sounds

Please visit the joe finn YouTube channel to hear tracks from these albums, various live clips, solo guitar and more:

 INTERVIEWS

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Empire Radio Sounds Jazz Artist of the Month Joe Finn

This interview was conducted in April 2022:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbdNjfwziU

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Joe was interviewed for the “Six count podcast” with xara wilde in 2019

https://sixcount.simplecast.com/episodes/joe-finn-post-bop-jazz-guitarist?fbclid=IwAR1qkh8YRvj10s_NRA-hh6nZZXcLg9ZnOD_PDZklsYUPxSiHkZXcHWYvBrk

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By Monica Waring

Old Chatham local and nationally recognized jazz guitarist, Joe Finn, released his sixth album in March of this year. The album, appropriately titled Generational Dynamics, is particularly special to the veteren instrumentalist with the addition of his son Tom on alto saxophone, the +1 of the Joe Finn Trio.

Both Joe and his son Tom grew up in Old Chatham surrounded by jazz music in their home. Joe was first introduced to music through his father’s jazz records collected during his days as a radio announcer and host of his own show “Spin With Finn” during the big band era in Connecticut. Joe’s father was not only a music enthusiast, but an amateur composer and piano player who saw to Joe’s musical education at the age of five with piano lessons. Joe didn’t stick with piano long however. The moment he picked up the guitar, he knew it was his instrument and hasn’t put it down since.

Forging a career in music

After receiving a BA in Music from Plattsburgh State followed by a decade on the road playing gigs across the U.S. and Canada, Joe returned to Old Chatham. He wanted to focus on local performances, recording and private guitar lessons taught from his private home studio. It was these guitar lessons that eventually peaked an interest in his young son, who wanted the same one on one attention he saw guitar students receive from his father. “I remember sitting him on my lap with the guitar when he was really little. He would try to press the strings down but he didn’t like it because it hurt his fingers. His Mom had played the alto saxophone in high school and she still had the horn in the closet. She got it out of its case, played a few notes on it, and then gave him the horn and he started playing. He really enjoyed it right from the beginning. We played together a lot, I mean seven days a week for years until he went off to school when he was 18.” Tom, now 30, plays the alto saxophone professionally and is employed as an instructor at The Bronx Charter School for the Arts in New York City and at The Litchfield Jazz Festival Music Camp in the summer, where his father once taught. Tom has grown as an artist and an equal in this recent album, according to Joe.

Father and son collaborate

“There is a musical maturation in Tom’s playing. I have included him on various gigs of mine since he was 13 or so, and we had of course played at home for years before that. Now that he is 30, he is really coming into his own as a performer and stylist. It’s gratifying to finally have a recording where we are together as collaborators. The give and take dynamic of father and son working together is something that happens only occasionally in jazz. So the CD title “Generational Dynamics” emphasizes this and when you listen it’s clear that Tom is a full partner in this endeavour.”

In addition to his son, Joe is also proud of the album as it’s the realization of a long time dream. Influenced by the music of guitarists George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino, who had all recorded extensively with organists in a classic jazz configuration, Joe had hoped to do the same. For years he had no luck in finding a talented organist to play with regularly until he met Jon LeRoy, who finally helped fulfill the goal of producing a recording ensemble of guitar, drums and organ [+1]

Local influences

Looking back, Joe credits the Chatham High School Music Department for helping to make jazz music relevant and accessible to generations of local students through their program. Joe remembers touring with the Chatham High School Jazz Band , an experience that opened his eyes to a whole new world of performing , as it did for his son. 

“When I was in High School in the 1960s and 1970s Chatham had a jazz band . Tom’s experience a generation later was very much the same as mine. His band director’s name was Mark Giordano, who was a great mentor for Tom. He did amazing work with those kids. He took them to play at High School jazz festivals and he took them to perform at Lincoln Center, which was a real treat; especially for some of the students who had never been away from Chatham before.”

Old Chatham DNA

For Finn, his roots in Old Chatham have become part of his musical DNA and a family legacy. “Jazz for me is what I grew up listening to. It’s who I am. It’s my identity. Music is cultural expression. I played in all kinds of bands and I played every imaginable gig you could think of but I grew up in Old Chatham, New York, so in the end you just have to be who you are. Be true to yourself. That’s my own cultural experience growing up with jazz, and I guess I can thank my Dad for that because that’s what he introduced me to.”

Finn continues to perform and record locally and still teaches guitar from his home in Old Chatham. He is also the author of The Jazz Guitar Almanac, a blog style feature on his website that includes tips and advice for guitarists and other useful information for musicians of all skill levels.

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The following interview was given to Jazz Guitar Life in 2004

JGL: How old are you?

JF: I was born on January 29, 1953 in Hartford, Connecticut.

JGL: At what age did you first get into guitar playing and were you interested in jazz from the beginning or were there other musical interests before jazz? What was the motivating experience to get you involved in this particular music and instrument?

