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DOWNBEAT 75 GREAT GUITARISTS JACK BRUCE DAVID BINNEY CLUB GUIDE FEBRUARY 2009

February 2009 VOLUME 76 – NUMBER 2

President Kevin Maher Publisher Frank Alkyer Editor Jason Koransky Associate Editor Aaron Cohen Art Director Ara Tirado Production Associate Andy Williams Bookkeeper Margaret Stevens Circulation Manager Kelly Grosser Intern Mary Wilcop

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CONTRIBUTORS Senior Contributors: Michael Bourne, John McDonough, Howard Mandel Austin: Michael Point; Boston: Fred Bouchard, Frank-John Hadley; Chicago: John Corbett, Alain Drouot, Michael Jackson, Peter Margasak, Bill Meyer, Mitch Myers, Paul Natkin, Howard Reich; Denver: Norman Provizer; Indiana: Mark Sheldon; Iowa: Will Smith; Los Angeles: Earl Gibson, Todd Jenkins, Kirk Silsbee, Chris Walker, Joe Woodard; Michigan: John Ephland; Minneapolis: Robin James; Nashville: Robert Doerschuk; New Orleans: Erika Goldring, David Kunian; New York: Alan Bergman, Herb Boyd, Bill Douthart, Ira Gitler, Eugene Gologursky, Norm Harris, D.D. Jackson, Jimmy Katz, Jim Macnie, Ken Micallef, Jennifer Odell, Dan Ouellette, Ted Panken, Richard Seidel, Tom Staudter, Jack Vartoogian, Michael Weintrob, Kevin Whitehead; North Carolina: Robin Tolleson; Philadelphia: David Adler, Shaun Brady, Eric Fine; San Francisco: Mars Breslow, Forrest Bryant, Clayton Call, Yoshi Kato; Seattle: Paul de Barros; Tampa Bay: Philip Booth; Washington, D.C.: Willard Jenkins, John Murph, Bill Shoemaker, Michael Wilderman; Belgium: Jos Knaepen; Canada: Greg Buium, James Hale, Diane Moon; Denmark: Jan Persson; France: Jean Szlamowicz; Germany: Detlev Schilke, Hyou Vielz; Great Britain: Hugh Gregory, Brian Priestley; Israel: Barry Davis; Japan: Kiyoshi Koyama; Netherlands: Jaap Lüdeke; Portugal: Antonio Rubio; Romania: Virgil Mihaiu; Russia: Cyril Moshkow; South Africa: Don Albert.

Jack Maher, President 1970-2002 John Maher, President 1950-1969

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DB Inside

Departments

8 First Take

10 Chords & Discords

13 The Beat

14 Backstage With ... Don Byron 27 19 European Scene

Pat Metheny

19 The Archives CLAYTON CALL February 23, 1967

20 Caught 27 75 Great Guitarists | By Ed Enright

22 Players In the first of a series of articles that celebrate DownBeat’s 75th anniversary, we shine the spotlight on 75 of the all-time great jazz, blues and beyond guitarists Clifton Anderson who have graced the magazine’s pages. We scoured the DB archives for classic Pete Zimmer quotes and interviewed a number of the living masters to offer an overview of the historical progression of the guitar in improvised music through this group Bill Stewart of the music’s great six-stringers. Vince Mendoza

67 Reviews Features 82 Toolshed 56 David Binney 86 Jazz on Campus Finding Harmony By Ted Panken 90 Blindfold Test 60 International 44 Live Music Guide July 20, 1961, 100 Great Jazz Clubs DownBeat Archives By Ralph J. Gleason

46 Jack Bruce Far From Slumming By Frank-John Hadley

50 Master Classes By Ken Hatfield & Mark Elf

54 Transcription

65 Alex Cline Big Band Joey DeFrancesco

6 DOWNBEAT February 2009 Cover photography by Charles Stewart

First Take By Jason Koransky

Guitar Legacy There are a number of a great quotes in the Wes Montgomery story from the DownBeat archives that we reprinted on Page 44. In an interview by Ralph J. Gleason that originally ran in the July 20, 1961, issue, Montgomery discussed the guitarists who influenced his sound. One man in particular stood out. “I got interested in playing the guitar because of ,” Montgomery said. “Like all other guitar players! There’s no way out. I never saw him in my life but he said so much on the records that I don’t care what instrument a cat played, if he didn’t understand and didn’t feel and really didn’t get with the things that Charlie Christian was doing, he was Reinhardt

