Category: Jazz Fusion

Music starting with Miles Davis that fused jazz elements with rock.

JEAN-LUC PONTY – VIOLIN VV032

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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M1 “Idiot Bastard Son”, King Kong Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa, (Frank Zappa) World Pacific Jazz Records, 1970 (4:00).

M2 “Twenty Small Cigars”, King Kong Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa, (Frank Zappa) World Pacific Jazz Records, 1970 (5:35).

M3 “Bowing-Bowing”, Jean Luc Ponty-Stephane Grappelli (Jean-Luc Ponty), Inner City Records, 1976, recorded 1973, (6:28) 

M4 “Valerie”, Jean-Luc Ponty-Stephane Grappelli (Jean-Luc Ponty), Inner City Records, 1976 (7:00) 

M5 “Upon The Wings Of Music”, Upon The Wings of Music, (Jean-Luc Ponty), Atlantic Recording/Warner Communications, (5:24).

M6 “Now I Know”, Upon The Wings of Music, (Jean-Luc Ponty), Atlantic Recording/Warner Communications, (4:25) 

WELCOME TO THIS EPISODE OF VINYL VIBRATIONS – musical exploration into sounds and grooves from artists whose works are produced onto vinyl records. The Vinyl Record has stood the test of time- – Vinyl is durable and delivers stunning sound. With Vinyl Records, we capture a rich period in music history  including pop, rock, jazz, and classical genres. In each show I explore a topic in the artist’s music that makes their work unique and timeless. From these podcasts, the actual vinyl LPs played in this show go back to the 1950s – I am enjoying these discs some 70+ years after their production date. Tangible music, always available great quality. …  I’m your host, Brian Frederick.  WELCOME to this episode of Vinyl …  Vibrations.

ABOUT TODAY’S PROGRAM

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Today our featured artist is Jean-Luc Ponty – He is a French JAZZ-ROCK and JAZZ FUSION violinist and composer, born in 1942. Ponty graduated from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with the PREMIER PRIX the first prize, a great accomplishment. Then he was hired by Orchestra Lamoureux. He also had a side job playing in a college jazz band and he evolved and developed a jazz interest. In his 20’s, Ponty went on to play at jazz clubs in Paris as the “JAZZ FIDDLE” role. Ponty was at the right time and the right place. In 1965, the VIOLIN did not have a place in the jazz world or in the jazz sound. Ponty has a unique sound, and he has made a huge impact in JAZZ-ROCK and in JAZZ FUSION. (pause)

One characteristic of Ponty’s style is his spared use of vibrato. His style favors powerful long notes, with just a trace of vibrato.. Another characteristic is that he plays the electric violin, and thirdly, he uses effects processing. He is truly a modern and pioneering violinist with his jazz and fusion roots starting in the 1960s.

In the1970’s he collaborated as sideman with FRANK ZAPPA- and with CHICK COREA- and with the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA- resulting in 18 sideman records between those three groups. Before that PONTY had many recording accomplishments – with 8 recordings as LEADER going back to 1964 when he released his premier record [JAZZ LONG PLAYING]  In 1967 he played at the MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL, and this landed him a recording contract with the WORLD PACIFIC label.  In 1970, he was working with Frank Zappa on the KING KONG album, and working with Elton John on the HONKY CHATEAU album.

I was lucky and thrilled to see PONTY live in 1972 at  the BROWN SHOE, a bar in the Chicago Old Town neighborhood. He played an electric violin, and had floor pedals with basic effects, and played a mind-boggling 45-minute set of ROCK FUSION music. That was during his MAHAVISHNU-ZAPPA-COREA days. I had my proof, he was the real thing.

And now, let’s go into the music of Jean Luc Ponty.

In today’s podcast I review three records of Jean Luc Ponty AS LEADER, his early years, 1970 to 1975.

  1. King Kong Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa 1970
  2. Jean-Luc Ponty-Stephane Grappelli 1973
  3. Upon The Wings of Music 1975    

 

Pat Metheny – Guitarist VV028

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:40 — 50.2MB)

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SONG LIST*

M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)

M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)

M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)

M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life, Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)

Pat Metheny is an American guitarist and composer. He has worked as a soloist, in duets and small jazz ensembles, and, for decades, with the Pat Metheny Group. His musical styles include Jazz Fusion, Jazz (both progressive and contemporary jazz) …..and also Latin Jazz. He was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri in 1954. Lee’s Summit is a suburb on the southeast side of Kansas City.

His main influences have been other musicians, his musical family and the British Invasion.

  • Musicians influencing Metheny include trumpeter Miles Davis, Gary Burton on vibes, jazz guitarists Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery and Jazz Sax players John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. PAUSE
  • A major foundational influence for Metheny is his musical family. His father played trumpet, his brother Mike Metheny plays jazz trumpet, and Pat’s maternal grandfather was a professional trumpeter. Brother Mike taught Pat how to play the trumpet, and so trumpet is actually Pat Metheny’s first Musicians in the family. Metheny attributes his early success to the local musical environment he was brought up in – the years 1964-1972, in Kansas City. Much of this is described in his biography titled BENEATH MISSOURI SKIES. Seems like Metheny is destined to become a great trumpeter, with all that musical environment…. PAUSE
  • .. there was a bump in the road at age 10. The BRITISH INVASION was in full force. Metheny saw the Beatles perform on TV in 1964, probably the Ed Sullivan Show, because that year the Beatles appeared. The Beatles are what inspired Metheny to defect from Trumpet to Guitar.

Metheny persuaded his father to buy him a guitar for his 12th birthday. That first guitar was a Gibson ES-140. PAUSE

That’s a hollow-body guitar, built in ¾ scale for young players and small hands. It’s a scale model of the Gibson ES-175 hollow body. Metheny soon got bigger hands and acquired a Gibson ES-175 …and that guitar is featured on his early albums like those in this podcast episode… Metheny started playing in pizza parlors at age fourteen (that’s 1968). At age 15, Metheny won a scholarship from Down Beat Magazine to attend a jazz camp (1969). That camp led to a meeting with Jazz guitarist Jim Hall, and bassist Ron Carter. So, by the time he graduated from high school (1972) he was the first-call guitarist for Kansas City jazz clubs, private clubs, and jazz festivals. Metheny had A LOT of support from his musical environment. Even though he switched from trumpet to guitar.

 

Metheny briefly attended college at U of Miami in Florida, but quickly realized after practicing on guitar for years all day long… he was unprepared for a college program … He realized then he was first and foremost, a serious guitarist and composer.

 

Metheny moved to Boston to teach at Berklee College of Music at the age of 19, where he met Jazz Vibraphonist Gary Burton. Teaching Jazz Theory and Performance was in demand.

 

BIT BUCKET

and for those not familiar, the ES-175 is sought-after by jazz country and rock guitarists – – – these vintage guitars today sell for $3,000 to $25,000. Back in the day, made in Kalamazoo MI. How about that for your first guitar? I am jealous, my first guitar was a Kay (named after John Kay) and it was … a very basic and cheap and crude electric starter guitar. Metheny, on the other hand, got a wonderful instrument, because

There have been many collaborations with Metheny and Burton over the decades since then.

that guitar was retired 20 years later- – in 1995.
­­

M1 Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (4:55)

 

Metheny released his debut album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976), with Jaco Pastorius on electric bass guitar and Bob Moses on drums. This is a studio album, recorded in Ludwigsburg Germany. It is amazing to think that this is a debut album. Released in 1976, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE is still fresh today.  In this  title song, Metheny begins his work in a signature way, his entrance is unmistakable with a quick ascending line. Many of his solos begin with the signature Metheny sound….and Pastorious  presents an equally inmistakable bass guitar part.  Here’s that fabulous BRIGHT SIZE LIFE INTRO

SAMPLE Play that intro ascending line with Jaco solid bass line in Bright Size Life

 

Pastorius and Metheny are weaving together guitar and bass lines in this song.  The bass is so much more than a rhythm support role, Pastorius is playing in parallel improvisation with Metheny.  Bright Size life sets the table for a fine album of jazz fusion by 22-year old Metheny.

