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

may 2024

May 1

“In 1969, Bucky came up to my studio to try out his new 7-string guitar. We did some experimental recordings with it and we knew, right away, that we had a good sound. He had a marvelous facility for playing that instrument. I think the credit should be given to him for the development of the accompanist style on the 7-string guitar. (Van Eps is the supreme master of solo style playing on the 7-string.) Bucky and I worked a heavy schedule together for three years. We made two albums. One, on the A&R label [Guitars Pure And Honest], was our own record, and we were part of a package of guitarists for a Town Hall concert on Columbia Records [The Guitar Album, KG 31045]. Bucky and I knew from the beginning that he wouldn't be satisfied to be my accompanist for the rest of his life. He is too good a musician for that. We split up when he went to do concerts in Europe with Benny Goodman. But we had a marvelous three years together.”  George Barnes 1975

May 2

Happy Birthday, James Chirillo! [1953]

“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

May 3

Happy Birthday, Tony DeCaprio!          [1950]

“I recall studying with the orchestra leader of the LA Philharmonic. He was teaching sight reading to many of the studio players. Honing my skills was vital because I was working with some of the most well-known celebrities in the world.  I worked with Ann-Margret for about six years.  Everything about that gig was first class. The six years included working with Ann- Margret outside of the Hilton Orchestra in other hotels. At the Hilton there were additional celebrities I worked with like The Four Tops, Manhattan Transfer, The 5th Dimension, Pearl Bailey, Shirley Bassey, Eddie Fisher, Connie Stevens, Erroll Garner, Liberace, Donna Summer, and Natalie Cole. Because of The Four Tops at the Hilton, I got to work with Diana Ross.”   Tony DeCaprio 

May 4

“The Shape of Things to Come. They had a picture of me half-naked on there. Creed Taylor was telling me, this is what’s going to be happening next. The Shape of Things to Come. We did some very commercial-sounding things, but they did allow me to rip a few things. But the world wasn’t ready for that yet, not from my point of view.  Creed was – he was in charge. There were a lot of things that went on that I didn’t particularly – I wasn’t particularly fond of, but I was so happy to be in an environment where people knew what they were doing – I’m talking about, who had the same goal that I had, finding an audience. There were a few things on there I really liked. “    George Benson

May 5

Happy Birthday, Cal Collins! [1933]

“I used to spend a lot of time with my grandparents. I had my own radio up in my room and at that time, you could turn on the radio to just about any station in the world and you could get Nat King Cole, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington. Everything you turned on was good music. And with the influence of bluegrass and listening to the Hot Club of France, it just kind of grew and grew and grew. The very first time I heard Art Tatum and Fats Waller play piano, I thought, "If I could play like anybody, that's who I’d like to play like."   Cal Collins

May 6

Happy Birthday, Denny Wright!      [1924]

There is no denying that jazz is something that serious scholars have become interested in. This trend began in the post war era and has continued to develop since then. College level music programs for jazz are everywhere today. Downbeat publishes an annual list which is international in its extent. Today's players are better than they were when I got my BA in music in 1975, too. Anything that helps bring jazz to a wider audience at a higher level is a good thing.

May 7

Happy Birthday, Reg Schwager!    [1962]

Working on intervals, key signatures, chord tones,  notation, theory, etc. is relatively abstract and can turn quickly into drudgery. So in private instruction and especially with self taught adult beginner students, it's a good idea to stick with some repertoire. This imparts a feeling of accomplishment and makes progress easy to perceive. It's fun too. The theory stuff can easily be addressed as it comes up in specific musical passages.

May 8

Happy Birthday, Jack Bland! [1899]

Sight reading only occurs when you are seeing something for the first time. The benefits of learning and memorizing various passages are cumulative. As you continue to become more familiar with different rhythm figures, key signatures, ledger lines, etc. you will be well on your way to becoming a better and more literate musician.

