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

february 2025

February 1

Happy Birthday, Gianfranco Continenza!  [1968] 

“I don’t know who that was…….  But it was beautiful. In fact I couldn’t concentrate on who it might be because of listening to it. It’s beautiful! I like all of it. I like the lines. I like the phrases. The guitar player has beautiful tone, he phrases good and everybody’s sort of, like, together. It’s really together. I’d give that four stars right away.” Wes Montgomery 

This quote is from a 1967 blindfold test from Downbeat Magazine with Leonard Feather. Wes was listening to Joe Pass play “Sometime Ago” from the Simplicity album on World Pacific. 

February 2

Happy Birthday, Blood Ulmer!  [1942]

The Woody Woodbury Show was a syndicated variety show from KTTV-TV in Los Angeles that aired from 1967 to 1968. Joe Pass was a regular member of the band on that program. He received about $400 for each week's worth of tapings which generally included accompanying the various musical guests on the show.  On a segment that aired on August 19, 1968 Wes Montgomery made a guest appearance, performing a couple of numbers before sitting down to speak to the host.  Woodbury asked Montgomery who his favorite players were and he didn't hesitate to say his favorite was Joe Pass. The tape of that program has been lost. Unfortunately this proved to be one of Montgomery’s final appearances on television as he passed away in June of that year.

February 3

“We went on tour in 1967. He [Thelonius Monk] was voted the number one pianist in the jazz world. The tour was Thelonious and Sarah Vaughan, Barney Kessel, Jim Hall. I was part of the guitar trio – Barney Kessel, Jim Hall, and myself – and I got beat up every night. Those guys turned me every way but loose, and Barney Kessel just took it to the moon. He was so slick with his stuff. I admire him a lot. I always did. But being on tour with him was an awesome thing…..It was a George Wein jazz tour of Europe.“  George Benson

February 4

Happy Birthday, Maurice J. Summerfield!!     [1940] 

Style in music is a collection of characteristic elements and various means of expression that evolve over time. These elements give a genre like jazz it's identity through melody, harmony, rhythm and form. Certain timbres and instrumental configurations have come to be associated with the jazz style. This is largely a matter of convention but nothing is written in stone. Jazz has been hybridized and melded with other genres. Eclecticism has resulted in various sub-genres.

February 5

Happy Birthday, Steve Cardenas! [1959]

Archtop guitars were developed and popularized by Lloyd Loar and Orville Gibson. The instruments they came up with had a distinctive timbre and dynamic profile that caught on with the guitar buying public. Several high profile guitarists began using these instruments; with the great Eddie Lang being most prominent among them. As to why the archtop was invented; the sound quality that the design produced was something new and different from what you heard from a classical or steel string flat top. It was also a novel design that was brought into the marketplace in hopes of turning a profit; which it certainly did. Guitarists obviously continued to use classical guitars and other flat tops as they do to this day but the sound of the arch top caught the public's imagination and became quite popular; as it still is. 

February 6

Happy Birthday,  John Pisano!  [1931]

Melody is thematic. Scales, modes, tonal centers, chord tones, arpeggios and guide tones are technical and theoretical things. It's good that you know something about them, but if you want to improvise in a melodic way you need to adopt a different approach.

February 7

Happy Birthday,  Ray Crawford!   [1924]

Happy Birthday, Barry Zweig!   [1942]

I like the sports analogies up to a point. I used to play a lot of tennis so I saw many parallels between my musical life and my tennis life. In both cases though I emphasize commitment over "talent". In music another important factor is the willingness to stick with it. I noticed that most of my high school classmates who were promising musicians gave it up before I got out of college. Many college music students found themselves in other endeavors by the time I was thirty or so. I've even known a few mature musicians who have moved on to other things too. It happens. For my part I still enjoy practicing, learning new material, performing, teaching etc. Fortunately music is the sort of thing you can continue to develop over your entire lifespan. Tennis careers on the other hand flash by like they were on fast forward.  

February 8

Happy Birthday, Gene Lees!  [1928]

Most of the bossa nova chords I used and that I heard most other North American jazz guitar players use sounded pretty good to me. Then a couple of years ago I got some Jobim recordings where you can hear his guitar really well. He uses a lot of open strings, first inversion voicings, etc.  Listening to the way he plays really opened up my perspective. This is not to say that the voicings most jazz players use are somehow inadequate but there is a purity in the simplicity of an original, authentic player like Jobim. Certain things are bound to get lost in the translation; and there's nothin' like the real deal. Jobim also appears on one of the currently available Sinatra dvds. This is worth having a look at if you want to see the actual fingerings he likes to use. This is probably on you tube by now as well.  

