# Underrated Guitarists



## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

While listening to a Playlist on my iPod, I started to think of some guitarists who I think are great, but underrated. Here are three that fit the category for me.

1. Elliot Easton (guitarist for The Cars): I think that he is the ultimate team player as a guitarist. He doesn't go overboard with his playing. But if the group needs 5 seconds or 10 seconds, or sometimes longer to fill in between vocals, no one has tastier licks than Elliot Easton. And when The Cars do want him to play a lead, he puts the notes together as good as anyone. On the song _Since I Held You_ on _Candy-O_, he has an amazingly sweet lead that lasts only 18 seconds, but it really makes the entire song.

2. James Mankey (guitarist for Concrete Blonde): He is a spectacular guitarist with out there licks. He reminds me, in a way, of Bela Bartok. Not in the the music. They are very different. But in the way that his leads are way out there, then he brings it all together and really finishes the lick or the lead with an amazing ending that puts it all together. Check out his leads from the songs _Joey_ or _Tomorrow, Wendy_ on _Bloodletting_; spectacular notes fitting perfectly to the song. This is a quality guitarist.

3. Hubert Sumlin (guitarist for Howlin' Wolf): This one is for the really old-timers or someone who likes the blues. Hubert was called on to provide leads for the greatest blues singer of all time (IMHO) and he did a terrific job in an era before there were too many lead guitarists and before the great guitars that some use now. I love his playing on the song _Spoonful_, the original that Cream covered. Or his fantastic playing on the bluesy _Going Down Slow_.

Who are your guitarists who are truly gifted, but don't get the ink that some of the giants get?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

All of 'em that stick to the music and don't show off. But I have no interest in guitarist ratings. There are so many different things you can do on a guitar that a player can be extremely limited but still make a contribution and be influential. And you have studio cats that can play anything, but nobody knows who they are.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

There are so many that I don't even know where to start:

Robert Pete Williams: sort of Ornette Coleman of the blues, and easily my favorite blues guitarist ever. His style incorporated the noises of the strings and the fingers in a way so expressive and natural to make clear that those who have idea that a guitar has necessarily to have a clean sound are clearly missing something. 

Garoto (Anibal Augusto Sardinha): he wasn't just a precursor of the harmonic sophistication of the Bossa nova, but his pieces are easily some of the most beautiful gems produced for the instrument. 

Joe Diorio, one of the guitarists who redifined the harmonic language of jazz guitar in the seventies, he isn't just a daring player able to make the most outside and weird playing seems lyrical and logic, but also one of the most versatile guitarists in the genre. Dixieland, bop, post-bop, cool, free, strange psychedelic stuff, folk, indian influenced music.

Lenny Breau: with his innovative approach to the harmonics he made possible to achieve the close voicings of pianists like Bill Evans previously impossible, opening a lot of new possibilities to the instrument. When he was killed he was at the top of his possibilities.

Linc Chamberland: mindblowing technique (I suspect that in the seventies was the fastest guitarist, and I'm aware of John Mclaughlin-Di Meola-Holdsworth-Gatton-Shawn Lane etc) but his lines never sound like a demonstration of virtuosity (while guys like Mclaughlin, Di Meola or Lane often were just showing the muscles) but a stream of consciousness clearly influenced by Coltrane. Like Diorio and Breau one of the most harmonically daring guitarists of the era.

Jimmy Wyble: he started playing country, he played brazilian music, he played classical and in the seventies he invented the way to improvise in counterpoint that produced those amazing etudes that are one of the most brilliant things written for the instrument.

Ed Bickert: I can't think of any guitarist with a stlye as elegant like Bickert. He was improvising and he sounds like he was playing something composed. His albums with Paul Desmond are a great demonstration of it. Just listen to Warm Valley or Nuages. Jim Hall said he was the only guitarist who scared him.

Ted Greene: like the guys above, one of the most harmonically gifted players ever, able to improvise Bach counterpoints or incredible harmonizations of every songs. His versions of pieces like Danny boy or Both sides now (and the second one was just a thing he hadn't reharsed before!) are simply masterpieces.

D'Gary: rhymes with scary. When Lindley and Henry Kaiser discovered him, they cannot even understand how he was able to play those arpeggios. Another guitarist that sounds as no one else. He deserves to be as or more known than Ali Farka Tourè

Tisziji Munoz: of those influenced by the music of Coltrane (Holdsworth, Chamberland, Greenwich, Mclaughlin, Arthur Rhames) he's probably the closest to the spirit of the late saxophonist. Actually he's the Pharoah Sanders of the guitar.