JF: I was exposed to music in infancy since my Father was an amateur pianist. He was also a radio announcer. He had a big collection of recordings that he had appropriated once the radio station was through with them. He was either playing the piano or playing records pretty much all the time. I remember hearing a lot of Nat Cole, Lionel Hampton, Stan Kenton, various big bands and lots of Frank Sinatra. He also listened to a lot of classical music. At the piano he would play a little Beethoven, various jazz standards like Green Dolphin Street and his own compositions. So I got to play the piano as a kid. They tell me I would spend hours sitting there plunking out little melodies and chords. I then got interested in guitar because my cousin had one. This was before I was ten. I don’t think he played it much and he let me borrow it. I hung on to it for an entire summer before getting one of my own.

JGL: What kind, if any, formal training do you have (ie: lessons, schooling, that sort of thing). And how did these experiences help you get where you are today?

JF: I have a bachelor’s degree in music from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. It helped me a lot to take those four years and focus heavily on music. The curriculum included ear training, composition, arranging, music history, theory, and the like. I also got my first opportunities there to work with and meet real professional players. Paul Winter, Chuck Mangione, Roy Burns, and Kirk Nurock, Billy Cobham, and John McLaughlin were some of the ones I remember. Aside from being inspiring musically, guys like this gave us the idea that a life in music was not just a dream. They were actually living that life. I had some great instructors too. Jim Miller, Jerry Lavene, Billy Hawkins and David Hoffman were people who really encouraged and inspired me.

JGL: What was your first guitar?

JF: The one I borrowed from my cousin was a Kay archtop.

JGL: Who were your influences on jazz guitar when you were beginning? And have they stayed the same or have they changed over the years? Who are you listening to today (guitarists or non-guitarists)?

JF: The first recording of a guitar I would have heard was Oscar Moore with the Nat Cole Trio. He was a very fine player that I learned to appreciate more and more later on. A lot of that music has been reissued and revisited by people like Natalie Cole and John Pizzarelli so it’s still pretty popular. I enjoy that style tremendously since I grew up with it. Later on I got interested in George Benson, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino. I copied each of their styles closely. I would transcribe their solos and practice them until I could play them note for note. Those four will always be really special for me. Listening wise I go for a variety of different things. I love free improvisation the way Cecil Taylor and Bruce Eisenbeil do it. I listen to a lot of big band music. Maria Schneider is one of my current favorites. I always liked Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Toshiko, Carla Bley, Kenton and Buddy Rich too. I’ve listened to lots of Ellington, Basie and Wynton Marsalis also. I leave the radio tuned to the local classical station so I get to hear a little so called “serious” music every day. I even like to listen to opera. Among guitarists I like to listen to Fred Fried, Jim Hall, Paul Bollenback, Russell Malone, Mark Whitfield and Jimmy Bruno. I love what Pat Martino is up to these days. He’s the greatest.

JGL: Did you know early on that music was something you wanted to do as a career choice and if so, what were some of the things you did to make this choice work for you?

JF: Back when I was too young to have any idea what a career might actually be, I had a feeling that music would be something I would always be involved with. It was just intuition, I guess. I was always hanging around with the other players and when you are around these various musical situations you just get involved more and more. As time went on my interest in music continued to grow and various opportunities would just naturally come up. Before you know it you’ve got something people are calling a career.

JGL: When you were younger what was your band experiences like? Did you have friends who were involved in music as well or did you have to search for people to play with.

JF: I had friends in high school who liked to get together and play various easier tunes like Footprints, Maiden Voyage or Freddie Freeloader or whatever. We learned from listening to records and from each other. There didn’t seem to be as many instructors around back then so we were sort of on our own for a while. I also played electric bass in the high school jazz band. This I loved because we got to play concerts out of town. That was really fun for me. I think that was my first time away from home too.

JGL: What was your practice routine like when you were beginning and what is it like now? Are there specific areas that you work on or do you just play through tunes?

JF: As a kid I spent a lot of time playing along with records. I did this every day for years. It helped my ear and my time a lot. It’s still a good way to learn tunes. I continue to enjoy playing along with the recordings of other guitar players. Jimmy Bruno is a good one because he has so much imagination and facility.

JGL: How difficult do you find it making a living as a jazz guitar player? Or have you found it to be relatively easy?

JF: I think it’s a lot like being self employed in any other line of work. I’m basically a free lance independent contractor. I have to create my own opportunities and sort of make things happen. You’d have to do this in any business, though. It certainly has it’s ups and downs, that’s for sure. You don’t make the same amount of money every month. That can sometimes be a problem. I don’t seem to have any trouble staying busy. I just keep a lot of lines in the water, so to speak. The calendar seems to fill itself up.

JGL: How do you go about searching for gigs? And what have you found in your experience that makes looking for gigs easier?

JF: I keep the traveling to a minimum. Almost all my gigs are near enough so that I don’t have to stay overnight anywhere very often. I have lots of local contacts among musicians, the union, and various venues in the area. This helps a lot. It’s kind of a word of mouth thing where your contacts and your reputation are the things that get you booked. Having recordings and an internet presence helps a lot too.

JGL: What type of musical situation do you enjoy the most (ie: trio, quartet, duo, solo, etc.)

