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

september 2026

September 1

“Charlie Christian was the single-greatest influence on the signature 20th century instrument, the electric guitar, even though he died at age 25 and did all his recording in under two years. He made most of his records in Benny Goodman's sextet, where he competed for space with other good soloists. In that band, he took beautifully crafted 30-second improvisations, serving up fresh variations on every take of a tune. The best Charlie Christian on record comes from jam sessions in Harlem in 1941. There, he and other young modernists, like Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Clarke, laid the groundwork for the new music that Christian started calling bebop. His amped-up rhythms and offbeat accents fit right in. Sitting in Uptown is where Christian really got to stretch out. “ Kevin Whitehead


September 2

Happy Birthday, Laurindo Almeida!  [1917]

Happy Birthday, Steve Masakowski!   [1954]

The last thing anybody wants is to be playing a solo that sounds like you are running scale patterns. The trap some players fall into is that they put too much emphasis on practicing scales over too long a time. Now, all musicians need to know their scales but you don't make a career out of playing them. Developing repertoire is far more important. Nobody buys a ticket to hear anyone play scales.

September 3

Happy Birthday , Peter Bernstein! [1967]

Even though the opportunities for independent study are great indeed, learning jazz is not a do it yourself process. Everybody needs an instructor. Somehow certain people have come to believe that they can get information from a social media page that will be significant in terms of their musical development. I have never been convinced that this is all that helpful due in part to the large numbers of responses and the conflicting nature of the advice; some of which is inaccurate and unhelpful. Nothing can ever replace the one on one work the student does with his instructor.

September 4

Happy Birthday, Bireli Lagrene! [1966]

“My Father said;‘Then you must listen to Django.’ So I got his records and I spent a long time learning everything that he did note for note. I copied it all down to the last detail, including vibrato, bends etc. So I could play all of Django’s solos from memory at that time, when I was coming up.”              Bireli Lagrene

September 5

“ When you take a job it should have one or more of these qualities:

Good Money

Fun

Connections for the Future

Learning

If it doesn’t have any of these, forget it. Move on.”    Tommy Tedesco

Tedesco’s remarks appeared in Guitar Player Magazine in 1979. And having departed from these rules on various occasions, I must admit that I have regretted it each and every time. 

September 6

Happy Birthday, Eddie Duran!  [1925]

I have performed with dozens of pianists in a wide range of instrumental settings. The potential for interplay is an amazing thing but in a situation where you have two chordal instruments in the rhythm section there is clearly also the potential for clashes and conflict. If you are working with a pianist who is open to the possibilities and is a good listener; the sky is the limit in terms of creative expression, texture and nuance. But when you have to work with a pianist who feels the need to "provide some invaluable advice" to you as a guitarist; watch out. You are probably in for a rough night.

September 7

Happy Birthday, Al Caiola!!   [1920]

The primary elements of style that are most closely associated with jazz include swing, syncopation and improvisation. There is also a certain harmonic palette and typical instrumental configurations that underlie this idiom. Jazz is also a characteristic repertoire and the product of a tradition that dates back nearly 100 years. Now, in the event that we are having some sort of a semantic problem here, in this context the word style refers to a particular distinctive manner of expression; as in the way in which a piece of music is performed. To this extent to say that “jazz is not a style” makes no sense. All musical expression has identifiable elements of style. This is how we distinguish Baroque from Romantic and Mazurka from Samba.

September 8

Henry [Mancini] knew how to figure out the right balance between creating music that musicians would like to play and music that audiences wanted to hear. I strive for that, too. I can write and play stuff that’s far out, things that certainly would impress musicians. I love free jazz. It’s a lot of fun. But it’s a stretch for audiences. Most listeners have a hard time getting it. “   

Royce Campbell

September 9

Charlie Christian's stylistic roots can be heard in the music of Lester Young, Eddie Lang and others. Wes Montgomery was clearly influenced by Christian's recordings. Pat Martino and George Benson used Wes' approach to bring this style forward from there. My point is that nothing occurs in a vacuum. Jazz honors its traditions and simultaneously places a high value on virtuosity. The innovations we hear in modern jazz can all be traced to something in its long tradition. Jazz players learn via imitation. Those who can fully assimilate what they have heard may bring us something innovative, but only when the music is firmly rooted in the jazz heritage.