George Barnes: the octets of Alec Wilder are simply my favorite music ever. His chamber pieces are the closest thing to that.




and I think I could mention many others (I haven't even mentioned rock guitarists!), but I've already used enough superlatives for today


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Jeff Beck, Roy Buchanan ("the greatest guitarist nobody ever heard of"), and Danny Gatton.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Bluecrab said:


> .......Roy Buchanan ("the greatest guitarist nobody ever heard of").......


Totally agree on Buchanan


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp).


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Bluecrab said:


> Jeff Beck, Roy Buchanan ("the greatest guitarist nobody ever heard of"), and Danny Gatton.


Is Jeff Beck underrated? I agree re Buchanan and Gatton.

I would like to add Peter Frampton. Listen to his work with Humble Pie and on his first solo album, Wind Of Change.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Vernon Reid  my favorite these days.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Dr Johnson said:


> Is Jeff Beck underrated?


It's all relative and a matter of opinion, I suppose, but I think he is, compared to others like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Nels Cline-Wilco.......which leads indirectly back to Tom Verlaine and thereby to Richard LLoyd

John Herrington (the Dan)....other earlier guitarists with the band have had the recognition they deserve....

the bloke who played the solo on the Carpenters 'Goodbye to love'......

Amos Garrett for the solo on Midnight at the Oasis.....

Lowell George

(this list could get too long!)


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

jim prideaux said:


> Nels Cline-Wilco.......which leads indirectly back to Tom Verlaine and thereby to Richard LLoyd


Not only were those two underrated imo, but the band itself (Television) was, if not underrated, then greatly underappreciated.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Bluecrab said:


> Not only were those two underrated imo, but the band itself (Television) was, if not underrated, then greatly underappreciated.


can only agree-while I might still enjoy 'classic' guitar playing-Allman, Ford etc the great Marquee Moon in particular involved an almost redefining of the guitar for the 'next generation'.....

oh and another thing...I forgot to mention Robbie Robertson!

AND (an inexcusable omission!)-the epitome of the under acknowledged guitarist-John Platania-just have a listen to the new 3 volume edition of 'Its too late to stop now'....invention,tone, lyricism,the whole thang!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

I would say Kevin Borich well known in Oz and NZ but not much else- Kevin is still performing in Oz below is a clip of his original band the La De Das but you know this could be an endless list there are so many....


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Bluecrab said:


> It's all relative and a matter of opinion, I suppose, but I think he is, compared to others like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.


Don't worry, Jeff Beck has a nice little estate and several hot-rods in his garage.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

@jim prideaux: Ollie Halsell, Dave Edmunds, Zal Cleminson, Mick Travis, Rod Price, Ted Turner, Andy Powell...


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Another one from Oz is Lobby Lloyd (RIP)

Angry Anderson(Buster Brown/Rose Tattoo) said of Lobby Loyde:

"More than anyone else, Lobby helped create the Australian guitar sound, long before Angus [Young] or Billy Thorpe or The Angels or Rose Tattoo. Lobby inspired Australian bands to step forward and play as loud and aggressively as they could. People are still trying to copy it today."


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Another Beck...


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Hes really something and has a totally crazy way of playing that thing...I mean this melody is really out of this world, like a guy in astronaut suit in the video...And it always sound different than original...


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

This guy touches the blue depth of my soul with his singing and especially, playing...


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## Conglomerate (Jan 30, 2016)

John Aloysius Fahey


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Whit Smith






Louis Stewart






Sad to learn that Stewart passed away this summer. RIP


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

CDs said:


> Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp).


WOW! glass harp yes Phil Keaggy loved this group


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

John Scofield


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

ldiat said:


> WOW! glass harp yes Phil Keaggy loved this group


I haven't heard anything from Glass Harp. I just know that he was in that group back in the 70s (I think). Phil Keaggy has a pretty big solo catalog from the early 80s till now. And he does it all with only nine fingers.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Hurrah for Scofield!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

CDs said:


> I haven't heard anything from Glass Harp. I just know that he was in that group back in the 70s (I think). Phil Keaggy has a pretty big solo catalog from the early 80s till now. And he does it all with only nine fingers.