 

And now, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976

 

Play M1

Don’t Touch That Dial

That was M1  BRIGHT SIZE LIFE, 1976

 

At the time of this recording, Metheny was living in Boston and teaching at the Berklee School of Music. His mentor was Gary Burton, the jazz vibraphonist. They collaborated on the arranging of the songs to be recorded for this album, and Burton attended the recording sessions in Germany. Interesting that Burton did NOT receive a PRODUCER or ARRANGER credit on this album.

 

Credits

 

  • Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string electric guitar
  • Jaco Pastorius – electric bass
  • Bob Moses – drums

 

BIT BUCKET

PASTORIUS FOR ANOTHER PODCAST !

M2 Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

 

Now we review the second track on side 1…. the song is titled SIRABHORN

I attempted to analyze the magical sound of this song and how that  never heard before /from another planet sound is structured. Surely it is structured, with a Pastorius bass line and with Bob Moses supplying the heartbeat throughout this song. The song is so difficult to describe in words . A skilled composer named Dr. Guy Shkolnik described SIRABHORN this way:

     The beautiful harmony is made of chromatic alterations of pure​ diatonic harmony​ and three modulations.

PAUSE

Millions of amateur guitarists, myself included, remain in awe of Metheny. He is a trained musician from childhood, with composition, arrangement and performance skills and teaching skills. His guitar performance is complex and mind-bending.  Decades later, his signature sound is imitated but never duplicated.

PAUSE

A little info about the bassist JACO PASTORIUS. The SIRABHORN song features a Jaco electric fretless bass solo and is from the earliest recording of Pastorius. He employed the use of a fretless bass, a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass that he called the Bass of Doom. As a youngster, he had modified the bass by removing the frets (which is outrageous) using a butter knife, then smoothing the gaps on the fretboard. Along with his use of distortion, 2-note power chords, the use of harmonics, and bass solos that sound lyrical…he is regarded today as one of the best electric bassists of all time. Here is an example of a LYRICAL SOUNDING SOLO from Pastorius….

SAMPLE Insert example of a LYRICAL SOLO by Jaco. Suggest Sirabhorn, about 60% into the song a solo that runs 60 seconds. Alternate is the solo in BRIGHT SIZE LIFE song.

 

What about that equally strange song name? Sirabhorn is named after a jazz guitar student of Metheny’s at Berklee.

And now here is SIRABHORN 1976

PLAY M2

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M2    Sirabhorn (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (5:27)

Song credits M2 go to

  • Pat Metheny – on a chiming twelve-string guitar with alternate tuning
  • Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar with lyrical bass solo
  • Bob Moses – drums providing the hearbeat of this song

 

In this same year, Pastorius released his own debut, self-titled, solo album.

 

BIT BUCKET

Sirabhorn is an alteration of C – Am – F – Dm  a common musical theme.

This is altered to become    C – B flat m –  G flat – E m  –

“Sirabhorn” Metheney said that The chiming opening bars have that open, pastoral sound that Metheny has said is rooted in his Missouri upbringing.  The vast majority of guitar enthusiasts never get beyond 3-chord popular songs and their evolutions from the 1960s.

 

 

M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:38)

 

I do recall distinctly seeing Metheny TWICE at the Amazingrace, a small speakeasy in Evanston. It was 1977 and I have my tickets from the January show and the August show. This was early in career of Pat Metheny, playing then at a BYOB event in a shell of a building on Chicago Ave. Metheny was 22. Large hair. Large hollow body Gibson guitar. Seeing this kid just nail the songs from the Bright Size Life album drove it home and made Metheny a lifetime favorite jazz guitarist. This kid is for real.

 

Now the song UNITY VILLAGE. Here we have a deep  guitar solo. The song is named after a tiny 100-person village UNITY VILLAGE bordering Kansas City and Lee’s Summit in Missouri. It’s the headquarters for a spiritual movement, the UNITY Movement which “offers positive, practical Christianity” and describes itself as being “for people who might call themselves spiritual but not religious”.  The church was a part of the Metheny family history, with his grandfather working there, and both his dad and his brother had played in the church’s Unity Village Band.  The song  “Unity Village” is back down to earth. Peaceful and pastoral. It has two guitar parts.

  • One guitar part plays the changes with bass line.
  • The other plays the melody and variations.

There is a head to the song, typical of a contemporary jazz. The song really sounds like a story.

And now

UNITY VILLAGE Pat Metheny 1976

Play M3

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That Was M3 Unity Village (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, 1976, (3:38)

 

Credits M3

CREDITS

  • Pat Metheny – solo 6-and 12-string electric guitar, and song’s composer

 

 

 

 

M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny), Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

Now for another of Pat Metheny’s mind-bending masterpieces, UNQUITY ROAD.  UNQUITY ROAD starts as a jazz tune opening and closing with the head piece and featuring  several rounds of improvisations on is. You will hear Metheny and Pastorius working in parallel and playing off each other throughout the song. This is relatively short one for a Metheny composition, at only 3:36.

Bob Moses delivers powerful rhythm and accent, and again,  is the pulse of this song.

Metheny’s composition features a series of rapid chord changes with a three-note motif. It really feels like forward motion. This track also features a full-on Metheny guitar solo, not heard yet on BRIGHT SIZE LIFE album.

And the song title? – Unquity Road is a road in Milton Massachusetts, 10 miles south of Boston and the Berklee College of Music, where Metheny was working at the time of this recording.

And now M4 Unquity Road (Pat Metheny) 1976

Play M4

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M4  Unquity Road (Pat Metheny),Bright Size Life, Pat Metheny, Released ECM, LP 1976, (3:36)

 

Credits

 

  • Pat Metheny – 6-and 12-string guitar
  • Jaco Pastorius – electric bass guitar
  • Bob Moses – drums

PAUSE

  • The album BRIGHT SIZE LIFE sold slowly, only 900 copies sold after its first release. That had to be a disappointment. I proudly own one of those LP gems, from that first release in 1976. It was used in this podcast and after 47 years it sounds perfect.
  • The Bright Size Life album did achieve #28 on the Billboard JAZZ Albums chart.
  • The Life album was recognized by JAZZWISE as one of the 100 Jazz albums that shook the world.

PAUSE

  • Jaco Pastorius released his self-titled debut album in 1976. That same year, he became a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 76 to 81….
  • Tragically, Pastorius died in 1987 as a result of injuries sustained outside a South Florida nightclub. He was only 35.

 

BIT BUCKET

none 

M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (6:24)

Metheny evolved from a trio to a larger format, The Pat Metheny Group.   PMG which was founded by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays in 1978, following the success of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. In this recording, in addition to the trio of guitar bass and drums, is piano/keyboards, percussion, and three vocalists.

