# Favorite Jazz Guitarist?



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Who is your favorite jazz guitarist of all time?


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I voted Scofield, especially in his later years where he has a much crisper tone, and more control over the instrument. I love his phrasing too, very very intriguing to my ears.

He also happens to be the only famous Jazz guitarist I've seen live with John Medeski on keyboards.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Voted John Scofield - just gets the nod, ever so slightly over Allan Holdsworth .....


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

let's see

joe diorio
lenny breau
ted greene
ed bickert
allan holdsworth
jimmy wyble
tisziji munoz
linc chamberland
billy butler
django reinhardt
baro ferret
kenny burrell
steve giordano
teddy bunn
dominique gaumont
david torn
jim hall
george barnes

(and a lot of others, I haven't even mentioned George Van Eps, Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino, Barney Kessel, Pasquale Grasso, Grant Green, John Mclaughlin... so many great musicians).
Hard to say who's really my single favorite, but especially those at the top of the list.

Talking of the list of the poll, Allan Holdsworth or Django.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The poll needs to include more names. Grant Green, Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, Lenny Breau, at the very least. Lately I've been listening to Kurt Rosenwinkel. For this poll I'll go with Metheny even though I'm just as big a fan of Scofield, and Holdsworth.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Jim Hall
Ed Bickert
George Barnes
Wayne Johnson

I don't consider Allan Holdsworth a "jazz" guitarist, and John Scofield and John McLaughlin are debatable.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

starthrower said:


> The poll needs to include more names. Grant Green, Pat Martino, John Abercrombie, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, Lenny Breau, at the very least.


well also a Charlie Christian should be mandatory.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

NoCoPilot said:


> Jim Hall
> Ed Bickert
> George Barnes
> Wayne Johnson
> ...


Scofield is not debatable. He's one of the great jazz improvisors, bandleaders, and composers. He's played with just about all the greats over the years. Same for McLaughlin. Holdsworth has a decidedly rock guitar tone but his harmonic approach and improvised soloing places him closer to jazz than rock.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

McLaughlin and Scofield are fusion, and on the rock end of the fusion scale. I won't argue that they may be filed under jazz.

But they're a different kettle of fish than Jim Hall, Ed Bickert or George Barnes.

And I forgot to mention: Danny Gatton.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Scofield has released many hardcore jazz records. He is not just fusion.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Yes I know my list was too small. Rosenwinkel is good for sure, but I have only heard a track or two he did on the Clapton Crossroads festival in New York. Had I thought about it a little longer I definitely would have included Charlie Christian and Pat Martino. I had forgotten about Lenny Breau the Canadian legend. Good call on Tal Farlow, Jim Hall and the others. Then there are guys like Zappa, de Lucia, Di Meola and Larry Coryell, all very creative guitarists.

Guys like Scotty Anderson and Chet Atkins are closer to country perhaps, but certainly have/had more than enough chops to play jazz.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Danny Gatton has been quoted as saying Scotty Anderson is the one guitar player that terrified him. I sustained a fairly nasty injury to my fretting pinky attempting to play a certain Scotty Anderson riff. The guy is inhuman. 

I feel like when we are throwing these kinds of names around Brian Setzer deserves a mention too.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Zappa, De Lucia, Di Meola are not really jazz players. Paco was a flamenco guitarist. If Di Meola had worked on his soloing over the years and really learned how to improvise I would consider him a jazz player but he can't really play an extended improvisation like Metheny or John Abercrombie. He is really a composer/ arranger and ensemble player.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Emily Remler was another excellent guitarist.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Danny Gattin had enough of a jazz vocabulary to qualify. I don't know about Setzer? He's really a rock n roll guy.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

tdc said:


> Emily Remler was another excellent guitarist.


Tragic that she died so young. Another victim of drug abuse like the late, great Lenny Breau.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I'm not a big fan of the original list either. At least Joe Pass was on it. I remain an admirer of Pass, a long time favorite.