February 9

“I don't know whether it was his (Charlie Christian's) melodic lines, his sound or his approach, but I hadn't heard anything like that before. He sounded so good and it sounded so easy, so I bought me a guitar and an amplifier and said now I can't do nothing but play!”  Wes Montgomery

February 10

Happy Birthday, Frank Potenza!  [1950]

I really don't think a lot of top performers in jazz are thinking about various theoretical twists and turns while they are actually improvising. That kind of thing takes time and improvisation is an  "in the moment" kind of thing. There's no time to be processing all the permutations and to still be fresh and spontaneous.  Of course it's still a good idea to have a theoretical basis for analyzing music. I would even say it's essential, but truly inspired improvisation comes from someplace else. Jazz players are more likely to refer to the first time they learned a Charlie Parker solo or the first tunes they learned than when the first mastered the "D dorian to G diminished-whole tone to C ionian" concept. This is because an overly theoretical approach can result in improvisation that is formulaic, stiff and predictable; not to mention the fact that theory does not address the element of time.I continue to emphasize listening, transcription and repertoire in my teaching. 

February 11

Happy Birthday, Russ Freeman!    [1960]

Joe Pass was a great hero of mine from way back.The simplicity of his approach is not well understood these days, I fear. I agree that his sense of melody is, to this day, unsurpassed; if you'll pardon the pun. He had an ironclad sense of form, too. I don't quibble with the harmonic simplification he preached. In practice this stuff works like a charm. He went straight to the root of things with his chords.

February 12

“Miles called me. He said, “You coming to the studio?” I said, “They don’t need to be coming to me. I don’t want to take your money like that.” He said, “Don’t worry about that. Come on down. We’re going to make a record today.” But he said it in his voice. “Come on down. We’re going to make a record. Don’t worry about it.” I went down. Finally – they started playing – rehearsing the craziest song I ever heard in my life. It was a Wayne Shorter tune. I remember him complaining to Wayne about the song. He said, “Wayne, what kind of song is this?” He said, “I think you be writing these tunes just to hang me up, just to see if I could play them.” I felt the same way. Then Tony [Williams] started telling me how to play. “George, play these chords right here,” and Miles said, “Tony, shut up.” He said, “He’s the guitar player. You’re the drummer. Play your drums. And furthermore, take your drums and set them up over there against the wall. You’re playing too loud.” I said, man, this cat is Miles Davis. They didn’t lie. A different kind of cat. But there’s something about him you just love.”   George Benson

February 13

Happy Birthday, Brad Shepik!!  [1966]

I was in a rehearsal band a couple of years ago where I sat next to the bassist. He always brought cross sums to the rehearsal. As the director was rehearsing a horn soli or something he would work on his little puzzles. Nobody seemed to mind much, or even notice. These days one of the first things the director says is, "Turn off your phones!". Personally I like to stay engaged during a rehearsal. If the focus is elsewhere I can look over my part or even practice it with the volume down. At the very least it's a good idea to keep listening and paying attention. When I preside over a rehearsal this is what I insist on. Rehearsal is neither practicing nor playing. It's the preparation of a specific program. It's a time to blend all the parts and to point out where the cues, dynamics, accents, and other colorations ought to be. It's a time to really focus on the character of the ensemble sound and it's expression. 

February 14

Along with the obvious My Funny Valentine, I Love You and I’ve Got a Crush on You should go over well tonight.