September 10

Happy Birthday,  Steve Herberman!   [1966]

Steve Herberman has a highly evolved contrapuntal approach to solo guitar. His playing reveals a very high level of virtuosity and he gets the most out of the seven string guitars he performs with a harmonic palette that is complex and original. You will enjoy seeing his many solo guitar videos available online. Steve is also an accomplished instructor whose lessons can be found at www.mikesmasterclasses.com 

September 11

Happy Birthday, Hiram Bullock!   [1955]

Compartmentalization is the key to establishing a productive practice regimen. Different skills need to be developed in different ways. So the technical material, reading, repertoire, transcription and improvisation all need to be addressed separately.  The downside is that you may fall into a rigid routine of doing the same things in the same ways. Try to introduce new material to keep things fresh. Seek variety in your listening. Take lessons and attend master classes. Attend performances. Find people to jam with and practice with. Do the work. 

September 12

Happy Birthday, Jerry Lavene!  [1948]

I studied guitar with Jerry Lavene in Plattsburgh, New York in the 1970s. He was a Berklee guy who had been on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He was not well known outside of his hometown. Jerry had an advanced harmonic concept and could play counterpoint in a jazz style as a solo guitarist. I still find myself playing some of the lines he taught me and his infectious laughter still rings in my ears. He was also very helpful in terms of connecting me with various gigging opportunities. 

September 13

There is an old debate that really comes down to semantics and certain conceptual issues about the nature of jazz. Jazz is more than improvisation. It also has characteristic elements of style, history, repertoire, idiosyncratic ensemble configurations, various performance conventions, etc. When you listen to The Vanguard Orchestra [or any big band really] you will be hearing a rhythm section that is playing accompaniment in a free, improvised fashion but the horn parts are written out. It's all jazz. You have to think of the word "jazz" in broad terms.

September 14

There is a certain elitism in the jazz world. Lots of players and  aficionados are very concerned with the cutting edge of the style. They want to hear the hot young players. They want to be hip to the new innovation whatever that may happen to be. I suppose jazz will always honor the innovator and that's certainly as it should be. This is perhaps one of the factors that causes jazz to appeal to a niche audience.

September 15

Happy Birthday, Chris Buzzelli!   [1959]

On the other hand, if jazz suddenly became more popular it would probably be a positive thing. The recent NEA article mentioned a spike in popularity in the aftermath of the Ken Burns documentary a few years ago. Paradoxically enough that film was quite controversial among the musicians themselves. The attention the documentary brought to jazz resulted in an increased interest among the public, at least for a while. 

September 16

Happy Birthday, Charlie Byrd ! [1925]

Happy Birthday, Earl Klugh! [1954]

“I wanted to develop my own style by listening to every instrument and every singer, singers like Nat Cole, Sinatra, the great lyrical singers who convey melody in such a great way through phrasing. I listened to everything I could think of to gain an edge and do something different from the next guy. Because if you don’t stand out from the next guy, you’re stuck.”  Earl Klugh

September 17

Happy Birthday, Biddy Fleet!   [1910]

“The thing that I loved about Bird is this: he wasn’t one of those who’s got to write something down, go home, study on it, and the next time we meet, we’ll try it out. Anything that anyone did that Bird liked, when he found out what it was, he’d do it right away. Instantly. Only once on everything. Nearly everything that I did that he was interested in, I’d show him once — he had it.”    Biddy Fleet

September 18

Happy Birthday, Emily Remler!  [1957]

“I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavyset black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery,”   Emily Remler

September 19

“Ars longa, vita brevis” (Art is forever, life is short) 

 [Latin Proverb]

 The greatest achievements of a civilization are frequently to be found in the arts. As noted in today’s proverb, the artist’s ability to tap into eternity is a deep and profound mystery.