I didn't see Earl Klugh on the list. He's a fine player. And Kenny Burrell. How could one make a jazz guitar list without Kenny Burrell?

Gene Bertoncini gets a lot of play in my listening room. He's an intimidator for some of us jazz guitar wanna-bees.

Neal Alger who plays for Partricia Barber is a stunning artist, as is Russell Malone who plays for Diana Krall. When a jazz guitarist can effectively and deliciously accompany female vocals, he or she has chops. Joe Pass is a master at this, too.

Lots of great guitarists out there, many with not so famous names.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

HenryPenfold said:


> Voted John Scofield - just gets the nod, ever so slightly over Allan Holdsworth .....


Can you recommend a good fusion album of his to check out that is unique anad interesting?

Thanks.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I already love A Go Go.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Yeah, Kenny Burrell is a huge omission. I've got a bunch of his records. I listen to him more than Wes or Grant Green. But I highly recommend Wes's live albums Smokin' At The Half Note, and Full House. I rarely play the studio albums although Groove Yard with his two brothers is one I really enjoy.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Can you recommend a good fusion album of his to check out that is unique anad interesting?
> 
> Thanks.


The first Uberjam CD is great. It's a really good band and John wrote some excellent material for that record. He had a string of fusion albums in the 80s with Dennis Chambers on drums. I recommend Still Warm which was recorded on the heels of his stint with Miles Davis. That one holds up really well. The other old ones I don't listen to as much although I still like Loud Jazz which has some great tunes.

His more hardcore jazz improv albums are probably not as popular with rock and fusion fans but I urge anyone to give a listen to his 1990 album, Time On My Hands. I've got 25 Scofield albums and imo this is his masterpiece. Every tune is a gem and it features the legendary rhythm section of Jack DeJohnette and Charlie Haden. It's recorded really well and the drums sound great. Jack's playing is the perfect middle ground between jazz and fusion. He's a real jazz drummer but he has a powerful, modern sound that will appeal to fusion fans.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

starthrower said:


> Yeah, Kenny Burrell is a huge omission. I've got a bunch of his records. I listen to him more than Wes or Grant Green. But I highly recommend Wes's live albums Smokin' At The Half Note, and Full House. I rarely play the studio albums although Groove Yard with his two brothers is one I really enjoy.


*Kenny Burrell* and *Grant Green* are two very important jazz guitarists. Wes Montgomery's career was tarnished, IMO, by his series of pop albums.

*Bill Frisell*'s career transcends the genre of jazz but he has done a lot of work in jazz, and bears mentioning.

*James Blood Ulmer*, *Sonny Sharrock*, and *Vernon Reid* were three outside guitarists but still made important contributions.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Wes had seven kids so the jazz records didn't pay the bills. A lot of great jazz musicians made commercial records to make a living.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

What happened to Sonny Sharrock, James Blood Ulmer, and Derek Bailey?


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

NoCoPilot said:


> McLaughlin and Scofield are fusion, and on the rock end of the fusion scale. I won't argue that they may be filed under jazz.
> 
> But they're a different kettle of fish than Jim Hall, Ed Bickert or George Barnes.
> 
> And I forgot to mention: Danny Gatton.


It's very weird to mention Danny Gatton and having problems with guys like Mclaughlin or Allan Holdsworth. I mean, Gatton was able to play a decent hard bop (altough a bit generic), while John Mclaughlin has played jazz all his life and no, he didn't just play fusion or jazz rock.






About Holdsworth, certainly not the classic hard bop guy, but to me he was clearly a jazz musician (and one of the very few who developed his own harmonic language, that is one that usually the true greats are able to do).
.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

tdc said:


> Danny Gatton has been quoted as saying Scotty Anderson is the one guitar player that terrified him. I sustained a fairly nasty injury to my fretting pinky attempting to play a certain Scotty Anderson riff. The guy is inhuman.
> 
> I feel like when we are throwing these kinds of names around Brian Setzer deserves a mention too.


technically Scotty Anderson is a beast, one of the most outstanding guitarist ever, and his double stops are just mind blowing (altough I knew that quote with Lenny Breau instead of Scotty Anderson). I would not place both him or Gatton in a poll of the greatest jazz guitarists, because they weren't really players of the genre, altough they both knew how to navigate through changes. But at least for what I've heard, that wasn't their forte (as Breau was able to play a bit of flamenco but I would not mention him as one of the best flamenco guitarists).