JF: I’ve learned to become comfortable in each of several musical configurations. There are aspects of playing in trio, quartet, duo, and solo settings that differ one from the other. I’ve played a lot more solo gigs in the last year or so for some reason and I really enjoy the freedom I have when I’m all by myself. I can do things as a soloist that are a lot of fun for me that I’d never get away with in a group. My regular quartet is a great little group too. Those guys are such strong players that it makes my job easy.

JGL: Do you like performing more as a sideman or as a leader? And if you could comment on the pros and cons of both.

JF: I’ve been working more and more as a leader. I like it a lot because I get to choose the material that best suits me and I like interacting with the audience. I always say a few words to the crowd to put them at ease and let them get to know me a little. This usually makes people more relaxed and receptive. Basically I just want them to enjoy the music.

JGL: How many CD’s have you released as a leader?

JF: There are now four releases. “Straight Ahead” from 1992, “Guitar Signatures and Duets” from 2001, “Blue Tomorrow” from 2002 and “Destiny Blue” from 2003.

JGL: What was the motivation to release your own CD’s? And what was your experience as such getting that first CD out (from the initial idea to the final product)? Do you have any plans for future projects and if so, will there be more original compositions on it or do you prefer playing standards?

JF: In some ways I record simply as a way of expressing myself musically. I’m looking to create a certain statement of where I’m at musically at a given time. I love being involved in the recording process. It takes time but the results are worth it. The last CD “Destiny Blue” was a continuation of the quartet concept that we began on “Blue Tomorrow”. I had a collection of standards and originals that we had been performing as a quartet and we just felt the need to lay them down in the studio. There’s a certain sense in which you want to document what the band is doing in the relatively controlled setting of the studio. Putting the tracks together into a coherent album of music is a very satisfying process. I haven’t decided if the next cd will be with the quartet or not yet. I feel a little like I’ve done what I can do with the quartet concept for the time being. I may record some duets with piano just to see where that takes me.

I’m in no rush to record right now. I can wait until the time is right.

JGL: Any advice for the younger guy or gal who is thinking about playing jazz guitar?

JF: I have a half dozen private students right now. I give them advice all the time. Some of them actually listen, too! I think the big thing for a lot of them is to learn as much of the repertoire as they can. A lot of them are good readers and many can improvise pretty well. One of the things that tends to hold them back is not knowing enough tunes. I usually ask a student to learn a tune every week. If they do this for two or three years they’ll have a pretty good list of material.

JGL: On your site, there is a wonderful resource called the Jazz Guitar Almanac…could you describe how that came about and do you put all the work in it yourself? It truly is a great resource. I visit it often and I really enjoy it. I always come away from it having learned something new. So kudos to you!

JF: About five years ago I began to notice that there were a lot of guitar players who had put websites up. Rick Stone and Jimmy Bruno were into this pretty early. I wanted to put up some instructional material and the usual audio clips and biographical information, but I felt like I wanted some other kind of content too. I wanted something that other sites didn’t have that would make my site a little bit different. I began to think about all the great guitar players over the last century who were becoming increasingly obscure. The idea of establishing a list of birthdays was what I came up with as a way of keeping the names of these players in circulation. I combined this with a list of tips for guitar players. It took me about a year to get the tips and the birthdays together but I’m glad I’ve done that. I always get lots of positive feedback regarding The Jazz Guitar Almanac.

JGL: I read somewhere that you appeared on BET’s Jazz Discovery Showcase in 1998 and won the award in their jazz instrumental category. How did that come about and what, if any, was the outcome of winning such an award?

JF: There was a local television show in Albany, New York at the time that had invited the quartet to play. It turned out that the audio and the video quality we got was excellent and one of the guys in the band asked why didn’t we submit a copy to Jazz Discovery Showcase? We had performed “Lucky Southern” and “The Days of Wine and Roses” on the tape which turned out to be good choices because they were very accessible and swinging. The funny thing about having won the award was that they put my private phone number on the screen after they had played the clip. This resulted in me getting all kinds of phone calls from all kinds of people I didn’t know in the middle of the night when the show aired. That was different. The phone calls were mostly good natured and amusing. All in all it was a great experience.

JGL: You play quite a few gigs as a solo guitarist and your CD “Guitar Signatures and Duets” is a solo guitar venture where you you pay tribute to jazz guitarists like George Benson, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, and others who have influenced your playing and/or listening habits in way or another. How did this CD come to be?. Could you explain why you have chosen this form of guitar playing and do you find it limiting at all or is there a greater sense of freedom not being bound by another instrument? How do you approach this method of playing?

JF: Well, as it turns out, there is a small group of my fellow guitarists to whom I owe a huge debt. These are the guys that taught me, through their recordings, not just how to play guitar but how to approach the art in a broader sense. What I decided to do was to record several solo guitar selections with each one being in the style of one of these players. I did this out of admiration and respect for these guys. Each of these players had a specific way of making a solo statement on the guitar that is very distinctive. To me it’s just as individualistic as a signature. That’s where the CD’s title came from. Playing unaccompanied solos in this way is very liberating but very demanding too. There is a lot of responsibility and a lot of freedom at the same time. Trying to keep all of this focused within the bounds of the “guitar signatures” theme made it a very challenging project for me. On some of the selections I did dozens of takes and was still not pleased with the results. After what seemed like weeks I finally got enough of what I was listening for to bring the project to fruition. It was really hard work, much more difficult than a combo recording.