May 9

Happy Birthday, George Golla!  [1935]

Happy Birthday, Anthony Wilson! [1968]

“Now, when I meet teenage students, kids who are in high school or just starting college, because of the technology, the availability of music… what people have been able to access and hear in the jazz world is so much wider than what was available to me in 1983 or ’84 when I first started to be really interested in jazz, and really want to learn how to play it and dedicate a great deal of myself to knowing what it was. Gosh, you’d really have to be digging in order to find a lot of the things that very young people today already know about. When I was in middle school and high school I was one of maybe three or four people that I knew that had any interest in the music. That really, truly has changed. If you go to clubs in New York, or Los Angeles, all around you will see young people in the audiences.”     Anthony Wilson

May 10

Happy Birthday, Al Hendrickson!  [1920]

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Ponder! [1946]

Happy Birthday, Lorne Lofsky! [1954]

“Don't play like you're getting paid by the note. I think it's good to play rather sparingly, with a strong melodic sense. Also, it's very important to me to create dynamic contrast between the melodic line and comping. [make the comping quieter than the solo line] This creates the impression that someone else is playing the accompaniment. It's challenging, but well worth the effort.”   Lorne Lofsky

May 11

Happy Birthday, Dick Garcia!  [1931]

Why do so many people emphasize the chord/scale approach to learning jazz? The instructors do it because this approach is easy to teach, And the students embrace this because their teachers tell them too. But learning jazz actually has more to do with the development of repertoire, developing listening skills and learning solos from recordings. These are things students need to do for themselves. Immersing yourself in the jazz style is  primarily a matter of independent study.

May 12

Happy Birthday, Barbara Dane!! [1927]

 I've made it a personal point to never sub out or cancel on the basis of the money. The bigger paying jobs are all booked well in advance and besides it's usually a matter of a very paltry sum. I would like to think that my reputation is worth a little more than that. In the long run it doesn't add up to much either way.  

May 13

Happy Birthday, Jim Douglas! [1942]

“I was always a little gun-shy about playing solo guitar, but in the last 10 years, I’ve gotten much more comfortable. I love seeing Martin Taylor walk onstage all by himself. The last time I saw him, we spent a little time together, and he must have planted a seed in me as I’ve been doing more and more of it. I’m not to the point where I can totally ad-lib. I kind of have a little bit of a plan, know where I’m going, but I do a lot of improvising, too.  I call myself a work in progress!”    Joe Negri

May 14

Happy Birthday, Bruce Foreman!!  [1956]

“I was always basically just going for a sound. I always played the note I heard. My technique developed out of that. I do know that I have a lot of control of my right hand for dynamic control. And I think that's a very integral part of being able to swing. You know, shaping a phrase dynamically. I think that's one of the most overlooked aspects on the guitar, and why a lot of guitar players have so much difficulty swinging. The shape of the phrase dynamically is equally important to the placement of the notes rhythmically. It's just like a phrase or a sentence you would speak. Certain words have emphasis. Other words are basically passing tones. If you don't have that sort of control of your picking, then you're not going to really shape a phrase which means it's not going to swing as hard. It's not just putting the notes in the right place - it's putting them in the right place in the right way.”  

Bruce Foreman

May 15

Happy Birthday, Oscar Castro-Neves!    [1940]

“ Learn and memorize the standard tunes. That is first and foremost. Secondly, get out and play as much as you can. There is no substitute for getting out and playing live. Thirdly, don’t just have technique, know the history of jazz. Know how what you’re playing fits into the greater context of the development of jazz.”   Jerry Hahn

May 16

Next year or the year after that a wonderful new jazz player will emerge. He'll be a great virtuoso but he knows that virtuosity alone will not win him an audience. The thing that will cause all of us to give him a listen is that he will be doing something different with his improvisational/compositional concept that will be fresh, new and his alone. It will be informed by the jazz tradition but will also be highly individualistic.  Innovation is a big part

of the dynamic that propels the jazz style forward and this guy will have it in spades. We'll all be compelled to listen to an irresistible new creative force. 

May 17

Happy Birthday, Tony Quarrington!!     [1948]

Happy Birthday, Marc Fosset (1949)

Listening to music is all about the development of the ability to perceive, comprehend and process aural stimulation. Since jazz emphasizes improvisation it tends to place a very high value on this; more or less like composers do. We all have musical concepts in our heads. We do our best to get these to come out of an instrument. So the idea of "playing what you hear" becomes a matter of putting a concept into practice. This is the process of connecting an idea with the motor skills necessary to execute it.