PAUSE

Lyle Mays is on Piano and keyboards. Mays and Metheny composed and arranged nearly all of the Pat Metheny Group’s music. Mays was chief musical architect and sound designer of the group for more than three decades. The album Still Life (Talking) is the fifth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group and was released in mid-1987.   This song, SO MAY IT SECRETLY BEGIN, largely due to Lyle Mays piano, has a refined, classy, polished, sophisticated sound. The song features an innovative bass line. That’s Steve Rodby. A refined acoustic bass line that drives the song’s rhythm.  Here is an example of the bass line lead-in for the song….

 

PAUSE AND PLAY song intro, leading up to Metheny entrance.  Bass line > Strings. > Metheny

Example piano and bass line

 

With this sound and bass rhythm, I am transported in style, hearing a musical storyline.  Pat Metheny is the song’s composer. Lyle Mays piano talent makes the song feel like it is his own. Both Mays and Metheny have classy demos in the piece.

 

And Now:

So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), 1987 (6:24)

PLAY M5

Don’t Touch That Dial

that was M5 So May It Secretly Begin (Pat Metheny), from the Still Life (Talking) album

Credits:

  • Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar, co producer and arranger
  • Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
  • Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
  • Paul Wertico – drums – a Chicago local – professor of music at Roosevelt University these days
  • …And 3 vocalists ….
  • Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
  • Mark Ledford – vocals
  • David Blamires – vocals

 

 

BIT BUCKET

  • The PAT METHENY GROUP recording with American jazz piano player, Lyle Mays.
  • Jaco Pastorius died 1987 September Ft Lauderdale FL. This album released July 1987.

M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38)

 

According to Metheny, the writing of his next tune, LAST TRAIN HOME, came to him very quickly, he said it was written as one complete phrase, then he added the bridge sometime later. Featured on this song are the pulsing bass line and the drum brush tempo, which indeed does resemble the chug-a-lug sound of rolling steam train.

PAUSE EXAMPLE OF CHUG A LUG

Also featured IN LAST TRAIN HOME is the sound of electric sitar. In this case I belief Metheny is playing a guitar synthesizer, such as the GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth, which he did pioneer the use of. IT DOES REALLY SOUND LIKE A SITAR !

PLAY SITAR SOUND

About that electric sitar sound. Here is a flash back 20 years before LAST TRAIN HOME….to 1968 with this sitar sound. An electric sitar was used in the 1968 pop  song “Hooked on a Feeling” written by Mark James and performed by B. J. Thomas. This version featured the sound of the electric sitar that was played by guitarist REGGIE YOUNG, from The Memphis Boys band. The sitar was really the HOOK that made this song so popular. Here is the sitar sound from that 1968 pop hit JOOKED ON A FEELIN:

PLAY EXAMPLE CLIP FROM BJ THOMAS HOOKED ON A FEELIN

 

… and now….

Last Train Home (Pat Metheny),from Still Life (Talking) 1987,

 

Play M6 FOUR AND TWENTY by Stephen Stills, the Déjà Vu album,

DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL

That was M6 Last Train Home (Pat Metheny), Still Life (Talking), Pat Metheny Group, Released Geffen Records, LP 1987, (5:38).

 

Credits:

  • Pat Metheny – composer, electric guitar with synth, co producer and arranger
  • Lyle Mays – piano, keyboards co producer and arranger
  • Steve Rodby – acoustic bass
  • Paul Wertico – drums
  • …And 3 vocalists
  • Armando Marçal – percussion, backing vocals
  • Mark Ledford – vocals
  • David Blamires – vocals.

 

Still Life (Talking) won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance and was certified gold by the RIAA in 1992.

 

BIT BUCKET

  • The GR-300 polyphonic analog guitar synth was introduced mid 1970s. These sell for 2000 to 4000 today used. Pat Metheny was a pioneer in its use.
  • Hear it on this album? 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Concluding comments

 

As of 2023, the combined musical groups consisting of Pat Metheny Group, Unity Band and Metheny as a Solo artist, have earned 20 Grammy awards for albums and performances in the 30 years between 1983 and 2013. His discography is extensive with 53 albums released in the 47-year span between that first BRIGHT SIZE LIFE ALBUM in 1976 and now, 2023.

 

 

That’s it for today’s show PAT METHENY GUITARIST

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Frank Zappa Instrumentals VV022

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Today’s show features Frank Zappa, an American musician, composer, arranger, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist,  and record producer. He lived from 1940 to 1993. Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion and orchestral works. He is known for his work with the band The Mothers of Invention, producing over 60 albums with the Mothers, and he is also known for his prolific work as a Solo Artist. Zappa was one of the great guitarists of our time, and he was a sophisticated composer and highly accomplished multi-instrumental musician.

Zappa was a self-taught composer and performer. He studied and wrote classical music in high school, played drums in R&B bands. He later took to the Electric Guitar.

He has been described as the godfather of comedy rock, a critic of mainstream education and organized religion, advocating for freedom of speech and political participation. The phases of his life included different musical genres including experimental rock, jazz, classical, comedy rock, doo-wap, prog-rock, avant jazz, and pop.

Frank Zappa was prolific. His discography contains 62 albums produced during his lifetime. Zappa died much too early… at the young age 53, from prostate cancer. Following his death in 1993 , The Zappa Family Trust has overseen the release of another 57 official albums…that’s a total of 129 albums of songs recording the genius of Frank Zappa.

In the book, Frank Zappa: A Biography, by Barry Miles, Zappa describes his works in these words:

“It’s all one album. All the material in the albums is organically related and if I had the master tapes and I could take a razor blade[2] and cut them apart and put it together again in a different order it still would make one piece of music you can listen to…. I could do this twenty ways. The material is definitely related.”

Which brings us to the subject of today’s show. Each album seems like an eclectic work, combining songs of Rock, Jazz and Classical genres. It is a difficult assignment for anyone to make the right selection from those 129 albums… let alone a proper selection of the individual songs that would best capture the genius of Frank Zappa in a few sound impressions.

One way to accomplish this selection is to attribute each of Zappa’s songs as being either a Song with lyrics, (and this is 401 songs, about 2/3 of his works), and instrumental compositions, (there are 172 instrumentals).  I then compiled an instrumental list from my own vinyl collection, and then shortened that list down to just to 8 instrumental pieces that would fit into this podcast format.  Each instrumental piece is brilliant.

This short list of Frank Zappa Instrumentals is what we will review today.

M1 Chunga’s Revenge, Frank Zappa, Chunga’s Revenge, 1970, Reprise/Warner Brothers, (6:16)…………………………….

M2 Twenty Small Cigars, Frank Zappa, Chunga’s Revenge, 1970, Reprise/Warner Brothers, (2:17)…………………………..

M3 Idiot Bastard Son, Frank Zappa, Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa, World Pacific Jazz, 1970, (4:00)

M4 The Little House I Used to Live In, Frank Zappa Music, The Mothers – Fillmore East June 1971 (4:58)…………………

M5 Peaches En Regalia, Frank Zappa Music, The Mothers – Fillmore East June 1971 (3:22)…………………………………..

M6 The Grand Wazoo, Frank Zappa Music, The Grand Wazoo, 1972 Warner Records, (13:24)………………………………

M7 Eat That Question, Frank Zappa Music, The Grand Wazoo, 1972 Warner Records, (6:41)………………………………

M8 Blessed Relief, Frank Zappa Music, The Grand Wazoo , 1972 Warner Records, (6:41)………………………………….