JGL: How important is the audience to you? And how do you handle nights when the club is practically empty or when you are playing your heart out and everyone seems to be blabbing away and not listening to what you’re playing?

JF: The audience is everything. Without them I’m out of business. Everybody plays to a half empty house now and then. There will also be nights, in clubs mostly, when the crowd is inattentive or too busy socializing with one another to bother listening. It doesn’t bother me anymore though. I see every time I perform as an opportunity to make something beautiful happen. It doesn’t matter how humble or how spectacular the situation might be. It’s nice to have the audience with you of course, but if they aren’t that’s ok. Even on the worst nights there is still somebody out there listening closely.

JGL: I’ve read that you endorse guitars made by the Montreal luthier Michael Greenfield. How did all of this come about? Were you approached by these guitar makers or did you seek them out?

JF: I’m very pleased to be associated with Michael Greenfield. He makes some of the greatest guitars I’ve ever played. I’ve played all the best guitars on the market and Greenfield guitars are unsurpassed. I met Michael at a guitar show where I was performing last year. After playing his guitars and talking to him for a while we decided to get together on some promotional things. He had me up to Montreal to record some music for his demo cd and we’ll also be doing the Classic American Guitar Show on Long Island in May 2004. At this point in my life I can play any guitar I want. So I sat down with Greenfield and came up with some ideas for a custom archtop. He is building it to my specifications. I’m sure it will be spectacular; all select wood, with a carved top custom voiced by Michael. It should be ready pretty soon. This level of craftsmanship takes time. You can’t rush it.

JGL: You live in Upper New York State. Could you describe the scene their for jazz musicians and jazz guitar players in general? And have you ever thought about moving to a larger metroploitan milieu like New York or Boston or elsewhere? Is it a quality of life issue for you?

JF: There’s more than enough going on in upstate New York to keep me busy. There are a few other guitarists in the area too like Chuck D’Aloia, Jack Fragomeni, Joe Gitto and Sam Farkas. They are all solid players and nice friendly guys too. Good players will always stay busy. I play a lot in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont also. I haven’t played in New York or Boston lately but I really enjoyed my last trip to Montreal. I’d like to do some gigs there again soon.

JGL: Have you ever had second thoughts about your choice to have music as a career and if so, what other career path do you think you would have followed had you not been a guitar player.

JF: I don’t have second thoughts really. Not really. One of the things that continues to be important to me is to play well. What I mean is that I want my playing to be on a really high level. That’s not always easy even when music is a full time pursuit. It’s a constant challenge. I really don’t know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t a guitar player. I kiddingly say that I’m a guitar player because I’m not smart enough to do anything else. Actually, I’m really only half kidding.

JGL: Thank you Joe for participating in jazzguitarlife.com. It is most appreciated.

The Jazz guitar almanac

january 2025

January 1

Happy Birthday, Slim Gaillard!  [1916]

“I worked three years at Birdland in New York, and all the bebop players were there—they were right up on it. But it didn’t bother me at all; I just got things together and kept swinging—keeping the voutie going! Charlie Christian and I used to jam together up at Minton’s Playhouse, at 117th Street, on Seventh Avenue in New York. That was great fun—he set a pace with his style. “   Slim Gaillard

Happy Birthday Sonny Greenwich!  [1936]

January 2

Happy Birthday, Judd Proctor!  [1923]

"When I was a kid I would practice an average of six hours a day. And I continued that when I went on the road. Charles Earland came through Pittsburgh. It was 1963. He came to The Hurricane with the Charles Earland trio. And the guitar player was asleep on the job and I had gotten a copy of his latest 45 entitled "Daily Dozen" and I learned the guitar solo backwards and forwards. And Bertie Dunlap, who was at the time the owner of The Hurricane, she allowed me to play and I sat in and I played that song to death for Charles Earland. And I told him "My mother is not gonna let me go out of town until I get my diploma. So 2 years later, he came back. He said "Are you ready to go?" and I said "Yes, indeed". And I never looked back .........." Jimmy Ponder

January 3

Happy Birthday, Eddie Lang! [1904]

Eddie Lang [aka “the father of jazz guitar”] and Bing Crosby performed together as members of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and appeared in the motion picture “King of Jazz” in 1930. The duo subsequently appeared on radio broadcasts and in various live performances. Lang then became a regular member of Bing Crosby’s orchestra in 1932. Lang was encouraged by Crosby to have a routine tonsillectomy for the occasional laryngitis and sore throat that he complained of. Lang had the procedure  at Park West Hospital in Manhattan but never awoke from the  general anesthesia. He died at the age of thirty in 1933.