September 20

Happy Birthday, John Collins! [1913]

Happy Birthday, Eric Gale ! [1938]

 “I don’t play like anyone else, I can play like anyone else. I can play octaves, like Wes (Montgomery), or fast, like Joe Pass. But a whole lot of notes just shows that I practiced. I want to say something.”   Eric Gale

Eric Gale was one of the top studio players in the 1970s and 1980s. He played on hundreds of jazz and popular recordings including those of Sinatra, Stanley Turrentine, Quincy Jones, Bob James, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie and many others. His pop and rock credits are too numerous to mention here. Gale also recorded twelve albums as a leader and was a founding member of the band known as Stuff. I became a fan after hearing him on Quincy Jones' "Walking in Space" album in 1969. Gale passed away in 1994 at age 55.

September 21

Happy Birthday, Jerry Hahn!  [1940]

All the musicians on all the recording dates heard on my CDs were using parts that I personally prepared for the occasion. As a leader on a session I'm looking at my part not just for the sake of my own playing but to make sure the rest of the guys play what I want to hear too. Any questions they have about the music are much easier for me to answer when I have the sheet in front of me .   

September 22

“George Van Eps was a soft-spoken gentle man. Teaching-wise he was very organized and he knew exactly what to show, what to talk about from one week to the next. There were exercises based on triads, on contrary motion, on voice motion, many things that to this day I believe are not taught to guitarists in music schools. It’s well known that George thought of the guitar as a “lap piano” and he did, perhaps more than anyone, take a pianistic approach to his instrument.”   

Fred Fried

September 23

As a sideman I have to look at lead sheets all the time. What I'm looking at is something the leader wants me to play. It might be on a gig or in a studio. It may also be in a rehearsal but rehearsals are somewhat infrequent in jazz since professional musicians expect to be paid to rehearse. In music there's really no time for the luxury of "listening to the record and using the tab". The expectation is that I should get it right the first time. As a leader I try my best to create parts that are correct and accurate.  I expect the people I hire to play the part I give them without rehearsal. I put in extra effort double checking what I've written so I won't be wasting the musicians' precious time. The standard of excellence among musical professionals is a high one. There is literally no margin of error and no room for mistakes. Any developing guitar player who aspires to this level of expertise would be well advised to concentrate on being able to read and write music in the way everybody else does. No matter how good your ears are, there is a lot of great music out there that has never been recorded. Without reading skills a player will never get near any of this stuff.  

September 24

Never call a tune on the bandstand unless you are ready, willing and able to play the head and are thoroughly familiar with the changes. This may seem obvious but it’s surprising how often this unwritten rule gets broken.

September 25
Happy Birthday, Nelson Symonds!    [1933]

Every musician I've ever met has different areas of strength and weakness. Nobody is perfect. I think we all tend to rely on our strengths and to disguise or hide our weaknesses.

So I advocate a balanced approach. Reading, listening, practicing, performing, singing and the study of theoretical concepts are all important and they will take the student as far as his work ethic will carry him. I also think musicians should work to make their strengths stronger and the deficits evaporate. It takes courage to address one's weaknesses. Laziness won't help matters.  

September 26

Happy Birthday, Vic Juris!!!        [1953]

Happy Birthday, Ted Greene!!   [1946]

“George Van Eps is the pioneer. He was my teacher. George, way back in 1939, wrote this book where he shows what he calls the “fifth finger” which, I hope he doesn’t mind, some of us call the “slant finger” technique. Classical folks call it “cross barring.” The pad thing of holding two strings down [with the tip of one finger], I think George came up with that many years ago. The first I ever heard of it might have been from Barney Kessel in his book from the late sixties. All the LA-based jazz players—Barney, Howard Roberts, all those guys—were influenced by George in the technical area. They all admired his ability to do many things that they couldn’t do. “ Ted Greene

September 27

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

Joe Pass

September 28

Every waking moment is an opportunity for learning and development. This is true even when you get bad advice , experience how something should *not* be handled, or suffer the misdeeds of some misguided soul. It is hard to overstate the value of developing the wisdom or judgment to know the difference between good advice and the "other kind". Sometimes lessons learnt "the hard way" have the greatest value. 

September 29

Happy Birthday, Dennis Sandole! [1917]

The twenty studies of Fernando Sor that are so familiar to students of classical guitar will help the jazz player too. Mastering them will establish a certain standard of musical and technical proficiency that can be the basis for more independent development.

September 30

“The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It is the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch onto things. You can fool the fans - but not the players.”  John Cage

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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