John McLaughlin, Guitarist VV-021

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Today’s show features John McLaughlin, an English guitarist, composer and band leader, born in 1942 in Doncaster, a city in South Yorkshire, that’s located in northern England. His mother was a concert violinist. He studied violin and piano as a child and then took up the guitar at age 11.

His childhood musical influences included MILES DAVIS and LUDVIG VON BEETHOVEN, and more contemporary artists were JOHN COLTRANE and JIMMY HENDRIX

McLaughlin is a pioneer of Jazz Fusion. In his music, one can clearly pick out elements of ROCK, JAZZ and BLUES…and also additional elements later on such as WORLD MUSIC, and Western Classical Music.

In the 1960s at about age 20, he moved to London where he contributed to several British groups and did session work. One of those British Groups was the Graham Bond Quartet with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream. Another rare opportunity was working with Miles Davis.  And he gave guitar lessons too, and one of his students was Jimmy Page, founder of Led Zeppelin.

M1 Arjen’s Bag (John McLaughlin) EXTRAPOLATION, Marmalade Records, released 1969 in UK, Re-released on Polydor Records, 1972, 4:25.

M2 Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, (Charles Mingus 1959) My Goal’s Beyond, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, Douglas 9 Released 1971(solo album) 3:15            .

M3- Dawn (John McLaughlin), Inner Mounting Flame, The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin, Columbia, Released 1971 (5:15)

M4 Birds of Fire(John McLaughlin), Birds of Fire, Mahavishnu Orchestra, CBS Columbia, Released 1973 (5:50)..

M5 Sanctuary (John McLaughlin), Birds of Fire, Mahavishnu Orchestra, CBS Columbia, Released 1973 (5:05).

M6 WINGS of KARMA(John McLaughlin), Apocalypse, Mahavishnu Orchestra, with London Symphony Orchestra, CBS Columbia, Released 1974 (6:12)

M7- La Danse du Bonheur, Shakti with John McLaughlin, Columbia, 1977 (4:48).

rev4 04Jan2023 17:30

Jeff Beck Guitar Part 2 VV-019

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JEFF BECK EARLY YEARS 1975-1976

Today’s show is JEFF BECK GUITAR EARLY YEARS — PART 2

During the two years of 1975 – 1976, two Jeff Beck albums BLOW BY BLOW and WIRED, set a standard for instrumental rock.  In today’s podcast episode, JEFF BECK GUITAR PART 2, we review 4 works from the album BLOW BY BLOW, released in 1975, and 3 works from the album WIRED, released in 1976.  In the previous episode JEFF BECK GUITAR PART 1, we reviewed the early years of British, blues-based fusion guitarist Jeff Beck during his recordings with THE YARDBIRDS in 1966, and then his formation of the JEFF BECK GROUP in 1968. By 1975, Beck’s band consisted of Phil Chen on bass, Richard Bailey on drums and Max Middleton on keyboards. Middleton continued on from the earlier Jeff Beck Group. The sound with this new group and this album is instrumental Jazz Fusion It is a sound with influences from Miles Davis, and Mahavishnu Orchestra.

PROGRAM LIST

  1. Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers (Stevie Wonder) Rec Oct 1974, BLOW BY BLOW, Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment, 1975, 5:42
  2. Freeway Jam (Max Middleton), Rec Oct 1974, BLOW BY BLOW, Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment, 1975, 4:58
  3. Diamond Dust (Bernie Holland) Rec Oct 1974, BLOW BY BLOW, Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment, 1975, 8:26
  4. Led Boots (Max Middleton), Rec Oct 1976, JEFF BECK WIRED, Epic Records, 1976, 4:03
  5. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Charles Mingus, 1959) Rec Oct 1976, JEFF BECK WIRED, Epic Records, 1976, 5:31
  6. Blue Wind (Jan Hammer) Rec Oct 1976, JEFF BECK WIRED, Epic Records, 1976, 5:54
  7. Love is Green (Narada Michael Walden) Rec Oct 1976, JEFF BECK WIRED, Epic Records, 1976, 2:30

9-4-20 at 1333

Jeff Beck Guitar Part 1 VV-018

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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JEFF BECK GUITAR EARLY YEARS 1966- 1968

Today’s show is JEFF BECK GUITAR EARLY YEARS — PART 1

In this VINYL VIBRATIONS episode, I tour early vinyl records that showcase ENGLISH ROCK and FUSION GUITARIST GREAT … JEFF BECK. The recordings presented in this podcast are a compilation from my own LP and Singles collection.  Today – we will review six songs from Jeff Beck’s early years, 1966 – 1968:

  1. SHAPES OF THINGS – The Yardbirds (single)
  2. OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN – The Yardbirds (single)
  3. BECK’S BOLERO – Jeff Beck (single)
  4. GREENSLEEVES – Jeff Beck Group (TRUTH LP)
  5. SHAPES OF THINGS – Jeff Beck Group (TRUTH LP)
  6. MORNING DEW – Jeff Beck Group (TRUTH LP)

Jeff Beck achieved notoriety in the mid 1960’s, through the music of The Yardbirds and their hit song “Shapes of Things”.  He had been working actively as a musician since the age of 19, during the time he was attending college at what is now called the Wimbledon College of Art in London. That college specializes in theatre, screen, and performance art. That’s 1963.

Just five years later, Beck had launched three singles and his debut LP album, TRUTH.­­­

Guitarists-Jazz Fusion Greats VV-010

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In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, I tour some LP records that showcase guitarist greats in the emerging jazz fusion music era. These performances are found on Vinyl LP and today’s show is called GUITARISTS – JAZZ FUSION GREATS. In today’s podcast, we will hear jazz and jazz fusion guitarists from the 17-year period of 1960 to 1977, including…

 

1 Charlie Byrd Trio The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd Nuages (Rheinhardt) Riverside 1960

2 Wes Montgomery Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery Four On Six (Montgomery) Riverside-OJC 1960

3 Frank Zappa Chunga’s Revenge Chunga’s Revenge (Zappa) Reprise-Warner Bros 1970

4 Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) 1973 Columbia

5 Pat Metheny Bright Size Life Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) ECM 1975

6 Larry Coryell Philip Catherine Twin-House Guitar Duos Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) WEA Musik 1977

7 Al Di Meola Elegant Gypsy Suite Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) Columbia 1977

We will hear examples of guitarists playing various forms of jazz, leading up to the emerging jazz-rock fusion genre of the 1970s. These are LP records, produced between the years 1960 and 1977. We will hear influences of gypsy jazz in Reinhardt, ear-trained Montomery, zany Zappa, mahavishnu McLaughlin, modal Metheny and elegant gypsy DiMeola …as composers of the songs in this podcast.

M1 Charlie Byrd Trio, Nuages. Charlie Byrd was born in Suffolk, Virginia, in 1925. He was an American guitarist playing the genres of bossa nova, brasilian jazz, latin jazz and swing. Byrd played fingerstyle on a classical guitar. His father, a mandolinist and guitarist, taught him how to play the acoustic steel guitar at age 10. In 1943 he was drafted into the United States Army for World War II, and was stationed in Paris in 1945 where he played in an Army Special Services band. Byrd’s greatest influence was the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, whom he saw perform in Paris. After the war, Byrd returned to the United States and went to New York, where he studied composition and he began playing a classical guitar. In 1954 he became a pupil of the Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia and spent time studying in Italy with Segovia. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, Charlie Byrd collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music. This song, Nuages is one of the best-known compositions by Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt recorded about thirteen versions of the song, and today it is a jazz standard and a main portion of the gypsy swing repertoire. It was originally an instrumental piece.