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

People keep dissing my list, but I notice my selections are racking up some votes, and no one has yet voted for the 'other' option.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Every player on your list is a guitar legend so no argument there.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

There are only two types of music, good and bad.

Defining genres is a fool's errand.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

NoCoPilot said:


> There are only two types of music, good and bad.
> 
> Defining genres is a fool's errand.


You do realize you're at the TC forum? Here we endlessly debate not good and bad, but objectively vs subjectively great music ad nauseam. But it doesn't hurt to clue in some fans who are listening to pop/rock instrumental music thinking it's jazz, or you're mistaken conclusion that guitarists who use a distorted tone including Scofield and Holdsworth aren't jazz musicians.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

starthrower said:


> You do realize you're at the TC forum? Here we endlessly debate not good and bad, but objectively vs subjectively great music ad nauseam. But it doesn't hurt to clue in some fans who are listening to pop/rock instrumental music thinking it's jazz, or you're mistaken conclusion that guitarists who use a distorted tone including Scofield and Holdsworth aren't jazz musicians.


Is it 47% good and 53% bad, or 46 and 54?

Instrumental music -- here I go on a fool's errand -- instrumental music does not become "jazz" when one instrument solos. Jazz isn't the same as an instrumental solo. Frank Zappa was not a jazz guitarist, and people who think he was don't define jazz the same way I do.

Holdy's in the same bag for me.

Sco's close.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Well, Holdsworth didn't do the same thing as Zappa. Zappa would have his band modulate to a vamp and play a solo over it. Holdsworth composed tunes with sophisticated chord voicings for the musicians to solo. He also recorded an album of modern jazz standards called None Too Soon and played brilliantly on it.

And you are simply wrong about Scofield. Even John McLaughlin acknowledged him as one of the great jazz guitarists of the present era. He has a 40 album discography as a leader to prove it. And he's worked with a whose who of jazz greats including Gary Burton, Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Gerry Mulligan, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Marc Johnson, Chick Corea, Miles, etc.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Neither here nor there but I think Holdsworth was Zappa's favorite guitarist.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Django Reinhardt was my first favourite. More recently I've come to like Lenny Breau.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

NoCoPilot said:


> Is it 47% good and 53% bad, or 46 and 54?
> 
> Instrumental music -- here I go on a fool's errand -- instrumental music does not become "jazz" when one instrument solos. Jazz isn't the same as an instrumental solo. Frank Zappa was not a jazz guitarist, and people who think he was don't define jazz the same way I do.
> 
> Holdy's in the same bag for me.


well Holdsworth also played in the classic format head-improvisation-head of most jazz. He was looking at the modal jazz of Coltrane and he was even trying to sound as a sax player. He didn't show a big interest in swing (like many other jazz rock musicians), that's true. But jazz is also about having a unique approach to the music, and in that perspective I find him more jazz than the 100th hard bop guitarist trying to play like Wes Montgomery/George Benson/Pat Martino/Grant Green/Kenny Burrell vein that to some is the only kind of legit jazz guitar.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Ah well, I could be wrong. Time to put on some of my Scofield CDs I guess.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Sco knows all the standard tunes as well. He's only recorded a few because he's a composer who mostly records originals. But just listen to the Blue Note albums he recorded with Joe Lovano. That's about as improvisational jazz interplay as you can get. And the Musings For Miles album with Joe Henderson is another good example. And of course he's great at the fusion stuff too because like every musician his age he grew up with rock music.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Holdsworth was not only my favorite guitarist, he may be one of the best improvisors, on ANY instrument, ever.