February 15

"YOU CAN'T THINK AND PLAY. IF YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE PLAYING THE PLAYING BECOMES STILTED. YOU HAVE TO JUST FOCUS ON THE MUSIC I FEEL, CONCENTRATE ON THE MUSIC, FOCUS ON WHAT YOU'RE PLAYING AND LET THE PLAYING COME OUT. ONCE YOU START THINKING ABOUT DOING THIS OR DOING THAT, IT'S NOT GOOD. WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS LIKE A LANGUAGE. YOU HAVE A WHOLE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL IDEAS AND THOUGHTS THAT YOU'VE ACCUMULATED THROUGH YOUR MUSICAL HISTORY PLUS ALL THE MUSICAL HISTORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD AND IT'S ALL IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS AND YOU DRAW UPON IT WHEN YOU PLAY"

-- Joe Pass

February 16

“I met Stan Getz at a party and he mentioned that he wanted to get off the road. So I got him an appointment at NBC. And at the time, there was one big show that had a big orchestra. The conductor, and actually contractor at NBC, Roy Shields, asked me if I could write a little arrangement and form a little combo within this big orchestra and do a spot once a week….. So we recorded ‘Moonlight in Vermont’.....Now, about that time, I hadn’t had any time off since 1946, so I headed out to Florida for a few weeks. When I came back to New York, people started saying, “Hey, your record is playing.” And I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” Well, ‘Moonlight in Vermont’ started happening because disc jockeys were using it for background music while they talked.”   Johnny Smith

February 17

“I first recorded with Billie Holiday when I was part of pianist Bobby Tucker’s quartet in 1948. I also  recorded with Billie in 1949, with Buster Harding’s Orchestra, which included Lester Young. I first met her in 1948 when I was playing at Café Society in Greenwich Village with George Duvivier on bass and Bill Clark on drums. Billie came in wearing a big mink coat, and as we were talking a little head pushed out of her coat pocket and looked up at me. It was her Chihuahua. She took that dog everywhere.

The biggest kick I had with Billie was playing behind her for about 10 days in April 1948 during Holiday on Broadway. This was a small, little-known revue at the Mansfield Theater in New York. Billie would sing about a dozen songs and then showcase a bunch of groups, including the Bobby Tucker Quintet, which featured Bobby on piano, me on guitar, Tony Scott on clarinet, John Levy on bass and Denzil Best on drums. The show had a short run—about 10 days, I think—because the theater reviewers came in and couldn’t figure out what we were doing.

Playing with Billie was like playing behind God. She had such innate talent and knew how to control it. There’s an art to that. For most artists at her level, that gift dates back to earlier days, when they had a terrible time and learned how to communicate with their audiences through their voice or horn.”   Mundell Lowe

February 18

Happy Birthday, Jeanfrançois Prins!!! (1967) 

I set up a youth band a few years ago. It was fun. We ended up playing various festivals and established a scholarship fund too.  I didn't do the band this year because of too few students; actually too many students playing on too low a level. My student bands have all been of differing configurations. Consequently I did the arrangements myself. Stock arrangements were not applicable to our various oddball instrumentations. I included the students in the arranging process and this was very beneficial to them. Some are conservatory students now; whilst I am proudly in possession of huge piles of worthless horn parts, etc. 

February 19

“My first break to get into the business came when I was 17. A guitar player in Nashville, Hank Garland, who was a famous country musician but had become quite a talented jazz player, wanted to make a jazz record. He was particularly looking for a vibraphone player to be on the record, and there were none in Nashville, it being a country music town. Someone recommended me; I lived a few hours’ drive from Nashville when I was growing up in southern Indiana, right along the Kentucky border….I went down to Nashville and met Mr. Garland…. He suggested that I move to Nashville for the summer and we would play at a local club on weekends and we would make this record. And that’s exactly what I did, and not only was that my first record, but I got my own record contract offered to me as well. Chet Atkins, who ran the RCA division in Nashville, became a fan and would come and hear us play on weekends. So at the end of the summer, I had a record contract when I went off to college. That really gave me a very early start to my career.”    Gary Burton

February 20

Happy Birthday, Oscar Aleman!  [1909]

Let's not be too quick to look down our noses at a musician who is performing in an informal setting. It has been my good fortune to have heard various great [grammy winning] players at different restaurants, cafes, receptions, etc. I've played a reception or two myself with people whose names I'm sure you know. And even though they would not appreciate me naming them here; let me just say that it happens all the time. It's a performing art. Musicians play someplace every day, man. 365/7. The "day job" of a player is music.  This is the terrain in which we find ourselves deployed.