Charlie Byrd Trio, The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd , Nuages (Django Rheinhardt) , Riverside OLP 1960, 3:05

Personnel

  • Charlie Byrd guitar  1925-1999
  • Keter Betts  bass
  • Buddy Deppenschmidt  drummer

M2 Wes Montgomery , Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery , Four On Six (Montgomery) , Riverside-OJC 1960, 6:14

Personnel

  • • Wes Montgomery- electric guitar
  • • Tommy Flanagan – piano
  • • Percy Heath – bass
  • • Albert Heath – drums

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis. and came from a musical family. Two brothers were also jazz performers. Monk on bass and Buddy on vibraphone and piano. The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers, on the Pacific Jazz label. As a band leader, Wes produced many albums, 31 albums over a 10 year period, with three labels, Riverside, Verve and A&M. He also is recorded only three times as a guitar sideman- – showing that Wes Montgomery preferred to lead his own band. Montgomery toured with Lionel Hampton early in his career, age 25-27, however he returned home to Indianapols to support his family of eight. Montgomery worked in a factory from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, then performed in local clubs from 9:00 pm to 2:00 am.  Montgomery’s created a unique guitar sound, and his tracks can be identified almost immediately based on his signature technique. Some points you may not know, about Montgomery’s jazz guitar technique:

  • 1. Wes could learn complex melodies and riffs by ear. Montgomery played a 4-string tenor guitar from the age of 12 and then started learning the six-string guitar at the relatively late age of 20 by listening then learning the recordings of his idol, guitarist Charlie Christian. Montgomery had the ability to play Charlie Christian’s solos note for note, and in 1948 Wes was hired by Lionel Hampton for this ability. He was just 25, and toured almost two years with Hampton, then returned home to Indianapolis. He did not record for 7 years until his first release, “Fingerpickin”, in 1958.
  • 2. Wes had 3-tiered solo technique, and it worked like this.  First, he would start a solo with single-note lines, [Four on Six EXAMPLE1 at 0:39] then he would follow with his trademark octave sound, [Four on Six EXAMPLE2 at 3:00] and then begin using block chords or chord melodies, often triads, in his solos [Besame Mucho Take 2 (iTunes) EXAMPLE at 2:30 ].
  • 3. Montgomery’s trademark octave sound was dubbed in the music world as the “naptown sound”, a reference to the nickname of his home town of Indianapolis. Here is another example of that “naptown” sound [Four on Six EXAMPLE3 at 1:34].
  • 4. Instead of using a guitar pick, Montgomery played the guitar strings with his thumb. This technique created a mellow, expressive tone. According to jazz guitar great, George Benson, Wes had a two-part thumb. A soft part, used for playing the mellow notes, and giving that mellow sound, and another area that had developed a corn from extended playing. This corn served as a sort of pick, giving the string a plucked or bright or pointed sound

Today we hear a track from Wes’s FOURTH album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, released in 1960, at age 37. It took just two recording sessions in New York City to make this LP, which was recorded as a quartet, with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath, who at the time was with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath. The album featured two of Montgomery’s most well-known compositions, “Four on Six” , which we will hear, and “West Coast Blues.  This is song 4 of 8 on that LP. I believe this is Wes Montgomery’s finest record. This recording put Wes Montgomery on the map and earned him Down Beat magazine’s “New Star” award in 1960. Montgomery’s jazz guitar sound is just as fresh today, over 50 years after this recording.

 

M3 Frank Zappa, Chunga’s Revenge is the album and title song, Chunga’s Revenge, Reprise-Warner Bros 1970, 6:16

Personnel

  • • Frank Zappa guitar
  • • Ian Underwood electric alto sax with wah-wah pedal
  • • Sugar Cane Harris organ
  • • Max Bennett bass
  • • Aynsley Dunbar drums

Frank (1940 –1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar.This LP album was produced by Frank Zappa. And all selections were written and published by Zappa. It is a strange album, not just because it is all Zappa, but because of how eclectic these songs are, a mix of songs from POP, JAZZ FUSION, BLUES and ROCK music forms. The title track, Chunga’s Revenge, is a song about a small mutant Gypsy vacuum cleaner, the protagonist of the title song of this album. On the LP front cover is this bit of Zappa story prose about ..the Chunga.. “A Gypsy industrial vacuum cleaner dances about a mysterious night time camp fire. Festoons. Dozens of imported castanets, clutched by the horrible suction of its heavy duty hose, waving with marginal erotic abandon in the midnight autumn air.” The inside panels of this folding LP cover displays a the gypsy vacuum cleaner playing through an amplifier, in front of a campfire, in a camp of caravans, horses, castanets, microphones, and a recording studio control panel. Bizaar indeed. Zappa’s electric guitar work is strong here. The song has a jazz format, with formal beginning and ending and extended improvisation midsection, giving Zappa a long runway to show his colorful wah-wah, compressed guitar style. This marries up well with the wah-wah electric alto sax of Ian Underwood.  Zappa was innovative with his use of tone control, alternating between high distortion and sustain to wah-wah pedal effects.  Zappa would open his show with this slow and very deliberate piece, with an ELEGANT lead melody line. Zappa was 30 at the time of this recording. Thirty years later, Chunga’s Revenge was recorded by Parisian tango revival group Gotan Project for their 2001 debut album La Revancha del Tango.

M4 Mahavishnu Orchestra , Birds of Fire, Open Country Joy (McLaughlin) , Columbia 1973, Side two, track 3., 3:54.

Personnel

  • • John McLaughlin guitar
  • • Rick Laird bass
  • • Billy Cobham percussion
  • • Jerry Goodman violin
  • • Jan Hammer keyboard

This is an example from the “first” Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup, this ensemble recorded two records with Columbia between 1971 and 73. This is the second, and last album with that lineup. The band’s original lineup featured “Mahavishnu” John McLaughlin on acoustic and electric guitars, Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on bass guitar, Jan Hammer on electric and acoustic piano and synthesizer, and Jerry Goodman on violin. This was a multinational group: McLaughlin being from England; Cobham from Panama; Hammer from Prague, Goodman from Chicago; and Laird from Dublin. McLaughlin and Cobham met while performing and recording with Miles Davis during the Bitches Brew sessions. In a word, this song is ELEGANT, with a simple melody and theme.  The sound is a blend of GENRES — the high-volume electrified rock sound (pioneered by Jimi Hendrix), clearly there is an interest in both Indian and Western Classical Music, and another McLaughlin favorite, the feel of funk music.  The music on this early Mahavishnu album was all instrumental.

In “Open Country Joy,” recording starts with a sort of pastoral scene, in which the composer employs various techniques to create a simple and peaceful mode, and starts with the familiar and relaxing sound of the jangley guitar chords of Mclaughlin – – – similar to that jangly sound from the song “Mr. Tambourine Man!” by the BYRDs in 1965 [Example 1 0:00-0:10 Mr Tambourine Man—iTUnes][Example 2 Open Country Joy LP].  4/4 time. Then add in the beautiful electric violin work of Jerry Goodman. The pastoral mode continues for just over a minute. Then, at 71 seconds, all chaos begins, as instruments are turned up, the tempo is doubled, and for another minute there is an incredible energy level, and then at 2:30, we return back to the serene, pastoral scene.

Recorded in 1973 in New York and London, the jazz fusion guitar work of John McLaughlin and the first Mahavishnu Orchestra, performing OPEN COUNTRY JOY.