May 18

Happy Birthday,  Dick McPartland!  [1905]

Musicians are not the sort of people who buy into the instant gratification mindset. Music is the art of the practitioner. People who are drawn to music are passionate about the day in and day out routine of regular practicing. The work ethic that music requires is something players take pride in. The proper mentality was summed up by Yehudi Menuhin when he said, "To play great music, you must keep your eyes on a distant star.”

May 19

“When I was growing up there was Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. If you didn’t like either of them, then you just didn’t like guitar. And fortunately I liked them both.”  Tommy Tedesco

May 20

Happy Birthday, Sheryl Bailey!!  [1966]

Happy Birthday, Adrian Ingram!!   [1950]

The final performances of Jos Pass were in January and February of 1994. His manager Mark Magnelli had booked a six week tour with the “Guitar Summit” group which featured Pepe Romero, Paco Pena and Leo Kotke. One of Joe’s brothers was a physician living in Ohio. During a visit in 1992 he was examined by his brother and found to have a tumor on his liver. Pass continued to perform on a limited basis in 1993 as he underwent treatment but it was a losing battle. He left the “Guitar Summit” tour and returned home to his wife. He played a final club date in Los Angeles with John Pisano  a few weeks before he passed  in May of 1994.  

May 21

Happy Birthday,  Avi Rothbard!!!

Happy Birthday, Marc Ribot!!  [1954]

“Making a record is always a process of discovery. Things change and they change up till the last minute. Things that we toured with on the road that were the big rave-up numbers on the road sometimes sound like shit when you record them, or even just when you get into the studio. So yeah, nothing ever turns out–or at least in my case–nothing ever turns out like you plan it. I know that for a lot of composers, like when I work with John Zorn, I feel like when he goes into the studio he wants to realize his composition, whereas for me, a lot of composition occurs within the studio.”   Marc Ribot

May 22

Happy Birthday, Elek Bacsik!           [1926]

Happy Birthday,  Art Ryerson!!   [1913]

The ongoing development of the jazz style is one of gradual refinement. Part of what makes new music compelling and irresistible is the incremental introduction of something a little more sophisticated in the context of the familiar tradition of the music's history. This places new demands on the listener and invites them to think about what they are hearing. The riches that unfold during new listening experiences are, to me at least, compelling and irresistible. I'll continue to seek out new music on that basis. It satisfies the lust for new sounds.

May 23

Happy Birthday,  Fred Guy !   [1899]

Happy Birthday,  Les Spann! [1932]

Happy Birthday, Charlie Hunter!   [1967]

“There are definitely some little motifs and mechanisms in there that are kind of pre-conceived, but I’ve got to have space to improvise. A lot of the improvisation I try to do is not necessarily linear improvisation; it may not feel like it’s improvisation to people, because I’m not doing really fast lines or anything, it’s just I’m kind of improvising vertically, so to speak.  I’m really improvising the feel and the counterpoint, the dance between the two or three different parts, the way that feels, kind of improvising with that, I guess compositionally improvising.”  Charlie Hunter

May 24

Happy Birthday, Ben Monder  [1962]

“When I decided to take lessons at age 14, the guitar instructor at the local music school was a jazz guitarist, so I kind of fell into it accidentally. But I also found it an interesting challenge. By the way, that teacher was the great guitarist John Stowell, and we remain friends to this day. Joe Pass Virtuoso I was the first jazz record I owned, but records by Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel, and Pat Martino were early inspirations as well. Then a couple of years later when I heard A Love Supreme for the first time, my head kind of exploded.”    Ben Monder

May 25

Happy Birthday, Creole George Guesnon (1907)

“I never took a guitar lesson in my life, not really. I noticed that people who do things well do them with a minimum of effort.  So I copied Pat Martino's way of doing things. He’s a master of the instrument, his technique is astounding, you can count on him doing everything in the most logical way. I copied some of his fingerings, due to transcription.”   Emily Remler 1988

May 26

Happy Birthday, Carl LeBlanc!    [1955]

Happy Birthday, Miles Davis!!   [1926]

There was a time when jazz was dance music and or entertainment. Rock became popular about the same time television broadcasting came along. By then jazz was already into a post bop style. Its avant garde phase was well underway by the mid 1960's too. Jazz was becoming less of an entertainment and more like an increasingly sophisticated art form. Some lament this development but what's done is done. My personal view is that jazz became more compelling, richer and more satisfying.

