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 Jazz Guitarist Pat Smith 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 albums I can listen to over and over, so, good for the island 
” – Pat Smith
1) John Abercrombie -The First Quartet: Ok so it’s a three CD box. I had all these as LP’s back in the day. This music spoke to me. JA can go from crazy avant-garde to the most beautiful ballads and own them all. I’m not really into the way out stuff but the music on these is perfect, and ethereal while still cooking.
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m_pM1AlOGEe1OQixeycqvPhwiInRFLCqw
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2) Jim Hall – Live: I have had this album since forever and it sounds fresh and new every time. I think Jim, like Paul Desmond, made great note choices, every solo seems like a composition. I’m pretty sure I have every album he made but this is the one I love best.
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3) Lenny Breau – Cabin Fever: Lenny is my favourite guitarist and so picking a particular album is difficult, I love them all. I picked this one because I particularly love to hear him play nylon string and I love the way it all sounds so spontaneous. This might have been a tie with the Bourbon Street album as I also love his 7-string playing. Oh man…then there’s his rendition of Bluesette on Velvet Touch…. Ah Lenny….
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kJ6elYejFNkB_qZq9nfLgkUh_w3r-7S78
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4) Ralph Towner – Ana: I love to just sink in to Ralph’s music and get lost. His music always seems to tell a story. I love his tone particularly, just beautiful. I think he has been a bit overlooked in the jazz world, he is brilliant as both a player and as a composer.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUGxV1uA1LrBvZ8U_umcLT5jsUpx1HIWe
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5) Ted Greene – Solo: Ok so picking just five albums is hard… I got to know Ted a bit and I really loved him. He was a brilliant musician and a very sweet human being. It’s such a shame he didn’t record more than the one album. I asked him, and I know many others did too, when he would make another record… he said he wasn’t ready. Of course I nearly fainted at that. Anyway, This music at times sure sounds like two people. I still have to remind myself that the chords, melody and those bass lines are happening all at once, solo!
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m501uZ37OZlfYPcJpiUVkinyk-9p7rkDI
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Wow thats amazing these recordings ,with the exception of Ted Green and Lennie Breau which are just hard to find, are favorites in my collection too. I have great respect and admiration for all of them they have made indelible impressions on me.
Hi Stephen and thanks for dropping by. Pat’s 5 choices are top shelf and definitely should be in everyone’s music arsenal! Mind you, as you state, some are harder to find than others. But we keep looking 🙂
Thanks again and take care.
Lyle – Jazz Guitar Life