January 4

Happy Birthday, John McLaughlin  [1942]

“What can you say? These purists, they’re the bane of music. They think they know what music is and all they do is have certain fixations about what they like, and they want everybody to like what they like. They have problems accepting new concepts and innovation. It happened with Coltrane, even from A Love Supreme. Within a year he started to make albums like Interstellar Space, bringing Pharaoh Sanders in there, just screaming saxophones like screaming guitars, but wonderful. Well, I like it, but the critics were saying, “What is he doing? He’s got such an ugly sound!” They don’t know how to deal with it. When you start to break the mould of whatever they have a particular affection for, they get very nervous and anxious: “This is not the real thing, it’s wrong.”  But it’s everywhere. Who worries about that? There’s no point. As Oscar Wilde said, “They love you, they hate you, as long as they don’t ignore you.” “   John McLaughlin

January 5

“We've also heard the phrase "... plays with good time," or "... has good time." What does this actually mean? For a rhythm section player it can mean that the person is able to self-sufficiently establish and maintain the meter. In addition, it means, and all this of course applies to every musician, that everything played within the meter is rhythmically even. Now we approach the definition of rhythm. Is it the feel one plays with? No, someone playing with a good feel does not necessarily mean someone playing with good rhythm and vice versa. Rhythm is the arrangement of note and rest values within the meter. Returning home one night from a job with drummer Eliot Zigmund, he put it simply: "I know by the first four bars of the gig whether anybody's listening to and playing with where I'm putting it." Rhythm is defined by where you put it. Everybody in the band should feel rhythmic figures the same way, place them in the same spot, and of course in order to do that must also be feeling precisely the same tempo.”  James Chirillo

January 6 

Happy Birthday, Yotam Silbertein!!  [198?]

Happy Birthday, Jane Miller !!!

“I think the very first guitar I had in my hands was my father’s. I was so young that it’s in fact my mother who told me the story. Because I started playing before I could actually remember it. She told me I used to take my father’s guitar, sitting on the floor apparently I’d only take the neck over my lap and start playing around like that.” Biréli Lagrène

January 7

Happy Birthday, John Tropea!!! (1946)

“ I got lucky and went into the Stan Kenton Orchestra. That was between 1950 and 1955. I learned a lot in that band. It was like going to a music school. Then in 1960 I started my own big band, which I had for five years. We travelled, sometimes we didn’t work, sometimes we did, and it was a great experience. In 1965 the jazz business seemed to slow down a lot. There was some jazz work at that time. I was lucky enough to be in Sonny Stitt’s Quartet, I had my own group with Bill Evans. “  Sal Salvador

January 8

“I’ve never been one to spend much time looking back because I’ve never been headed in that direction.  I love all the memories, and I’ve got a million great ones, but you can’t live in the past if you want a future.”  --Les Paul 

January 9

Happy Birthday, Bucky Pizzarelli! [1926] 

“It was Duke’s birthday and they were celebrating his birthday in every night club all over New York. George [Barnes] and I were playing at the Playboy Club and Duke walks in. I think this was around 1970-71. And the next moment, were sitting in Duke’s apartment and he’s sitting on a big couch and we’re playing right in front of him, with nothing but a little coffee table between us! We played everything we knew – our repertoire included a lot of Ellington. We were there about an hour and half and just before we left, he said, “I want to sing with you guys.” And he sang the blues; he sang about 24 choruses and made up the lyrics as we were playing! It was incredible!”    Bucky Pizzarelli

January 10

Happy Birthday, Mike Stern!  [1953]  

“I love music, there’s just so many ways to go with music. There are so many different things to get into and study. I check out a lot of horn players, a lot of saxophone players and trumpet players, and Miles who I played with, I check his stuff out. I write it out, I transcribe stuff like that. Piano players, like McCoy Tyner and Herbie, I try to get some of those ideas on the guitar,”  Mike Stern

January 11

“Be fully committed; learn the fundamentals and respect the tradition so you have a good foundation to go anywhere you’d like to go. Go out and hear and meet the musicians you are listening to on recordings and if possible arrange a lesson.”  Steve Herberman

January 12

“Certainly, if you can’t sing, and I don’t sing well [coughs], you can still hear. The idea is that you can’t really play a song unless you know the entire song, which includes the melody. I think that educationally, in the 1970s and early 80s, I feel that what was being taught in schools was a lot of harmonic knowledge. Here’s the chord that you’re playing and the scale that you play over it, and that’s how you make it work. But, in actuality, if you take that approach every time, all of your music is going to sound exactly the same. And you really don’t want that. If you know the melody, you know what the tune is about, and if you know the lyric –  especially if it’s a standard, you’re obliged to know the lyric – you know at least what the song is about. And if there’s a backstory on the song, that’s even better, because it informs how you would play it and what the song means to you when you play it. If you have a choice in what you play, and if you’re a leader you do, then you make your choice based on how you relate to the tune, and if it says something to you then you can actually create something with the audience in terms of the ambience of the tune. If you don’t know the melody and you don’t know the lyric, then there’s no way you can play the tune. So being able to sing it helps to solidify it in your mind.”  

