Regardless if you’re a beginning student of Jazz Guitar or an established player, we all have at least five albums that we cannot be without! With that said, Jazz Guitar Life has asked renowned Montreal Jazz Guitarist Greg Clayton what his five would be (assuming that he knew before hand that he was going to be stuck on a desert island and that said island had electricity and a full component stereo system) 🙂
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These are not “the” five but rather five albums that come to mind at the moment.
1) Charlie Parker – Bird at St. Nicks and Bird on 52nd street: which was issued as a double lp on Prestige and where I first heard Bird in a live setting. Pretty poor sound quality but thrilling to me none the less.
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2) Sonny Rollins – In Sweden and France 1959: Sonny is in incredible form in this trio with Henry Grimes and Pete Laroca on the Swedish recordings and Kenny Clarke on the French.
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3) John Coltrane – Giant Steps: Classic album of Trane coming into his own as a leader and innovator with one foot [or at least several toes] still in his earlier style but also demonstrating things to come and the ideas he was interested in at that time.
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4) Wes Montgomery – The Incredible Jazz Guitar: One of Wes’s early albums as a leader with a stellar rhythm section where he showcased his innovative playing of lines ,octaves chords and his relentless rhythmic vitality not to mention his great compositions.
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5) Joe Williams – Here’s to Life (Telarc Jazz): Joe in his later years delivers beautiful renditions of standards with absolutely gorgeous writing by Robert Farnon and his orchestra providing the setting.
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One of the few that didn’t list all guitarists..great
It’s interesting to me that Greg included an album with less than ideal sound quality, i.e. Bird playing live. It says a lot that content could be so exceptional that it overcomes the package.
Hi Normand and thanks for the comment. I agree with your assessment and would think that as long as one could hear what Bird was playing that would be enough to make anyone happy 🙂
Take care and all the best.
Lyle – Jazz Guitar Life