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Thread: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

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    Registered User John Duncan's Avatar
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    Default I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Mando friends,

    I have never really listened to much mandolin music outside of the bluegrass box. Within the last month I have been working on David Grisman tunes for the first time ever.

    Same goes for Jethro Burns. (braces for mando berating)

    Help me fix this! Where would be a good jumping off point for listening to his style of mandolin picking and does he have any good books of instructional stuff?

    Thanks!

    John
    My Youtube Channel: http://bit.ly/1F9sJ8G

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Where to begin?

    It Ain't Necessairly Square and Playing It Straight, watershed recordings, for a 60's view into H&J on Jazz and Pop numbers.
    1979 Back To Back with Tiny Moore
    Don Stiernberg collaborations
    Steve Goodman records
    His several solo records

    He did 3 Mel Bay books of his stylin...

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Bye Bye Blues. Blew my mind and changed my mandolin life.

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    i have a mando course that you can download called: swing and ragtime solos for mandolin. dan huckabee
    www.musicians-workshop.com 800 543 6125

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    Registered User Chip Booth's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    I really like Back to Back.

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Other recordings he has guested on:

    Sam Bush Late As Usual
    Don Stiernberg Mandolin Restaurant
    Grazz Matazz - Delinquent Minor, with Akira Otsuka and Al Petteway
    Last edited by AlanN; Nov-09-2012 at 12:05pm.

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    Registered User Tom Morse's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Where to begin indeed! There's a ton of stuff on YouTube by Homer & Jethro including this gem:

    The David Grisman-produced album Back To Back with Jethro and Tiny Moore (the incomparable 5-string, solid-body, electric mandolin master of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys) is an absolute must-have CD (available from Grisman's Acoustic Disc online site). And then there are the three wonderful books that Burns did for Mel Bay Publishing which I believe have been re-released as a single volume.

    Once you've dug in, holler back and let everyone know what you think! I'm betting you'll enjoy it all.
    Jethro lives! (Tiny, too!)

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Playing it Straight/It Ain't Necessarily Square
    Back to Back
    Jethro Burns (self titled) (downloadable from Itunes)
    Tea for One

    There all good. Back to Back is a desert island pick for me...

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    There is an excellent Jethro Burns mandolin book:

    http://www.amazon.com/Bays-Complete-...ef=pd_sxp_f_pt
    Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
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    Registered User 8ch(pl)'s Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    On Youtube, there is a recording od Steve Goodman singing "The Dutchman", Jethro Burns on Mandolin (Steve on Guitar). It is a really nice piece. Done about 1982.

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    There is a wealth of good stuff here ..............

    http://www.robcoleman.com/jethro/index.html
    Jean

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    Registered User John Duncan's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jean Fugal View Post
    There is a wealth of good stuff here ..............

    http://www.robcoleman.com/jethro/index.html
    Wealth is a great word for it.
    My Youtube Channel: http://bit.ly/1F9sJ8G

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    Work in Progress Ed Goist's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Swing Low Sweet Mandolin
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    And then there are the off the cuff things, like the live show Jethro's Birthday Bash, 1982. Documenting his birthday celebration at The Birchmere, this is a gem. Mando pickers in tow were John Duffey, Doyle Lawson, Jim Gaudreau, Akira Otsuka along with other musicians - Al Petteway, Pete Kennedy, a couple of fiddle players. The large time they had and the tunes they picked are such fun to listen to.

    Speaking of Back To Back, there is the alternate takes disc available as a downoad at Acoustic Disc, and the wonderful transcription by Mike Marshall of all of Jethro's and Tiny's solos on the master take of Swing 39, in one of the old MWN issues. That transcription is such a great thing, you really can see/hear the styles of these giants on the Django tune. One line in particular is Jethro's lead into a luscious flat5 chord....simply scrumptious.

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    Registered User Perry's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Quote Originally Posted by jhduncan View Post
    Mando friends,

    I have never really listened to much mandolin music outside of the bluegrass box. Within the last month I have been working on David Grisman tunes for the first time ever.

    Same goes for Jethro Burns. (braces for mando berating)

    Help me fix this! Where would be a good jumping off point for listening to his style of mandolin picking and does he have any good books of instructional stuff?

    Thanks!

    John
    The two Acoustic Disc offerings with Don S. backing on guitar would be a fantastic start. As mentioned in the liner notes Jethro recorded these knowing his days were numbered and wanted to get down his "vocabulary" on record. They are really enjoyable yo listen to and it's just Jethro and a guitar. Then for free you can listen to the Coleman MP3's for examples of his solo chord melody style.

    If you get really hooked then seek it all out!

  21. #16

    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    The recordings are really good, but seeing Jethro live on 2 occasions are highlites in my memory. First time w/ Homer in Fort Wayne, Indiana around 1957. Second time in a small music store in Michigan. Guitar player that evening may have been Don Stiernburg.

    Lee

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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    Hard to beat "Back to Back" the rhythm section includes guitar legend Eldon Shamblin, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. These cats swing hard with Tiny Moore & Jethro trading mandolin solos. David Grisman even plays on a three mandolin version of "Moonlight Waltz". Acoustic Disc has a 2 CD version with all the out takes, which are just as good as the ones originally used on the album, but varying solos. You can probably download it from Grisman's Acoustic Oasis too. Highly recommended!!!

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    Spencer Sorenson Spencer's Avatar
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    Default Re: I've Never Listened to Jethro; Recommend his stuff!

    So many good suggestions, I haven't seen the Wade Ray album mentioned. It is an LP of oldtime fiddle tunes by country fiddler Wade Ray, with Jethro doing mandolin solos. The break he did on Back Up and Push, is almost legendary. Mike Stangeland tabbed it out in Tabledit on the Mandozine site, not for beginners!! I don't know where one finds the LP today, I happened to pick up by chance many years ago, but if it can be found it is really good.

    One of the highlights of my musical "career" was playing on a show with Jethro and the New Homer (Ken Eidson) back in the 70's in Champaign Illinois. Our band played a set, they did, and then we closed the show together. It was incredible being on the stage with one of my childhood heros. Jethro was so relaxed, and comfortable to be around that I didn't have any of my normal performance nerves. A class act as musician and person, a true giant. We all miss him.

    Spencer

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