Paul Bollenback

January 13

Happy Birthday, Joe Pass!  [1929]

“You've got to remember that I grew up playing the guitar. I started when I was nine, and by the time I was nine and a half or ten, I was doing seven or eight hours' practice every day. I did two hours' practice at six o'clock in the morning before I went to school, and another two hours as soon as I got home from school in the afternoon. Then I did four hours at night before I went to bed.I did that until I was fourteen or fifteen.”  Joe Pass

January 14

“I was fortunate to meet him (Johnny Smith) when I did a festival in Denver near where he lives. I called him, and me and my friend, Tom Venia went to see him. I was so knocked out with his charm and graciousness. His persona was as beautiful as his playing. Lots of time great players are not as nice as their music. Johnny is the total package. It seems anyone who has met him says the same thing.”      Jack Wilkins

January 15

“I made a guitar for Johnny Smith in 1977. It was my ninth guitar, a Cremona model, serial number 0977……. Over the next few years we communicated once in a while about the appointments of the guitar and what Johnny felt would work better, including neck specs, bracing, etc. In 1988 I made Johnny a second guitar. It was also a Cermona model, but a much more refined instrument than the 0977. At this point in time I felt confident that I was making a pretty good guitar, but realized years later how much more I had to learn. Johnny’s input had a profound influence on my guitar making career. “     Bob Benedetto

January 16

“Despite all of his acclaim, Paul Desmond still gets overlooked in terms of his contribution to jazz. He was  such a melodic player. Paul could play a line over a standard that was so much better than the song’s original melody line.  We rehearsed at my place in Greenwich Village.  Paul had such a fantastic melodic sense. Listen to his last phrase on Time After Time on First Place Again [1959]. The melodies Paul would come up with on songs were surprising and pleasing. We were entertaining each other. A lot of what we did happened to be in the moment and fed off of what the other was doing. We were very comfortable with each other.”  Jim Hall

January 17

Happy Birthday, Ted Dunbar!  [1937]

“Every morning I make it a point to play for at least 35 or 40 minutes. I do it just to keep the muscles toned up, so when you get on the bandstand at night, things don’t feel strange. I do a lot of meandering around, so that my ears can catch up with my hands. And, at the end, my hands feel ready to play.  The basic thing with music has always been the same. It depends on your own development and what you’re dealing with. It’s like anything else. I started off with country music. And, as I learned more about music, I got into popular music and jazz, which led me to the point where I am now…..The minute I switched from the 4-string tenor guitar, which my older sister gave me when I was 8, to a 6-string guitar when I was 10 or 11. I noticed that — every time I picked it up — I’d learn something else on my own. ... Living on a farm when you’re a kid, I discovered there were no teachers around, so you had to kind of create things yourself.”   Mundell Lowe 2016, age 93

January 18

Happy Birthday, Bobby Broom! [1961]

.. I would urge a young player to listen to Charlie Christians' sense of time ... I'll never forget listening to my father (Bucky Pizzarelli) and Tal Farlow playing Christians' 'Solo Flight' backstage at a gig... that's when it hit me how big of an effect Christian had on jazz guitar. 'Solo Flight' was like the gospel…   John Pizzarelli

January 19   

Happy Birthday, Sam Brown! [1939]

Sam Brown was an active guitarist on the New York scene in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He performed and recorded with Paul Desmond, Keith Jarrett, Louis Armstrong, Paul Motian, Gene Harris, Hubert Laws, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Gary Burton, Duke Pearson, Carla Bley, Paul Winter, James Moody, Mike Mainieri, Ron Carter, Jeremy Steig, Davis Amram, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Blue Mitchell, Bill Evans/George Russell Orchestra, Astrud Gilberto and Charlie Hayden. He had studied at Julliard and also kept busy with Broadway shows and commercial gigs with the likes of Vic Damone, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, Harry Belefonte, Miriam Makeba, Barry Manilow, James Brown and The Jackson 5. 

Sam died December 27, 1977 in New York City. 

January 20

“When I was 17 or 18 I started listening to my Dad’s record collection and going out to hear music: George Benson, Larry Coryell, Joe Pass; when they would come to New Haven I would go see them….. Then I went to see Dizzy Gillespie and he had this great guitarist, Rodney Jones….. I got the gig with Dizzy through Rodney Jones. He decided to leave the group and recommended me. “    Ed Cherry

January 21

Happy Birthday, Jesse Van Ruller!   [1972]

“I've never used any books while studying. Also didn't transcribe much myself, actually just one solo: Pat Martino's solo on Just Friends on El Hombre. I've been obsessed with that solo for some time when I went to school. I never felt a lack of ideas or material so I didn't feel the need to transcribe. I did copy a lot from other players, but not note for note.

