No doubt the dude's a fantastic guitarist, but why does seemingly every jazz guitarist in the world use the same exact tone?

ZoSo_the_Crowe: No doubt the dude's a fantastic guitarist, but why does seemingly every jazz guitarist in the world use the same exact tone?

They may not use a lot of effects we're used to hearing today. Just guitar pickups, amp and plectrum.

i just spent hours last weekend watching almost every benson clip on youtube. every guitarist should do the same. if you want to be completely humbled, check out the clips from his instructional vid. its unbelievable.

ZoSo_the_Crowe: No doubt the dude's a fantastic guitarist, but why does seemingly every jazz guitarist in the world use the same exact tone?

alot of them do but alot of them dont. some examples of different(but not necessarily good)jazz tones are: pat metheny, pat martino, allan holdsworth, mike stern, john scofield, john mclaughlin, adam rogers, scott henderson, etc.

surely you mean Paul Desmond's "Take Five"...

bostonmacguy: surely you mean Paul Desmond's "Take Five"...

Sad that no one caught that sooner.

Benson is incredible, but I wish he hadn't had such a long period of Muzac-jazz in the 70s and 80s.

ZoSo_the_Crowe: No doubt the dude's a fantastic guitarist, but why does seemingly every jazz guitarist in the world use the same exact tone?

alot of them do but alot of them dont. some examples of different(but not necessarily good)jazz tones are: pat metheny, pat martino, allan holdsworth, mike stern, john scofield, john mclaughlin, adam rogers, scott henderson, etc.

This.
Looks like maha beat me to it :(.

Wish they greenlighted my astrud gilberto submission. I just love vocal jazz.

Nice stuff, a little bland for me but still nice and I like Benson.

And Astrud Gilberto is pretty good, too, but she gets slammed by plenty of critics.

We all like music someone else thinks is crappy...

And Astrud Gilberto is pretty good, too, but she gets slammed by plenty of critics.

For what? Being too hot?

And Astrud Gilberto is pretty good, too, but she gets slammed by plenty of critics.

Damnit! Passed up a good joke about me "slamming Astrud"

I'll have to agree with flaminglip.

/Meh overall.

Just guitar pickups, amp and plectrum.

There are variations in these three things that affect tone widely. But yeah, the typical classic "jazz guitar" sound doesn't include many crazy effects.

Slamguy: Just guitar pickups, amp and plectrum.

There are variations in these three things that affect tone widely. But yeah, the typical classic "jazz guitar" sound doesn't include many crazy effects.

Check out the album 'Live' by Bill Frisell - specifically, listen to the track 'Crumb / No Moe.' I can't believe no one has mentioned Frisell yet in the spectrum of 'jazz' guitarists that don't have the typical tone - also check out Kurt Rosenwinkel and Brad Shepik.

mitchcumpstein: Slamguy: Just guitar pickups, amp and plectrum.

There are variations in these three things that affect tone widely. But yeah, the typical classic "jazz guitar" sound doesn't include many crazy effects.

Check out the album 'Live' by Bill Frisell - specifically, listen to the track 'Crumb / No Moe.' I can't believe no one has mentioned Frisell yet in the spectrum of 'jazz' guitarists that don't have the typical tone - also check out Kurt Rosenwinkel and Brad Shepik.

Bill Frisell is my favorite. He gets such unique tones and his approach to music is so different from so many other "jazz" guitarists. He's in a league of his own as far as I'm concerned.

I saw a clip of him yesterday (but lost it!) just playing in E major, and he created a melody with just that one chord. Lots of space, and he picks each note he plays so carefully.

I've only heard Rosenwinkel's Heartcore but was impressed. Sad to say I haven't heard Brad Shepik yet.

bostonmacguy: surely you mean Paul Desmond's "Take Five"...

It's Brubeck's "Take Five" in the same way it's the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" not Jagger/Richards' "Satisfaction"

Slamguy

Dig! Glad you like Frisell - he's well beyond any category and because of that he mostly gets labeled as a jazz guitarist. I forgot to mention one more guy worth checking out - Ben Monder. His albums 'Dust' and 'Flux' are some of the most original guitar jazz out there. The guy is a genius. Here's a good clip of him:

Link (new window)

Hey! that's ted poor on drums, cuong vu's drummer. He's crazy. His drumming, especially on Expressions of a neurotic impulse shows off such a great drumming vocabulary.

The whole band is great, they have a very aggressive and exhilarating sound, a nice change from listening to guys who are permanently stuck in the 40s and 50s.

Slamguy

Jim Black - That's the drummer you need to listen too. Seriously, is there some kind of jazz dork forum I can sign up for where I here about these cats?

the forum on patmetheny.com You have to make a little account but there are a lot of very musically educated people there.

George Benson was a young jazz superstar. Had he been ten years earlier, he could have ruled the 1960s. He was busting out as a successor to Wes Montgomery just when the tides of jazz were heading towards fusion and ECM/Windham Hill mellow. During the CTI years (first half of the seventies), Benson cranked out great music... but made very little money.

Of course, he also had a fabulous voice. Once he signed with Warner Brothers, he and Al Jarreau were happy to cash those paychecks. And while being a integral part of the beginnings of Smooth Jazz paid a lot better than continuing being the Best Jazz Guitarist Alive, thirty years of smooth snoozefests have made him something of a footnote as a guitarist.

tabula_rasta: George Benson was a young jazz superstar. Had he been ten years earlier, he could have ruled the 1960s. He was busting out as a successor to Wes Montgomery just when the tides of jazz were heading towards fusion and ECM/Windham Hill mellow. During the CTI years (first half of the seventies), Benson cranked out great music... but made very little money.

Of course, he also had a fabulous voice. Once he signed with Warner Brothers, he and Al Jarreau were happy to cash those paychecks. And while being a integral part of the beginnings of Smooth Jazz paid a lot better than continuing being the Best Jazz Guitarist Alive, thirty years of smooth snoozefests have made him something of a footnote as a guitarist.

Gotta pay the bills.

tabula_rasta: Had he been ten years earlier, he could have ruled the 1960s.

he did rule the 60s, his first record was 1964 and he was already badass.

tabula_rasta: thirty years of smooth snoozefests have made him something of a footnote as a guitarist.

i dont know about this. every guitarist i know has always been amazed by him, regardless of how gay his music has been since the late 70s.

mitchcumpstein: Dig! Glad you like Frisell - he's well beyond any category and because of that he mostly gets labeled as a jazz guitarist. I forgot to mention one more guy worth checking out - Ben Monder. His albums 'Dust' and 'Flux' are some of the most original guitar jazz out there. The guy is a genius. Here's a good clip of him:

Link (new window)

that ruled

mahavishnunj: he did rule the 60s, his first record was 1964 and he was already badass.

He obviously had talent from the get-go and was indeed a badass guitarist. But with older studs like Wes and Grant Green (not to mention Barney Kessell and Joe Pass) in their prime, Benson wasn't at the top until maybe 1969 at the earliest. Beyond the Blue Horizon (1971) is a masterpiece, and after that, there was no argument.

My "footnote" comment was not as much directed to guitarists and jazz aficionados (though the guitarists I mentioned above all get short shrift after McLaughlin, Di Meola, Metheny, Scofield, Abercrombie, Frisell, Stern, Robben Ford, etc)... When those arbitrary "greatest guitarist" lists come out, Benson gets overlooked, in part because of his reputation as a vocalist. Some people are simply ignorant, and others see him (unfairly) as a sell-out.