M5 Pat Metheny , Bright Size Life , Missouri Uncompromised (Metheny) , ECM Records 1976, 4:13

Personnel

  • • Pat Metheny 6 and 12-string guitars  b1954
  • • Jaco Pastorious bass (fretless)
  • • Bob Moses drums

BRIGHT SIZE LIFE must have been an expression that defined a very exciting time in Pat Metheny’s early career. He was 21, and although he had been recording earlier, BRIGHT SIZE LIFE was his first big album. The album was not produced on an American label, but a German label, ECM Records, and recorded in, Ludwigsburg, West Germany in 1976.

All songs but one were composed by Metheny, just a kid from the suburbs of Kansas City.  Metheny was able to assemble some great talent for this first LP. For example the bassist, is another fusion pioneer, Jaco Pastorius, borrowed from Epic records. Pastorius, as you might remember, was one the first to bring the electric fretless bass to fusion. [example Missouri Uncompromised 0:25 to 0:30] And Bob Moses on drums, who had performed with Larry Coryell in The Free Spirits, a jazz fusion ensemble, and in the Gary Burton Quartet. The song “Missouri Uncompromised” is a very strange assembly of ideas. An abstract sound, for all parts, drums, bass, and the strange melody of this song. The lines are angular, and the song has a rhythmic drive.

Perhaps the song is as strange as the namesake Missouri Compromise. From U.S. history, the Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, on the regulation of slavery in the new, western territories. Is there historical symbolism in this song? Or was the song just a random title, pulled from one of Metheny’s college textbooks.  Three years earlier before this album, Metheny had been attending the University of Miami, when, as a Freshman, he was struck by a great opportunity. Should he continue at the University, or take an opportunity to be a teaching assistant. Not just any school. The Berklee College of Music. And not just any teaching assistant, he would be the assistant to none other than jazz vibraphonist great, Gary Burton.  It was 1972, Gary Burton was a BIG jazz player, and already had recorded 17 albums as the leader. And at the time of the recording of BRIGHT SIZE LIFE 1975-1976, Pat Metheny was in already Gary Burton’s band.

Pat Metheny, age 21, his debut LP, Bright Size Life, the song “Missouri Uncompromised”. 

M6 Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine , Twin-House – Guitar Duos, Mortgage on Your Soul (Keith Jarrett) , WEA Musik 1977 (Hamburg), 3:00

Personnel

  • • Larry Coryell acoustic guitar
  • • Philip Catherine acoustic guitar

The song Mortgage on My Soul (Wah Wah) is a Kieth Jarrett composition from his 1971 Atlantic album “Birth”.  In this arrangement of “Mortgage”, the song is actually mis-named on the Twin House album as “Mortgage on Your Soul”.  The Twin House version is played as an acoustic guitar duo, and the guitarists are Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine. In opening the song, they play the same bass line in unison, while the third guitar, which is Coryell overdubbed, takes the first solo. Catherine follows with his guitar solo. Here is some of the song opening sound. Coryell, from Texas, came into prominence in 1967 with Gary Burton Quartet , and is still an active jazz guitar performer today, with his signature fiery sound. Catherine is from Brussels, and like Coryell, draws his influences from Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt.  This track was recorded in London in 1977 by WEA Musik GmbH, and released by Elektra / Warner records.

M7 Al Di Meola  b1954, Elegant Gypsy Suite , Elegant Gypsy Suite (Di Meola) , Columbia 1977, Producer: Al Di Meola

Elegant Gypsy Suite is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, Born in 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey. At 17, in 1971 he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1974 he joined Chick Corea’s band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.

In 1977, DiMeola was just 23, and the Elegant Gypsy Suite was recorded as a studio album, which he self-produced. The Genre is Latin jazz, jazz fusion. Di Meola was still a member of Return to Forever at the time of this recording. No wonder the sound of the Gypsy Suite piece is remarkably similar with Return to Forever’s Chick Corea leading on keyboards, compared to Jan Hammer on Gypsy. Return’s Bill Connors guitar on compared to Al Di Meola. And Return’s Stanley Clark on bass as compared here to Anthony Jackson.

Di Meola has a distinctive, though not a virtuoso, sound to his guitar artistry. One of his techniques is his Sweep Picking technique, in which he produces a rapid and specific series of notes with a fluid sound, evident in his lead work here. Here is an example of sweep picking: [EXAMPLE ELEGANT GYPSY SUITE iTunes 3:20 – 3:30] a form of shred guitar. Elegant Gypsy Suite delivers a fusion of rock and latin jazz. with lightning-fast unison playing betweem Hammer, DiMeola and drummer Steve Gadd.

Personnel

  • • Al Di Meola: Electric guitars, Acoustic Guitars
  • • Anthony Jackson: Bass guitar.
  • • Jan Hammer: Keyboards, synthesizer.
  • • Steve Gadd: Drums

 

Larry Coryell Guitar VV-007

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PROGRAM NOTES

In today’s VINYL VIBRATIONS podcast, we explore jazz guitarist and composer Larry Coryell.

INTRO TO  “LARRY CORYELL”:

Larry Coryell was born in 1943 in Galveston. He is an american jazz fusion guitarist. A long background as a musician, he played in local bands in Texas and later in the Seattle area.  He moved to NYC in 1965  – age 22 – and was part of Chico Hamilton’s quartet. In the late 1960s he recorded with jazz vibraphonist great, great Gary Burton. He also played in the band Free Spirits.  He formed his own group, The Eleventh House, in 1973. Later in the 1970s  in 1979, Coryell formed “The Guitar Trio” with jazz fusion guitarist John McLaughlin and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia. Coryell’s music combined influences and styles of rock, jazz and eastern. That eastern influence was not doubt a result of his interest in the spiritual leader Sri Chimnoy. Coryell’s discography is impressive.  As leader, there are 36 albums, and as sideman, there are many other albums. This podcast follows Larry Coryell’s work from a rich time in his younger years, 1968-1975, or from age 25-32, recording in New York City for Vanguard Apostolic, Mega records  and Arista.

In today’s podcast we will hear six of Larry Coryell’s best !! Starting with…

  • M1 Song Treats Style Album Lady Coryell
  • M2 Song After Later Album Larry Coryell at the Village Gate
  • M3 Song Further Explorations for Albert Stinson Album Fairyland
  • M4 Song Low-Lee-Tah Album Introducing the Eleventh House w Larry Coryell
  • M5 Song Pavane For A Dead Princess Album The Restful Mind
  • M6 Song Level One Album Level One Album Artist Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell

 

M1  Song Treats Style Album Lady Coryell. Album Artist Larry Coryell. Composer Jim Garrison

 

Larry Coryell was just 25 when this album was recorded in 1968. It is his first album as a leader.By now, LC had recorded two albums with vibraphonist Gary Burton, in his group The Free Spirits. Decades of collaboration would follow between LC and jazz-great Burton, king of the four-mallet style, on jazz vibes. And now in 1968, two more jazz masters are with Coryell  – – Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums … guest artists on this album. Bassist and song composer Garrison played as a sideman with the John Coltrane classic quartet — along with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, from 1962-1967. Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones formed the “rhythm section” of the John Coltrane Quartet.  They gave bold physicality to Coltrane, due to the focused intensity of their rhythm section.   You will hear that focused intensity of the rhythm section on this song. This rhythm machine, plus Coryell’s licks provide an outstanding TRIO performance. And there is a Milestone Event for Coryell …on this song, “Treats Style”, Coryell takes his first guitar solo!! Larry Coryell’s blues guitar signature is imitated but never duplicated, such as his solo here in TREATS STYLE.  This is great early LC, in his formative years, in the 1960s,   as jazz guitarist, composer, arranger and co-producer. The album was produced by David Weiss and LC. Treats Style, was composed by the bassist, Jimmy Garrison, who was 35 at the time of this album. By Vanguard Apostolic. Year 1969

Featuring the trio – – –

  • Larry Coryell guitar
  • Jim Garrison Bass
  • Elvin Jones drums

M2 Song After Later, Album Larry Coryell at the Village Gate, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1971, By Vanguard Recording Society

Featuring

  • Larry Coryell guitar
  • Mervin Bronson bass
  • Harry Wilkinson drums

Larry Coryell is almost 28 at the time of this show at the Village Gate in NYC. After Later is a jazz-rock guitar instrumental, done, in 10/4 time. On this song we have the driven lead guitar jazz rock style of LC, with distortion and feedback effects.

