chronicles" - where I would tell you about the jazz guitar CDs (or LPs) David brings over, in order to enrich your music listening.
These albums are not ones that you are likely to run into elsewhere, and sometimes they are hard to find, but they are exceptional and well worth seeking out.
If you love jazz guitar you'll definitely want to add these albums to your music library!
Today's system: Audio Note (UK) 2.1x/II Level 2 CD player, Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers with Duelund crossovers.
Also, David and I talk a little bit about whatever hifi gear is in place at the time we are listening. So from time to time you'll get to hear David's thoughts about the particular hifi kit we're listening to from an expert musician's perspective.
Joe Pass in Hamburg. ACT Jazz Classics.
After todays lesson David and I listened to "Joe Pass in Hamburg" on the ACT Jazz Classics label. This is a disc that is tricky to find in the US. I found one in Germany on Discogs and ordered it after listening to it. Its good.
In this excellently recorded CD, Joe Pass plays with the NDR Bigband, and is in fine form.
The sessions of Joe with the NDR Bigband were recorded April 23 to 27, 1990, and February 17 to 21, 1992, just a few short years before Joe left Planet Earth at the age of 65.
The music on "Joe Pass in Hamburg" sounds gorgeous coming out of the Audio Note (UK) 2.1x/II Level 2 CD player, which is about in the middle of Audio Note (UK)'s CD player product line. I have enthused before about this CD player, it just always gets the music right, and sounds superb while doing it. If you don't think CDs can sound like music, well then you haven't heard this CD player!
I really enjoyed hearing Joe play with the NDR Bigband, and they really complemented each other.
While Joe was universally praised for his superb jazz guitar playing, he was a humble man, and was self-critical about his playing.
"Of course, I make a lot of mistakes and I'm still bugged every time I goof. I'm playing ... you see, I have no set program and although I practice, I never rehearse. You know, I don't think I played a piece in my life that was right from beginning to end."
When I listen to Joe, I hear a brilliant jazz guitarist that inspires me with what he plays. I don't hear the mistakes, I hear the brilliance.
In a DVD filmed at a musicians school, Joe commented about his mistakes during an interview in front of students, and told them how jazz guitarists would transcribe his playing note by note, including the mistakes, thinking they were intentional on Joe's part. Joe just laughed, he thought it was amusing that they didn't catch his mistakes.
On "Joe Pass in Hamburg", Joe's playing is impressive, and he goes for beautiful melodic playing with the NDR Bigband, which is a real treat, rather than some of amazing jazz pyrotechnics you'll hear on some of Joe's solo albums, for example.
Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier.
This album sounds full, rich, tonally correct, and just flat out musically magnificent. The Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amp sounds fantastic playing this music, and I might mention that David found the 45 EVO to be his favorite tube amp that we've listened to in our sessions.
The 45 EVO is a really superb 45 SET, and I find it rather amazing that its 2 watts can drive the Westminsters to live-like levels so well. I'm impressed.
The 3 volt output of the Audio Note (UK) 2.1x/II Level 2 CD player helps with that, I think. But still, I'm impressed with what the 45 EVO SET can do on the West's.
My first SET ... over two decades ago now ... was a pair of 45 SET monaural amplifiers that Gordon Rankin built for me. Those were great amplifiers to be sure, but I don't remember them ever sounding this rich, musical, and just otherworldly amazing. Frankie at Triode Lab really knows how to make a great sounding 45 SET amplifier.
In fact, listening to the 45 EVO SET integrated amp on my Westminsters has made me rethink my belief that the Westminsters need more like 30 watts to really come to life. Two watts will do just fine, thank you.
Ok, enough about hifi kit, this post was supposed to be about the music, but the music sounds oh so good on this combination of hifi kit!
Joe Pass in Hamburg. ACT Jazz Classics.
I urge you to seek out the "Joe Pass in Hamburg" album, it is truly superb. You might not think you're a big band listener, but I guarantee when you listen to this album, you'll not only be a jazz guitar enthusiast, but also a Bigband enthusiast. This is just really exceptional music. Highly recommended!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!