A good friend of mine (a Julliard student and a major studio musician in LA), once said this about Holdsworth:

"For me, Allan Holdsworth was the most innovative improviser of all time on ANY instrument. The great jazz soloists (McCoy, Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Trane, etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. *There clearly was no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonics, bop, post-bop...NOTHING"*

A few years later, one of current crop of modern fusion players, Guthrie Govan said almost the same thing:

"I'm sure every reader is already somewhat familiar with the mighty Allan, but I still feel that his contribution to music in general has been criminally underrated: I consider his work to be every bit as revolutionary as that of jazz legends such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

Evidently not content with redefining what was technically possible on the guitar, he also managed to rewrite pretty much the whole of music theory, coming up with all manner of chord voicings which had never been heard before and then concocting brand-new scales to complement them.
His tone has always fascinated me, too - perhaps its uniqueness stemmed from the fact that he seemed to regard the guitar not so much as his ideal or 'chosen' instrument, but rather as a problem which needed to be solved.

*To me, Allan's playing is a rare example of a guitar player exhibiting no kind of 'family tree' whatsoever - when you listen to most players, you can hear at least some evidence of their early influences, and yet with Allan, the most logical explanation for what you're hearing is that the this guy must have arrived very abruptly and unexpectedly - if not from another planet then, at the very least, from the future!"*


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Holdsworth said his father encouraged him to avoid the common blues vocabulary and the cliche in general. But I have no idea how he developed his unique harmonic approach. He was simply a brilliant person who heard music in a very original way and refused to go down the trodden path. Of course this hurt him in the commercial arena where most listeners are not very adventurous and are more comfortable listening to a familiar musical language.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Holdsworth stated he doesn't have stock riffs or even practices things he improvises because that is not how he thinks about improvisation. He saw in his mind the scales and chords he created and improvised musical material from that on the spot. A very unique and impressive musician. I agree he was brilliant. The way he speaks he didn't seem full of himself or anything, he seemed to see himself as a quirky and curious musician, who wanted to go his own way based on his own mapped out understanding of music that made sense to him.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

In case some of you haven't yet seen this video, Holdsworth provides some insight into how he views scales and music in general.

Lesson 1 begins at 23:08, if you wish to bypass the music.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

No votes yet for Benson, he sounds very good to my ears, seems like a fun guy too. I wonder if his reputation suffers slightly from being looked at somewhat as a Wes Montgomery 2.0? Or am I wrong on that?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't think his reputation suffers. George Benson is one of the greats and he's been playing professionally since the early 60s. He has his own style even if he like others was influenced by Wes. Pat Martino was also heavily influenced by Wes but developed his own style.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

tdc said:


> No votes yet for Benson, he sounds very good to my ears, seems like a fun guy too. I wonder if his reputation suffers slightly from being looked at somewhat as a Wes Montgomery 2.0? Or am I wrong on that?


probably it's just that it's possible to select just one option. To me his talent is unquestionable, a truly great jazz guitarist. I would never put him in my top list more because of his questionable* choices in terms of music, especially after the first albums, at least for what I've heard. And I care more for the music than for sheer talent. And there are many other guitarists with a huge talent.

*questionable from an artistic perspective, for making money those totally make sense and after all in a world where "jazz is the music of unemployment" as Zappa said he's one of the few truly financially successful musicians of his generation. And he knew it perfectly, he said something like "I could make a great jazz record but I would lose million of dollars doing it" (something like that, I don't remember the exact words)


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

and....