May 27

Happy Birthday,  Diz Disley!         [1939]

Happy Birthday, Kenny Poole!!! (2006)

“My first guitar was a little student flattop guitar that I bought off of a friend for $5.00. I hooked up with his teacher, and six months later the teacher told me that in his forty years of teaching, I was the best student he ever had. I took to it like a bug takes to the air. I spent an awful lot of time playing guitar. I would probably put in 4-6 hours a day. I never had any rigid schedule. Some days I'd play 8 or 10 hours and other days I would only play a couple hours. I stayed with my teacher for 18 months and I decided to leave because I was coming to him each week with stuff that was more sophisticated than he was playing.”                        Kenny Poole

May 28

Happy Birthday, Dave Barbour!  [1912]

Aspiring jazz musicians seem to enjoy asking questions about scales and modes. Which ones should I study? Which ones are most important? These are misguided questions. Here is a better question: If Wes Montgomery used the notes of the major scale in his solos, how come my major scale solos don’t sound as good as he did? Or, to put this into the linguistic context: How is it that some people are able to express themselves so much more clearly and eloquently than I do when we are both using the same letters of the same alphabet in the very same language? 

The answer is simple. Verbal self expression is no more about the alphabet than jazz improvisation is about the scales. Jazz improvisation is about melody. 

So, if you can play a major scale, great. What you need to do next is put your instrument down and go listen to some Wes Montgomery records. Listen again and again until you can sing the melodies and the solos by heart. Then go get your instrument and get as much as you can under your fingers and or down on paper. Don’t do this because you want to imitate Wes Montgomery. You will never play Wes better than he did. Do it to discover something about his melodic concepts, his phrasing and articulation, and his way of developing a solo from one chorus to the next. 

May 29

Happy Birthday, Thornel Schwartz! [1927]

Happy Birthday,  Remo Palmieri!! [1923]

I have adjudicated several high school jazz festivals and other such events. The level of these bands is very strong. A lot of schools now have jazz band programs starting at the middle school level so when these children move into high school they are no longer beginners. When they get to the conservatory level many are already accomplished players.

The trend is our friend. Jazz has found great support in the academic sphere. This brings great music to a wider audience. It creates employment opportunities for players to mentor the younger generation. Almost everyone in jazz does at least some teaching.

May 30

Happy Birthday, Randy Napoleon!!! (1978) 

A lot of people find that they do not learn things as quickly as they once did when they get older. Musicians, who are constantly in a position of having to learn new material, know this to be the case. The acquisition of new motor skills requires repetition and the acquisition of new musical concepts requires listening.

May 31

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Shirley!  [1913]

“I always listen to classical music, it’s my favorite kind of music to listen to. When I was 16, I only listened to guitar music. There are a couple records that I wore out. One is by Hank Garland, “Jazz Winds by A New Direction”, then after that was Johnny Smith, “Moonlight in Vermont”, and from there it was Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Pat Martino, of course. I met Pat when I was 16. I’m 66. I’ve known him for 50 years [laughter]. So when I lived in Philly, when we were both doing a lot of traveling, when we were off, we always get together and hang out at his house or at a restaurant. And we would talk about music, of course, guitar,art, painting, sculpture, everything, and mostly about life. Pat is not only a top-shelf musician and guitarist, but he’s a philosopher. His observations on life are just fascinating. He’s fascinated with numbers, 12, 3 and 4, triangles, squares. He applies these visual images to the guitar and to music.He doesn’t know anything about theory. He made his own theory–great stuff.”                Jimmy Bruno

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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