a pretty poor musician—he was so far ahead.” DOWNBEAT ARCHIVES Christian, of course, is one of the “75 Great Guitarists” in our cover feature by Ed Enright (Page 27). He’s one of only five guitarists in the DownBeat Hall of Fame—the others being Montgomery, Django Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. It was necessary to include him in this feature. Montgomery also talked about a few other of the guitarists who were obvious to include in the list, including Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, and Barney Kessel. In fact, the inclusion of many of the guitarists on this list of 75—we chose 75 because this is the first in a series of features that celebrate DownBeat’s 75th anniversary— were imperative. When it came down to closing the list at 75, the hard choices emerged. Which jazz, blues and beyond masters would we have to leave out? In this feature, we tried to offer a wide range of guitarists, from different time periods and different musical styles—from Charlie Christian early swing and to blues and fusion— DOWNBEAT ARCHIVES who have played a pivotal role in the develop- ment of improvised music. So, of course we could not include every “great” guitarist. Who do you think we should have included? We’d love to hear your opin- ions. Also, we know that books can (and have) been written about some of these artists. This made Enright’s job of whittling down each entry to about 100 words a Herculean writing task. The entries are simply snapshots of these artists, offering some biographical information, DownBeat archive quotes and new quotes from some of the living artists on this list. We hope that as a collection, these pieces offer a compelling journey through the history of the guitar in jazz. After all, the instrument res- onates with listeners, as Herb Ellis explained in the July 16, 1964, issue of DownBeat: “The guitar is a naked instrument. ... I just think that as an instrument, there is more honesty per-

haps in guitar playing.” DB DOWNBEAT ARCHIVES

8 DOWNBEAT February 2009

Chords & Discords

Sold on Kelly I had been tempted to purchase the /Lee Konitz CD, GRACEfulLEE, every time I saw the ad for it, but just couldn’t see spending money on a 15-year-old sax prodigy. Your review con- vinced me to take a chance (“Reviews,” November ’08). Not only does she hold her own with Konitz, Russell Malone and Rufus Reid, she’s the star of the show. She’s the greatest teenage sax player ever and an incredible Sonny’s Tops improviser. Nobody is more deserving than Toni Webb to win the DownBeat Readers Poll as Artist and Santa Clara, Calif. Tenor Saxophonist of the Year (December ’08). I was lucky to see him perform in Detroit last Early Drummers Not Forgotten October. After the concert, Sonny sat patiently We all want to add names to John as a long line of fans greeted him. He signed McDonough’s list of “forgotten” autographs and chatted with all of the people. early drummers (Novem-ber ’08)— He is a great musician and, most importantly, Ray Bauduc, for example. And there a great human being. were good reasons why Cliff Dennis Watson Leeman, Frank Carson and Maurice Detroit Purtill were never out of a gig. While McDonough’s point—that musicians must study the history of their this was an unfortunate oversight. Inclusion instrument—applies to all instruments, the on Osby’s roster reflects his dedication to drum set is special, as it has constantly finding new voices and his ability to judge a evolved. What those early drummers did with player the way players should all be judged: lesser equipment has to be heard. on the basis of how you sound. Not including Bruce Morley these womens’ names in the article missed Auckland, New Zealand an opportunity to let your readers know about two talented saxophonists without dis- Regarding DownBeat’s cover headline about cussing their gender or relegating them to the Sid Catlett, Sonny Greer, Jo Jones, Gene “women in jazz” sidelines. Krupa, Dave Tough and Chick Webb: Isn’t Sarah Manning “unheralded legends” an oxymoron? [email protected] Jack Bowers Albuquerque Corrections » Percussionist Kevin Jones’ name was mis- Cleaver Heats Up Cruise spelled in the review of TK Blue’s Follow Thank you for the piece on Gerald Cleaver The North Star (“Reviews,” December ’08). (“Players,” January ’09). I was on the Holland » A quote about synthesizers in the article on America Jazz Cruise and got to hear Cleaver Gétètchèw Mèkurya should have been several times with Jeremy Pelt’s quintet. attributed to Mèkurya’s Ethiopian translator Cleaver’s uncompromising hardcore jazz atti- (“Players,” January ’09). tude was on full display. » The photos in the Tomasz Stanko feature Bill Benjamin (October ’08) did not show Stanko’s Polish Evanston, Ill. rhythm section of Marcin Wasilewski, Michal Miskiewicz and Slawomir Kur- Women Saxophonists Deserve Mention kiewicz, who we interviewed for the piece I was intrigued by the article on Greg Osby and of whom we intended to run photos. and his new label, Inner Circle Music (“The We mistakenly ran photos of another Beat,” December ’08). However, I was disap- group with which Stanko performs— pointed that of the artists on his roster, bari- pianist Alexi Tuomarila, drummer Olavi tone saxophonist Lauren Sevian and tenor Louhivuori and bassist Mats Eilertsen. SUBSCRIBE! saxophonist Meilana Gillard were not men- DownBeat regrets the errors. 1-800-554-7470 tioned. In an age where few record labels have female instrumentalists on their roster, Have a chord or discord? E-mail us at [email protected].

10 DOWNBEAT February 2009