Subj : Re: Jazz guitar To : Paul Lawson From : Martin Ridgley Date : Wed Aug 16 2000 11:23 am -=> Paul Lawson wrote to Martin Ridgley <=- PL> Martin Ridgley wrote in a message to Paul Lawson: MR> I'm no authority on music history either, but it seems that MR> for some reason, during that same period, there was a lot of MR> interest in jazz amongst the college and university crowds. PL> I think at the time jazz was the cutting edge of non-conformity, PL> ouside the box and all that. I think that's the primary appeal PL> to the college crowd. Good point. I guess the alternative at the time was folk music, which also seemed to have wide appeal on college and university campuses - partially due, I suspect, to the 'protest' element in many of the lyrics. MR> ...of the players you mentioned above, I've really only listened MR> to Metheny, Holdsworth, and McLaughlin. PL> Metheny is my favorite player. PL> If his name is on the liner notes, I'll buy it. I've only got about 5 or 6 of his albums, all from the 1970s, and all on the ECM label. I like 'em all, but something - possibly Lyle Mays keyboard work - turned me off him around that time, and I stopped buying his albums. So, would you care to recommend anything more recent - or would that entail listing almost his entire catalogue? ;-) MR> I heard some of Al DiMeola's early work, but his playing didn't MR> do much for me and I haven't paid much attention to him since... PL> Yeah he has that effect on lots of people. I just love his early PL> stuff! Very firey player and the technique is scary! Yeah, you're right about his technique. What I heard of that early stuff still left me kind of cold for some reason, though. MR> Several people have recommended Stanley Jordan to me, but I have MR> yet to hear him. Care to suggest a good PL> Jordan is interesting if nothing else for his technique. he PL> literally plays guitar like a piano. I saw him on Austin City PL> limits several years ago. He had a guitar strapped on and another PL> on a keyboard type stand and was playing both at the same time. Wow! That sounds intriguing! PL> He plays bass rhythm and lead at the same time tapping with both PL> hands. Comparing his tapping technique to VanHalen is roughly PL> akin to comparing a toddlers finger painting to a Monet. His PL> tone blows, very tinny, I think due mainly to the technique PL> employed though but he has done some very nice stuff. I have PL> his first two CDs and prefer his first (self titled). I'm sure he could do something about the tone artificially if he wanted to. I saw a guy named Trey Gunn last year who plays with Robert Fripp and King Crimson. He plays Warr 'touch' guitars and does a lot of stuff by fretting without picking, sometimes tapping. His tone is big and warm, but I'm sure it's all due to the rack full of effects. He also sometimes plays the Chapman stick, which may be a fairly obvious alternative for players who like to tap. PL> I used to exchange cassettes of favorite players/pieces with a PL> guy on the echo years ago. It was a lot of fun and I picked up PL> a group of new players that way. Technology marching on, I can PL> now do the same with CDs. If you'd be interested, I'd be happy PL> to exchange some favorites with you. I'm afraid I'm still in the dark ages when it comes to computer technology. Believe it or not, I still don't have either a CD/ROM, or a burner. ;-\ I'll send you an email anyway though, 'cause this is probably off-topic for the echo. Martin ~~~~~~~~ ___ MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.36 --- Maximus 3.01 * Origin: Eclectic Lab BBS (1:153/831) .