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 NYC based Jazz Guitarist Raphael Silverman 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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1) Bobby Broom – The Way I Play – Live in Chicago: This record was an awakening for me. The feel, interaction, and creativity of this trio are unmatched. Bobby’s playing is the perfect mix of raw and polished. I feel the significance of every note, every phrase answers the last and requires the next. I would’ve loved to have been there at Pete Miller’s in Evanston where this was recorded, but I was only seven years old in 2008 and the guitar was not in my vocabulary. Regardless, I think this music reached me right when I needed it. I’ve read a review of this record saying that Bobby has one foot in the tradition and one foot in the future, but I would disagree. I think he’s floating above the bandstand; this is truly magical music.
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2) Bobby Broom – Song and Dance: Song and Dance represents the best of what jazz can be. It’s a celebration of our shared pop music, of songs we’ve all heard, some without even knowing it. From the nearly 100-year-old “Little Rascals Theme (Good Old Days)” to the 70s hit “Superstar,” Broom selects music for the people, not the jazz musician or critic. It’s his (re)interpretations, though, that raise Song and Dance above just a “great jazz guitar record.” It’s a continuation of the standard-making that jazz musicians have been doing all along. Few can tastefully take a prancing waltz from a children’s comedy film (Little Rascals) and turn it into a burner, then take it out of time, and then finally bring it to a cheerful medium tempo that ties a bow on top. Bobby Broom is one of these few.
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3) Sonny Rollins – A Night At The “Village Vanguard”: Sonny is my favorite tenor player because of this record. He plays with absolute confidence and fire but never lets it consume him. Everything is about melody and music-making. Especially in that this is a live record with a wanting recording quality, you realize it’s not ego-centered music. Just like Broom’s The Way I Play, the impromptu nature of the recording method (unbeknownst captures something that the studio can’t). When the musicians don’t know they are being recorded, the music has an impermanence and makes it more unconscious and genuine. I think this is one of the reasons Sonny much preferred performing live to the studio. (Side note: I also loved to practice comping along with the chord-less trio).
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4) Miles Davis – My Funny Valentine: This quintet represents the peak of fearlessness in music. I recently learned that right before they went on, the quintet was told they would not be paid for the gig, as it was a benefit concert. (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTy4GMYlS3o) Something about that resonated with me. In my own experience, the best music happens when you allow everything to pour out, even if it’s aggression or disappointment. The quintet plays with a looseness and sense of risk that I aspire to. I could listen to “All of You” forever.
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5) Frank Sinatra – Only The Lonely: This is some of the most sorrowful music I’ve ever heard. Not much more to be said. If “Spring is Here” doesn’t make you cry, you need to see a doctor.
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If you would like to support all the work I do on Jazz Guitar Life, please consider buying me a coffee or visiting the Jazz Guitar Life sponsors. Thank you and your patronage is greatly appreciated regardless if you buy me a coffee or not 🙂
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