Phil has much better stuff than Glass Harp. His 1991 acoustic album Beyond Nature is a bona fide classic! As is his 1978 release, The Master And The Musician. But he is not what I'd call under-rated or unrecognized. His playing has been praised for decades.

And Scofield is an acknowledged master. He's one of the best writers and improvisers in modern jazz. I have at least 20 of his albums, and they're all good to great.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

starthrower said:


> Phil has much better stuff than Glass Harp. His 1991 acoustic album Beyond Nature is a bona fide classic! As is his 1978 release, The Master And The Musician. But he is not what I'd call under-rated or unrecognized. His playing has been praised for decades.
> 
> And Scofield is an acknowledged master. He's one of the best writers and improvisers in modern jazz. I have at least 20 of his albums, and they're all good to great.


Yeah, that one he did with Pat Metheney is real good.

Thanks for mentioning the Wayside site on that prog thread. That's a great site!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> Thanks for mentioning the Wayside site on that prog thread. That's a great site!


It is! And there are some great deals to be had. I just ordered a Don Preston, and Percy Jones CD.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Another underrated guitarist: Jim Campilongo.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

ldiat said:


> John Scofield


I think that 99% jazz guitarist would like to be underrated as Scofield.
Probably the only modern jazz guitarist who is more popular than him is Metheny.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

norman bates said:


> I think that 99% jazz guitarist would like to be underrated as Scofield.
> Probably the only modern jazz guitarist who is more popular than him is Metheny.


I was the biggest Metheny fan in the world for 20 years, but in the past decade I've lost interest. Scofield's recent releases I still find satisfying. I think a worthy successor to well known masters like Metheny, Frisell, and Holdsworth, is Ben Monder. He's a phenomenal player, and unparalleled technically speaking. But I love Sco for his earthy, gritty sound and approach.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

starthrower said:


> I was the biggest Metheny fan in the world for 20 years, but in the past decade I've lost interest. Scofield's recent releases I still find satisfying. I think a worthy successor to well known masters like Metheny, Frisell, and Holdsworth, is Ben Monder. He's a phenomenal player, and unparalleled technically speaking. But I love Sco for his earthy, gritty sound and approach.


I agree with you on Metheney. The last thing I got was the Jim Hall album. I like his trio stuff, but I can do without Lyle Mays. I've got a few things by Frisell; I liked his playing with Ginger baker.
Yeah, Sco is a good blues-based player.
I think Pat Martino is great, too. Listen to this one. The guy on organ looks straight outta Vegas.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Martino is a legend! And one of the truly evolved humans on the planet. He has a brilliant mind tempered by a calm disposition. If I could go back in time, I'd like to walk into a crowded Philly jazz club on a cold winter's night in the 1960s and listen to that music!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Harvey James


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Steve Hillage
Phil Miller
Alan Barry
Joshua Breakstone


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

As nobody mentioned Phil Manzanera yet I think that could mean he's underappreciated.
Just one example (I'm more familiar with his role in Roxy Music).


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Country guitarists generally do not get much attention outside of their genre.

Keith Urban is rated pretty highly, even getting to join Clapton at one of the Crossroads festivals, but after seeing him again in concert, I feel he is still underrated.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

bharbeke said:


> Country guitarists generally do not get much attention outside of their genre.
> 
> Keith Urban is rated pretty highly, even getting to join Clapton at one of the Crossroads festivals, but after seeing him again in concert, I feel he is still underrated.


I can tell you he is not underrated in Oz and married to Nicole he is like a plague on our TV's when his is in town.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Ross Hannaford. He  was known as "Hanna" and regarded as one of Oz's finest rock guitarists, he was best known for his long collaboration with Ross Wilson and Daddy Cool.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Zal Cleminson (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)

Dennis Coffey (played on many great Tamla Motown soul/funk sessions during the late 60s/70s - particularly memorable was his squally guitar sound with the Temptations when Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield were masterminding their transition from Motown pop to harder-edged psychedelic soul/funk)

Terry Kath (Chicago)


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

I was listening to Concrete Blonde lately, especially to the guitar work by James Mankey. With his playing style and how he puts his notes together, I was wondering. Do you think that if Bela Bartok wrote non-classical music in the 1980's that he would have picked Mankey to be his guitarist? I would pay to see Mankey play Bartok!