February 21

All musicians remember the person who sat them down as a child and said, “This is the treble clef. And this is a whole note.” Those early moments of childhood enlightenment are fond memories indeed. In addition to the actual music, children are learning to sit still, stay focused and pay attention. They are learning to cooperate with the instructor and to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when they learn to perform something correctly.  A year or two later they are sitting in a rehearsal hall learning more music; but also learning about teamwork, collaboration, relationship building and a range of social skills that will serve them well in life. Music  is most assuredly a team sport and people who succeed in music tend to “play well with others” so to speak. And while there are certainly exceptions, as a rule musicians understand that interpersonal harmony is something that serves the music. So that spirit of symbiosis is something of a shared trait that you will generally find among musicians; not only because it has been instilled in them and nurtured from the very beginning but because it actually works and makes the music sound better.  

February 22

 At times it can actually be important to have  a tip jar of some kind, too. I was playing this little cafe gig recently with a bass player friend of mine. He's a good player and everything but he likes to read everything; and I do mean everything. Anyhow, in the middle of a tune this guy walks by with a twenty on his way out the door. Since he doesn't see a tip jar he puts the bill on the bass player's music stand and says "thanks..."  etc. The twenty landed sideways and is now covering most of the last four bars [coda figure] of the chart so I started getting a little silly in anticipation of how the bassist would manage to move the bill so he could read the coda. Since it was a fairly bright tempo he didn't have time to do this and fluffed his way through to the end. I got a good laugh out of that one. 

February 23

“The best music you make is relevant to the culture you are in, the time frame you are in. I want to keep it as relevant as possible.” 

Julian Lage

February 24

"Charlie Christian showed me a lot, and was a great help, but even then, I realized that if I was going to make it, it was no use copying Charlie....."

Barney Kessel

February 25

Happy Birthday, Rene Thomas!        [1927]

Happy Birthday, Mel Bay!!  [1913]

I've had experience in group instruction. My improv students have been mostly teenagers. They play all the instruments, not just guitar. Improvisation is easy and even a beginner can have some fun blowing over an easy tune like So What or Sugar, Cantaloupe Island, etc. The instructor just needs to select material that is in keeping with the student's level of development. My instructional philosophy is that improv means blowing. This means improv class is mostly playing and a bare minimum of talking. Everybody gets a chorus or two on every tune for an hour or hour and a half. While the music is going on what generally happens is that the more clueless students are seeking advice from their clued-in peers and the instructor; but this is fine, it's part of the learning process. The listening that occurs in class is very beneficial too and it's even good for their ensemble skills. Students are encouraged to take up technical/theoretical questions during private lessons. There is a ton of worthwhile teaching material on this subject. The Aebersold stuff has always been popular because it's concise and focused. It's a good way for kids to begin to get a handle on chords and scale relationships. 

February 26

Happy Birthday, Henri Crolla!!! (1920) 

Music requires a certain presentation to be properly appreciated. When music is played in subways, shopping malls, office building lobbies, etc., people are surprised because these are not performance spaces. I've played in all of these settings and the really funny thing is the many quizzical reactions you tend to get from shoppers, commuters and office workers. They really don't know what to make of the situation and they certainly can't take the time to react much one way or another.

February 27

Happy Birthday, Chuck Wayne!  [1923]

Two of the most important ensemble skills are the ability to listen and blend. This applies to coloration and more to the point: dynamic balance. The best players are all good listeners. They do their level best to get a good blend with the rest of the band and not drown anybody out or over balance anything.That's not to say that certain of our "colleagues" seem to be oblivious to the dynamic mix issue even though this would tend to exclude them from the "best players" category. I think we all have a little list in the back of our minds of people we don't want to play with again. One easy way to make the list is playing an amplified instrument too loud.  

February 28

Happy Birthday, Pierre Dorge!     [1946]

Happy Birthday, Marty Grosz!     [1930]

 I'm in my 70’s now so I didn't just start teaching guitar lessons last week. In fact I was teaching other kids beatles tunes when I was 12 or so; 13 maybe. Anyway, as I'm fond of saying, I've had students that have gone on to earn advanced degrees and have careers in music; and I've had students who never came back for the second lesson. Go figure. I have also had a handful of students who somehow came to believe that I was not the "right" teacher. That would make me the wrong guy, I guess. Be that as it may, none of these particular aspiring six stringers ever went forward with their musical endeavors, as far as I know. These days I almost feel like you've got to be born into it, or at least be born into a family where music is seen as something of value. Unfortunately and for the most part music continues to be regarded as an extracurricular activity. This attitude is as widespread as it is firmly believed. 

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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