View Full Version : Jazz Grass, by Slim Richey
I put this on iTunes and am really giving a listen.
Sam Bush and Skaggs on fiddle, Dobro, Slim on guitar, Bill Keith on banjo (which at times is too much a wall of sound thing), dobro. Joe Carr's mandolin breaks on Rose Room and There Will Never be Another You are just great - Jethro and other stuff all rolled into one. He gets some very hip lines going - diminished licks, passing tones. Mind you, this was recorded 30+ years ago, he didn't have much to go on. I read somewhere he 'stole' Charlie Christian lines, sure sounds it. Years ago, Joe sent me the tabs to all the breaks on that record - hand-written and somewhat rough in layout, they sure are cool to look at and follow along.
Bruce Clausen
Aug-14-2009, 11:25am
"Mind you, this was recorded 30+ years ago, he didn't have much to go on."
Gotta point out here that 30 years ago anyone playing standards in a jazz style had plenty to go on, including the complete recorded legacy of Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Art Tatum, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, etc. etc. If you want to play jazz on any instrument at all, listen to the great jazz players!
BC
AlanN
Aug-14-2009, 11:31am
Which, as Joe told me, he did (at Slim's urging).
My point was, he didn't have much to go on **in the mandolin realm** of cats doing that. Jethro notwithstanding, I can't think of anyone else he could have emulated or looked to for ideas in the mandolin world, as opposed to today. Which only makes his musical statements on that record more compelling and hip.
I should have been clearer, I see.
JFDilmando
Aug-19-2009, 7:39pm
Alan
What could I possibly do to get you to copy those handwritten notes and share them ????
That would be a GREAT service to the mando community !
JohnD
Intellectual property owned by Joe Carr. Check with him.
Christian
Aug-20-2009, 7:07am
Yes, Alan, that was an interesting record, although not entirely convincing. I haven't listened to it in a while (somewhere with all the vinyl stuff), but I do remember Joe's breaks as the most exciting on the record. I think Dave Holland was part of that too, and he was not yet the jazz giant he has become since, and Alan Munde played some banjo.
Philippe Bony
Aug-25-2009, 6:14am
Bill Keith plays only on track 12 (Night In Tunisia, mind you!), Alan Munde on all others tracks. There is a CD reissue...
Bruce, there I discovered "There Will Never Be Another You"...
And "Gravy Waltz" is a great one!
Christian, no Dave Holland here (but he plays with "Clements, Bush, Burns, Robbins and Blake"). Kerby Stuart on all tunes.
If you guys don't have the Dave Holland/Clements/Bush/Burns/Robbins/Blake album Philippe mentioned, it's a must have. Incredible stuff. Vassar especially.
If you guys don't have the Dave Holland/Clements/Bush/Burns/Robbins/Blake album Philippe mentioned, it's a must have. Incredible stuff. Vassar especially.
And Jethro chunks guitar chords on a tune or 2, maybe A Train. Sauerkraut and Solar Energy, another hippie grass thing...man, old times...