RIP Herb Ellis

[Brad Weiss]

Ok, no mandolin content, but an inspiring jazz string player - his work with Oscar Peterson was totally swinging, and his sound was really really distinctive. He'll be missed.

[AlanN]

Ah, So It Goes. RIP, Herb Ellis.

What a great guitarist. He had the Texas blues in his playing, with a country twang at times. Herb's solos were always fluid and hip. And he played and recorded with everybody, from Ray Brown to Billie Holiday to Charlie Parker, I think. I caught The Great Guitars one time, have a nice recording from Rutgers U. somewhere. This was Herb, Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd, sometimes Tal Farlow. The Talk Of The Town was a tour de force.

[JEStanek]

There's a nice rememberance on NPR's Jazz Blog A Blog Supreme (http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2010/03/great_guitarist_herb_ellis_dies.html).

Jamie

[Jason Kindall]

Ellis was definately one of those jazzers that anyone could listen to regardless of taste in musical genres.

RIP, Herb..

[sgarrity]

I love his Texas Swings recording. Joe's Blues with Herb and Joe Pass is another excellent recording. Tone for days. RIP Herb Ellis!

[Pete Martin]

Herb used to play regularly in a Jazz club down the street from me in the early 80s. I'd often sit in the front table on his last set.

One day I entered a cafe to eat breakfast and he was eating at the counter. He recognized me and asked me to sit next to him. One very nice guy and a hellova player!

My favorite recordings of him are ALL the Pass-Ellis Concord recordings. They seemed to really dig how the other played.

[chasgrav]

At lunch today, I wandered into a CD store with the idea of picking up something of Herb's. They had nothing, but I walked out with some mint-condition used Wes disks, for cheap. Herb was really a favorite, though. He'll be missed.