Joshua Breakstone
Mark Elf
Hank Garland
James Emery
Peter Leitch
Jack Wilkins
Jimmy Raney
Al Gafa
Rene Thomas
Tal Farlowe
Charlie Christian
Bob DeVos


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Another favorite of mine is Scott Henderson. Although he can play standards and improvise as skillfully as any jazz guitarist, I don't think he would care about being labeled a fusion player. I'm a big fan of his now defunct band, Tribal Tech. The compostions by Scott, and bassist Gary Willis are of a high caliber and can be listened to over and over for years. Only their last two albums Thick, and Rocket Science are less satisfying for me because they play a little looser and strong melodies are not emphasized. Henderson is a great teacher too. He has a podcast with straight ahead guitarist, Bruce Foreman.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

starthrower said:


> Another favorite of mine is Scott Henderson. Although he can play standards and improvise as skillfully as any jazz guitarist, I don't think he would care about being labeled a fusion player. I'm a big fan of his now defunct band, Tribal Tech. The compostions by Scott, and bassist Gary Willis are of a high caliber and can be listened to over and over for years. Only their last two albums Thick, and Rocket Science are less satisfying for me because they play a little looser and strong melodies are not emphasized. Henderson is a great teacher too. He has a podcast with straight ahead guitarist, Bruce Foreman.


What are your favorite albums of Tribal Tech (and also his own music)?
I'm asking because I listened a couple of Tribal tech album many years ago when I was starting exploring jazz and I basically never listened to him again, and I know that I should explore that music again.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

All of their albums up to 1995's Reality Check are favorites. If you enjoy more adventurous arrangements check out their first two albums, Spears, and Dr. Hee when the band was a sextet. But the next two albums including Nomad, and the 1991 self titled CD are also excellent. They also reunited in 2013 for a one off recording project resulting in the album TT: X which is quite good. For starters go listen to the title track to Spears. This is a unique big band sounding electric tune that swings but features Henderson's very modern guitar sound and vocabulary and some great drumming.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Here is one of my favorite of the current crop of players, Alex Machacek, from Austria, currently living in my home town, Los Angeles.

Love his playing, but his composing is also top notch.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

More favorites:

David Fiuczynski
Mark Wingfield
Steve Tibbetts
Egberto Gismonti


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

A young Russian guy, Evgeny Pobizhy. He has a bit more traditional tone, but modern techniques.

This also has the unbelievably good bassist, Mohini Dey.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

That's hot! I think I have a little crush hehe


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

These young kids are like freaks of nature. I enjoyed the trio piece. The kid on guitar is ridiculous. But not a fan of slap bass and tapping technique. Playing some music with personality is what I want to hear.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Tal Wilkenfeld *is another phenomenal bass player, worked a lot with Jeff Beck. Her solo starts at about 1:30.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I love Tal. She's got a great feel and sound. And I can't believe the low vocals that come out of that little girl! When you hear her sing you know she's a woman.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

starthrower said:


> These young kids are like freaks of nature. I enjoyed the trio piece. The kid on guitar is ridiculous. But not a fan of slap bass and tapping technique. Playing some music with personality is what I want to hear.


In general I'm not really into slapping or tapping either, but I think Mohini is pretty tasteful and unique in her approach. Some people say Holdsworth has no real feeling in his playing either. I don't agree with either criticism personally.



SanAntone said:


> *Tal Wilkenfeld *is another phenomenal bass player, worked a lot with Jeff Beck. Her solo starts at about 1:30.


Yup, she is great. I'm a big fan of the Clapton Crossroads festivals, so saw this when it came out and was pretty astounded. The girl is a natural.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

No one's mentioned *Charlie Christian*, probably the most influential jazz guitarist of them all.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

^ Yes he was a major omission on the poll, he was mentioned in posts #7 and #11 of this thread though.



norman bates said:


> well also a Charlie Christian should be mandatory.





tdc said:


> Yes I know my list was too small. Rosenwinkel is good for sure, but I have only heard a track or two he did on the Clapton Crossroads festival in New York. *Had I thought about it a little longer I definitely would have included Charlie Christian and Pat Martino.* I had forgotten about Lenny Breau the Canadian legend. Good call on Tal Farlow, Jim Hall and the others. Then there are guys like Zappa, de Lucia, Di Meola and Larry Coryell, all very creative guitarists.
> 
> Guys like Scotty Anderson and Chet Atkins are closer to country perhaps, but certainly have/had more than enough chops to play jazz.


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