Some of that overdrive is the unique combination of LC’s choice of what is typically a jazz guitar, a hollow-bodied Gibson ES-185 guitar, very sympathetic to stage vibration, such as from Coryell’s amplifier, feeding back into the guitar body. We also hear the use of the wah-pedal later in the lead guitar and even some guitar-shredding style is heard, to produce those ferocious 16th or 32nd note flurries. And finally, the bending of the notes – owed to blues and rock.

I hear a bit of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in this song. A historical note, Hendrix had died just months before this show, in September of 1970. Maybe it’s my imagination, the connection from Hendrix into Coryell’s powerful lead lines in this song, After Later.

Melodic and powerful. This is an early combination of a jazz-type of guitar (such as the gibson ES-185)  and rock-like effects, like guitar overdrive, feedback and a strong rhythm section supplied by bass and drums to 10/4. This was early Jazz Rock and very exciting, Coryell was definitely on to something, and breaking new ground with this unique guitar sound. This is a jazz format, with the song intro and ending using a formal theme, and the “in between” segment, containing a lengthy guitar improvisation supplied by Coryell. It’s not unlike a fine novel, propped up by two book-ends.

I would have loved to be at that show in 1971, “Larry Coryell at the Village Gate”, New York City. What was I doing. I was a freshman in college…and I had to get my hands on this incredible live album, his fifth album.

I missed the show, but I have played this song, After Later, EASILY a hundred …maybe two hundred or more times !

M3 Song Further Explorations for Albert Stinson, Album Fairyland ,Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1971 recorded live at Montreux Switzerland, By Mega Records & Tapes

Featuring

  • Larry Coryell guitar
  • Chuck Rainey Bass
  • Pretty Purdie Drums

Coryell is 28 at the is time of this live album, released in 1971. The album was recorded at Montreux, Switzerland. This is again a trio. Again, you can hear Coryell’s large hollow-bodied electric guitar. From the album cover, it appears to be a Gibson ES-185, a very LARGE electric guitar indeed.

Albert Stinson was a American jazz double-bassist who worked with Larry Coryell in 1967-1969. He was nicknamed “sparky” because of his huge, bright tone, and aggressive attack. Stinson died in 1969, of a heroin overdose, while on tour with Coryell. Stinson was 24. His bass playing with Coryell can be found on another 1969 Vanguard album titled “Coryell”, where he supplies the bass tracks for two of the album’s seven cuts. Bassist Chuck Rainey supplies the other bass tracks for the album. And here, on today’s show, from the Fairyland album, Chuck Rainey performs on Further Explorations for Albert Stinson, the song, no doubt, is a tribute to this promising young bassist.

This time period was a particularly TRAGIC one for the music world, with MANY prominent artists lost in the three years of 1969, 1970 and 1971, including Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Albert Stinson, the subject of this song, Jimi Hendrix, Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson of Canned Heat, Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison of the Doors, and Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band.

M4 Song Low-Lee-Tah, Album Introducing the Eleventh House w Larry Coryell, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Larry Coryell, Year 1974, By Vanguard Recording Society

Featuring

  • Larry Coryell guitar
  • Randy Brecker trumpet
  • Alphonse Mouzon percussion
  • Mike Mandel piano & synth
  • Danny Trifan bass

Coryell is 31 at the time of this album, in 1974.

He had created the group Eleventh House in 1973 —and it was active for 3 years. The Eleventh House was a change in format for Coryell.  He does create a new sound with Eleventh House. Coryell composes this angular, Mahavishnu sounding piece. It’s a rock instrumental, with off beats, improvisation for guitar and trumpet. Earlier, Coryell had played in a trio format, such as from the three albums we heard earlier, LADY CORYELL,  LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE, and FAIRYLAND. Eleventh House will add two parts to the trio format. In addition to the trio’s bass-drums-guitar, we add the keyboard-synth of Mike Mandel, and Trumpet of Randy Brecker. Pretty cool. A trumpet part that can drive just as fast, and just as strong as the HOUSE’s lead guitar part. Brecker’s trumpet sound is reminiscent of Miles Davis with reverb, and a mix of melodic lines with …angular lines..The percussionist, Alphonse Mouzon gives a command performance. Alphonse Mouzon was supplied courtesy of Blue Note Records.   This is a jazz format, with a long middle section of improvisation. Coryell composed this angular, Mahavishnu sounding piece.  The song is in mixed time. It’s approximately 4/4, but rhythm is broken into segments having 8-beats measures, followed by several 6+8 beat measures. It’s a pretty catchy rhythm, more of the cerebral level of appeal, a sophisticated style and sound, that sets it apart from anyone else on the jazz-rock scene. Coryell uses pedal effects, including EQ and a synthesizer-like sound effect, sweeping across the soundscape. This song LOW LEE TAH, is directed toward the trumpet line and solo, with Larry Coryell in the role of guitar sideman, with his “Sri Chimnoy” or Mahavishnu sounding rhythm guitar backing and brief guitar solo.

M5 Song Pavane For A Dead Princess, Album The Restful Mind, Album Artist Larry Coryell, Composer Maurice Ravel 1899, Year 1975, By Vanguard Records.

Featuring

  • Larry Coryell in a solo performance on guitar

On THE RESTFUL MIND album we hear another, fantastic side of guitarist Larry Coryell in Pavane For A Dead Princess.

Coryell is 32 at the time of this recording. If you like the work of Maurice Ravel, the french composer, who lived between 1875-1937, you may recognize this song. But the song title, means nothing, as RAVEL stated…”Do not be surprised, that title has nothing to do with the composition. I simply liked the sound of those words and I put them there, c’est tout”. So, the Pavane, title meaning nothing,  …is in slow, 2/2 time. This Ravel song, composed in 1899, received luke-warm early reviews, but has enjoyed popularity both in French and English forms.  The song was written for solo piano.  This is Larry Coryell’s interpretation — he plays the Lo Prinzi acoustic guitar.