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> Zal Cleminson (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
> 
> Dennis Coffey (played on many great Tamla Motown soul/funk sessions during the late 60s/70s - particularly memorable was his squally guitar sound with the Temptations when Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield were masterminding their transition from Motown pop to harder-edged psychedelic soul/funk)
> 
> Terry Kath (Chicago)


I really liked Terry Kath. He had a great guitar style and I really enjoyed his vocals. I wish he didn't end his life. Musically, I would have preferred the Kath-led Chicago over the Cetera-led group anyday.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Rach Man said:


> I really liked Terry Kath. He had a great guitar style and I really enjoyed his vocals. I wish he didn't end his life. _Musically, I would have preferred the Kath-led Chicago over the Cetera-led group anyday_.


Who in their right mind wouldn't?


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## samsondale (Nov 22, 2013)

norman bates said:


> There are so many that I don't even know where to start:
> 
> George Barnes: the octets of Alec Wilder are simply my favorite music ever. His chamber pieces are the closest thing to that.


Great list (especially Ed Bickert!). I like George Barnes a lot as well. Did George Barnes record the Alec Wilder octets or are you saying that you like his playing on his recordings of the George Barnes-composed octets? If he did record the Wilder pieces, I am curious as to where I might be able to find those recordings.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

samsondale said:


> Great list (especially Ed Bickert!). I like George Barnes a lot as well. Did George Barnes record the Alec Wilder octets or are you saying that you like his playing on his recordings of the George Barnes-composed octets? If he did record the Wilder pieces, I am curious as to where I might be able to find those recordings.


it's great to know that there's someone else here who appreciate those musicians! 
I meant that Barnes wrote his own octets, that are very similar to what Wilder did in his own octets. I prefer those of Wilders, (but I could probably say those Wilder octets are my desert island music) but the ones of Barnes are in a very similar vein. And it's not a surprise, since Barnes was influenced by Wilder, and Wilder admired Barnes. You can find the octets of Barnes on a compilation called "The complete standard transcriptions".
http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-complete-standard-transcriptions-mw0000062750

So no, he did not record the music of Wilder, even because Wilder used an harpsichord on those pieces instead of an electric guitar. But: 
1. Wilder wrote other pieces in that vein using the electric guitar, recorded with Mundell Lowe on guitar on the album "New music of Alec Wilder", and it's very good stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Music_of_Alec_Wilder

2. There's a recent small group called The four bags who rearranged some of Wilder's octets for electric guitar, clarinet, trombone and accordion (and they play a lot of other interesting pieces).









I hope I've been helpful


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## Armanvd (Jan 17, 2017)

Andrew Latimer From Camel


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## yetti66 (Jan 30, 2017)

Perhaps an odd mix -Bob Weir, Alex Chilton, and Dave Davies


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## cpalmer (Jan 11, 2014)

I am very underrated...


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

cpalmer said:


> I am very underrated...


So am I.................


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> So am I.................


Post your performances and we will adore you.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Pugg said:


> Post your performances and we will adore you.


Pugg, have you forgetten my Blog posts on here - most TCers would wish you hadn't said that - here is a sample below- if your game there are plenty more to see here on TC..........
http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/eddierukiddingvarese/


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2017)

John Goodsall of Brand X is easily the most underrated guitarist in fusion/progressive rock:






John plays both guitars on this:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Pugg, have you forgetten my Blog posts on here - most TCers would wish you hadn't said that - here is a sample below- if your game there are plenty more to see here on TC..........
> http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/eddierukiddingvarese/
> ]


Sorry, Eddie, I never go into blogs on this or any other site for that matter, will look into it, thanks.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Bob Desper - Darkness is like a shadow





Rick Deitrick - Tucson Triple Creek - 1972 Ca. USA (Hippie Folk Guitar)


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

I just finished watching the TV show _Becker_ on YouTube and forgot about the guitar player for that show. Jason T. Miller plays some really great riffs on that show. I don't know much about his other works, but check him out on _Becker_. It's some great blues/rock.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I just discovered Jimmy Herring. Fantastic...


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> I just discovered Jimmy Herring. Fantastic...


yes, Herring is great. I think that considering the rock guitarists, he's the best "Coltrane of the guitar" (Duane Allman was already influenced, but Herring is much more jazzy imho). Did you know he was a close friend of Jeff Buckley?


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Jay said:


> Steve Hillage
> Phil Miller
> Alan Barry
> Joshua Breakstone


...and

Miller Anderson
Ricky Gardiner
Mick Abrahams
Reeves Gabrels
Bob DeVos


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