I don't remember having a routine. I haven't been very structured in practising. I used a cassette player to record many choruses of comping and played over it. I remember practicing Coltrane changes for many many hours. Also some technical exercises and jamming with other guitarists.”   Jesse Van Ruller

January 22

“Charlie Christian’s contribution to the electric guitar was as big as Thomas Edison’s contributions and Benjamin Franklin’s contributions in terms of changing the direction of the world. He changed the guitar world. He changed it not so much as being a superb guitar player, but rather the music that he made. And anyone that would study him can see where all the other guitar players who came after him evolved, that they came from his fountainhead. He was as much a way-shower as any philosophical giant that other people have come along and patterned themselves after. He was years ahead of most of the people he was playing with in terms of the lines he was playing. They involved certain chord   changes that were not existent then. If you listen to any of the blues that he played, you will hear in the line that he has spelled out harmonic changes that none of the others on the record are playing, not even the background. And yet they’re refreshing and they fit, but he’s playing more chord changes in his lines, and also interesting ones, different ones than existed at the time.”  Barney Kessel

January 23

Happy Birthday, Django Reinhardt ! [1910]

“Django made me very angry. Django would not be there--we could not find him anywhere. He drank every day. He came [to performances] with no guitar. I gave Django my money. I hated him many times. Ooh ... but when he played, I loved Django! Everyone loved Django. In the wartime ... even the Nazis loved Django!”

Stephane Grappelli

Luftwaffe Oberleutnant Dietrich Schulz-Koehn loved jazz and loved Django. He is seen here with Django during the war in front of La Cigale, a Parisian nightclub. Schulz-Koehn helped to protect Django from the Holocaust and is said to have assisted in keeping him booked and busy as a musician at the time. Django was very fortunate to have survived the Holocaust, an estimated 600,000 of his fellow Gypsies did not. 

Schulz-Köhn founded the first German jazz club Swing Club in Königsberg in 1934. From 1935 Schulz-Köhn was employed by the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft . He also produced recordings for Brunswick Records and worked at Telefunken as a jazz editor. He also joined the SA in 1933 and the NSDAP in 1938. He held a Phd in economics from the University of Königsberg. At the time the photo was taken he was only passing through Paris, he was stationed on the French coast, first in northern France, then on the Mediterranean and finally in Normandy. I have yet to find anything about his particular responsibilities as an officer in the Luftwaffe. When France was liberated by the allies, Schulz-Köhn was captured and remained a prisoner of war until his release in 1947. He then became a founder of the German Jazz Federation and various jazz clubs and worked as a manager and producer at Decca Records. Schulz-Köhn became best known as a jazz radio announcer known as “Dr. Jazz”. He co-founded the “International Society for Jazz Research ” in Graz and authored several books on the subject. He lectured on the history of jazz at the Cologne University of Music and at the Berlin University of the Arts.  Schulz-Köhn died in Germany in 1999 at the age of 87. 

Happy Birthday Fapy Lafertin! [1950]

January 24

"The guitar is a means of expressing music. When you get into the emotional side of it, then it's not the guitar that matters so much as the music itself. But the guitar is the vehicle I use. It's how I express myself. As for the emotional side, music takes up where language leaves off. To try and verbalize what music says, emotionally and spiritually, is futile. Let me put it this way, Louis Armstrong once said if you've got to ask, you'll never know."   Charlie Byrd

January 25

Happy Birthday,  Jimmy Wyble ! [1922]

Happy Birthday, Antonio Carlos Jobim ! [1927]

“Yes, that was long ago . I still have some memories. There is a beautiful, beautiful girl. And she used to pass by, you know, go to the beach, you know? Ipanema, Ipanema was a beautiful place. And the sand was so clean, you know, fine. The sea was so blue, green, you know, with the fish and the beautiful girls. And it was very, very nice, you know? And she - she's still a beautiful woman, you know?”   Antonio Carlos Jobim

January 26 

Happy Birthday, Bob Bain!    (1924)

Bob Bain began his career in the swing era with bands lead by Tommy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, and Harry James. His superb reading abilities made him one  of the top players in the recording  industry during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to an extensive career performing on live radio broadcasts, Bain recorded music for motion pictures and television as well as major artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole,  Mel Torme, Henry Mancini, Peggy Lee, and Rosemary Clooney. Bain also held down the guitar chair in Doc Sevrensen’s  Tonight Show Orchestra for 22 years and toured with jazz musicians including Gene Ammons,  Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Pete Candoli and Shelly Manne.  

January 27

“I’ve been playing professionally since I was 16 years old. That’s 50 years. I must have traveled around the world five times playing the guitar. And I was lucky enough, at a really young age, 21, to move to Las Vegas. And it was maybe 500 guitar players there with five jobs, steady jobs. And one time, I had three of them. And then I got the job at the Hilton for Jimmy Mulidore. He was a fantastic jazz musician who’s still playing really good. And it’s funny. These guys are a funny thing. If you wanted to get noticed in Las Vegas, you had to play– you had to be a good jazz player. And I mean, of course, to work, you didn’t have to play jazz… hardly ever did. His commercial stuff with different acts and stuff. But the one thing was, though, you can’t make mistakes. You’re out on your ass., see you later! “   Jimmy Bruno

January 28

Happy Birthday, Henry Johnson! [1954]

Happy Birthday Fareed Haque!! [1963]

“My objective is to bring together music that dances, music that is serious, music that is classical, and music that is folklorical. Those four elements represent polarities in the music world that don’t need to exist. The distinctions are like Descartian dualism in that people made an arbitrary decision to keep these things separate long ago and for no good reason things stayed that way.“  Fareed Haque

January 29

Happy Birthday,  Derek Bailey!  [1932]

Happy Birthday, Sacha Distel !   [1933]

Happy Birthday, Franco Cerri!   [1926]

"I believe that I have a responsibility to transcend politics, focusing instead on finding ways to touch people’s hearts through music. I never want to forget all the great players who mentored me in the art of demonstrating restraint regarding hot-button issues; these men and women advised me to exercise discretion, and to behave with exemplary humanity. I need to follow that advice. " Larry Coryell.