 

M6 Song Level One,  Album Level One, Album Artist Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell, Composer Mike Mandel, Year 1975, By Arista Records

Featuring

  • Larry Coryell guitar
  • Michael Lawrence trumpet and flugelhorn
  • Alphonse Mouzon percussion
  • Mike Mandel piano & synth
  • John Lee bass
  • Steve Kahn 12-string guitar

With Level One, we hear more of the angular Eleventh House sound, now with Michael Lawrence on Trumpet. Larry Coryell, and his lead guitar performance on Level One is against a rhythm framework supplied by the fiery percussion of Alphonse Mouzon and bass of John Lee.  Eleventh House featured the dynamic keyboard synth sounds of Mike Mandel, the composer of this tune. LEVEL ONE is similar in terms of the impact and the feel of the music with  John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

The 1971 Mahavishnu album My Goal’s Beyond, was inspired by John McLaughlin’s decision to follow the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, to whom he had been introduced in 1970 ….by Larry Coryell’s manager. Coryell and McLaughlin worked together in 1974 in the group SPACES and again in 1979 with a guitar trio of McLaughlin, Coryell and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia.  Collaboration continues today with McLaughlin and Coryell,   as recently as 2011.

That was

Song Level One 

Album Level One

Album Artist Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell

Composer Mike Mandel

Jazz Fusion Part 2 VV-002

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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PROGRAM SUMMARY

Today in Part TWO of Jazz Fusion, we look at FIVE more Jazz Fusion artists on …VINYL VIBRATIONS !

M1 Miles Davis and his “Bitches Brew” album 1970 Columbia. Miles Davis experiments with electric instruments like electric piano and electric guitar. Also we see more of an improvisational style with a rock rhythm. a double album – a studio album.  We listen to the song titled “John McLaughlin” on Bitches Brew.  This is an all-star cast–Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul on two electric pianos, John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Jack DeJohnette and Don Alias on two drum sets, Dave Holland and Harbey Brooks on two electric basses and of course on trumpet, Miles Davis.

M2  Return to Forever,  featuring Chick Corea. The recording and title song is “Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy”. A phenomenal set of musicians — guitarist Bill Connors, Stan Clarke on Bass, Lenny White on Drums. This song provides examples of time changes, which Chick Corea thrives in, providing a high energy framework for Bill Connors to play lead guitar. A very mechanical song, with enough melodic component to to be interesting and tell a story about THE SEVENTH GALAXY —- The band is Return to Forever and the title song is “Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy”featuring Chick Corea, 1973, Polydor Records.

M3 Soft Machine and we listen to the album simply named “5”. On this 1972 CBS album, part 2 of the 2-part song “L.B.O., by John Marshall, the drummer.  The musicians are Elton Dean on Alto Sax, Saxello and Electric Piano, Hugh Hopper on Bass, Mike Ratlidge on Organ and Electric Piano, and John Marshall on Drums. Note the time changes, the improvisation, the use of electric saxello, electric piano, in a jazz format, with the rock beat.

M4 Pat Metheny and his 1976 album BRIGHT SIZE LIFE. We listened to UNQUITY ROAD, composed by Pat Metheny.  I remember seeing the very young Metheny back in 1977 at a small venue named Amazingrace, then  locatedat 845 Chicago Ave in Evanston IL. There, up on stage stood this white kid from Missouri, then 21, with huge a afro and and a very large hollow body electric guitar. This kid is really different. The guitar playing is like nothing I had heard before. Great technique, the scales, wide intervals, the melodic character of this music, the little excursions each of the songs take. And a very NEW sound with jazz “improvisation”  The bass sound is also new, because it is fretless and electric, that’s Jaco Pastorius on bass. Bob Moses Drums. Recorded in 1976, not in the US… but in Ludwigsburg, Germany, for ECM Records.

M5 SPACES. Next, we hear from the Band, Album, and title Song . . . all titled “SPACES”. Another all-star cast, featuring Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin on guitars, Billy Cobham on drums, Chick Corea electric piano, and Miroslav Vitous on bass….. Vitous playing a bowed bass, in this case, an electrified, acoustic bass. And the Coryell-McLaughlin guitar combination, works well … it’s surprising, as they have such different styles (Coryell’s fury and power vs McLaughlin’s texture and finesse). Much improvisation, much power in the guitar solo parts. This is a great instrumental album. The song SPACES was composed by Julie Coryell. This was originally recorded in 1971, and this release is 1974 from VANGUARD APOSTOLIC records.

M6 The Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin and the album “The Inner Mounting Flame” and the most laid back song on that album, if you will, a track named “Dawn” with John McLaughlin on Guitar, Jerry Goodman on Violin, Jan Hammer on Piano, Rick Laird Bass and Billy Cobham on Drums. Original composition of John McLaughlin. This first studio album, released in 1971, by Columbia Records.

Jazz Fusion VV-001

~ vinylvibrationsbrianfrederick

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This is the first post of VINYL VIBRATIONS by Brian Frederick. In today’s podcast we look at Part ONE of a two-part program on JAZZ FUSION. Today, we focus on the decade of development of JAZZ FUSION during the late 1960s and into the 1970s — during the “Golden Age of Vinyl” when many of the early works we will hear are found in Vinyl LP format. Jazz Fusion maybe not as much a musical style, but more of a MUSICAL APPROACH.

PROGRAM SUMMARY

M1 Gary Burton Quartet, their first album DUSTER in 1967 on RCA Records, vibraphonist Gary Burton, the song “LITANY”. Gary Burton – the jazz vibraphonist from Anderson Indiana.  Burton plays with Larry Coryell [guitar], Roy Haynes [drums], Steve Swallow [bass].  Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz.   In 1967 BURTON formed the Gary Burton Quartet.   Predating the jazz-rock fusion craze of the 1970s, the group’s first record, Duster, combined jazz, country and rock and roll elements.

M2 John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the album APOCALYPSE, 1974 on CBS. With the London Symphony Orchestra, with Michael Tilson Thomas conductor. The song titled WINGS OF KARMA track one side 2. This album is produced by George Martin. Recorded in London 1974. McLaughlin is flexing his creative muscles, demonstrating, convincingly, that he can compose and arrange in a symphonic format, and work in his electric instruments, the electric piano, guitar and bass, and the rock drum set with . Jean Luc-Ponty is featured on electric violin. John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Gayle Morgan on keyboards, plus 9 other members of the LSO. Very powerful, a very new musical dimension, this sound, in 1974.

M3 The MOTHERS, and the album ..The Grand Wazoo, and the song “EAT THAT QUESTION”, on Reprise Records, Warner Bros Records, 1972. Produced by Frank Zappa. On woodwinds Mike Altshul and Joel Peskin, Sal Marquez on all brass, George Duke on Keyboards, Frank Zappa percussion, and Guitar Frank Zappa, Drums Aynsley Dunbar and Bass-the credit shows as “erroneous”! All selections composed and arranged (and produced) by Frank Zappa.

M4 Jean-Luc Ponty on electric violin and the album King Kong, the song “IDIOT BASTARD SON” by Frank Zappa, The album cover indicates “music for electric violin and low budget orchestra – composed and arranged by Frank Zappa. The electric violin has a natural footing, a solid role as a solo instrument in this new JAZZ FUSION genre.

M5 Jerry Goodman and Jan Hammer  the song “Stepping Tones, composed by Rick Laird on the “Like Children” album, Nemporer Records 1974. This is an interesting album from the standpoint that all of the performance talent on this record is supplied by only two persons — Jerry Goodman on on violins, electric guitar, electric mandolin, acoustic guitar, viola and — Jan Hammer on piano, drums, moog bass, moog lead, percussion.

M6 The MOTHERS “Peaches en Regalia” live track from  The MOTHERS and the “Fillmore East, June 1971” album, distributed on Reprise (Warner Bros) Records. Zappa is on electric guitar, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Jim Pons on bass, Don Preston on the mini-moog, and Bob Harris on 2nd keyboard. “Peaches en Regalia” was written by Frank Zappa and published by Frank Zappa Music.