January 30

“I copied all of Johnny Smith’s solos [at ten years of age] and I experienced a drastic confrontation because of that. My father used to take me around to different nightclubs almost like a protege and when the time came for me to take a solo, I would take a Johnny Smith solo. The only problem with that is that the ensemble that I was sitting in with didn’t play it in the same key. That forced me to be a little more realistic and I had to get involved. First of all, I had to learn to transpose and a number of other things. I think it was an essential series of metamorphoses that took place because of it. But when you come down to the source and reason for Johnny Smith coming into my life, that was mainly my father.”  Pat Martino

January 31

“He wasn’t the most imposing figure in the world. But, by gosh, when he sat down to play the guitar he was something. He was way ahead of his time and a joy to listen to.” Benny Goodman

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The Jazz Guitar Almanac is published in monthly installments on the first of each month.

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Press

Here is a review of the Joe Finn Quintet from 2021:

https://www.nippertown.com/2021/09/03/joe-finn-quintet-jazz-on-jay-9-2-21/

“Finn has a special way of taking on this music. Like modern guitar pioneer Wes Montgomery, Finn brings out the up-to-date elements of music without ever losing contact with the listener. The music stays lyrical and melodic, intelligent and pensive, never becoming discordant or unpleasing to the ear. If we awarded stars, this album would get five.” 

Dave Nathan  AllAboutJazz.com

 “Finn's technical prowess on the guitar is impressive while managing to be understated and not obviously imitative of any in the jazz pantheon.”   

David Hewitt JazzReview.com

“Finn's playing reveals a smooth tone and immaculate technique, reminiscent of such players as Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis.”

Dave Nathan AllMusic.com

“Taste, musicality, chops, maturity, and swing. These are words to live by when one steps into the ring as a jazz musician, and it's obvious from the first listen that Joe Finn and his quartet live by these words...and more.”

Lyle Robinson   JazzGuitarLife.com

“Finn proves to be a formidable player who rarely stumbles. His mostly single note licks fly by with ease, with an occasional octave twist a la Wes Montgomery.” 

Jay Collins  Cadence Magazine

“There's a fluidity to Finn's playing that always makes me smile whenever I hear him. The notes just flow out like water over a gorge.” 

J. Hunter AlbanyJazz.com

“Finn plays a straightforward, uncomplicated, but highly melodic and deftly harmonic instrument. He adopts that clean sound that seems to be the preference of his peers. This style also lets the listener get a grasp around each note Finn plays rather than trying to sort them out among a cacophony of over-ripe chordal structures.” 

Dave Nathan    AllMusic.com

“A top jazz guitarist based in upstate New York, Joe Finn has a mellow tone (a little reminiscent of Jimmy Raney), creates harmonically adventurous improvisations, and swings at every tempo.

            The COVID pandemic made it very hard for jazz musicians, but for As Luck Would Have It, the guitarist’s seventh release as a leader. Joe Finn took advantage of the fact that the top players living in his geographical area were available. His sidemen, vibraphonist Mike Benedict, pianist-keyboardist Wayne Hawkins, bassist Mike Lawrence, and drummer Pete Sweeney, have not only had extensive experience playing with major musicians but have also led bands of their own. On ten of the guitarist’s originals, they form an attractive group sound and their performances are full of subtle and inventive interplay.

            The opener, “The Good Word,” is a relaxed minor-toned medium-tempo piece that introduces the quintet and (as is true on all of the other selections) features inventive and concise guitar, vibes, and piano solos. “As Though I Had Wings” is an attractive jazz waltz which hints at “Inchworm” in spots. The uptempo “As Luck Would Have It” (with Lawrence particularly prominent in the ensembles and Sweeney taking a fine solo) is followed by “Elan,” a slow ballad that one could imagine pianist John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet playing.

            “Come What May” a happy piece utilizing the chord changes of Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation,” is followed by the harmonically complex but still cooking “Purity Of Essence,” the atmospheric and moody “Dedalus,” and the swinging “Asymetrical Reflections.” The CD concludes with one of the strongest original melodies of the program (“Born Yesterday”) and the joyful “Blue Ullon.”

            Each of the ten performances on As Luck Would Have It (www.joefinn.net) is enjoyable with Joe Finn displaying an original style that, while connected to the jazz tradition, does not sound like any of his predecessors. The musicians all were clearly inspired by each other’s presence and quite happy to be playing together. The result is a high-quality set of music that is easily recommended to anyone who enjoys modern straight ahead jazz.”

Scott Yanow The Los Angeles Jazz Scene