Customer Reviews

Progressions: 100 Years Of Jazz Guitar

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In listening to the first selections on the Disc 1, I started to ask myself, "What's jazz?" Well, to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, I know it when I hear it. And there are several selections in this anthology that I just can't call jazz. Good selections. Historically significant selections. Selections with hot guitar playing. But not jazz.

I am an amateur jazz guitarist, but certainly not the most scholarly or knowledgable about the history of jazz guitar. But I know that by any stretch, banjo music from 1906 is not jazz guitar. I also know that Jimi Hendrix playing Manic Depression is not jazz guitar. Jimi was the greatest, but his fame was basically inventing modern rock guitar. His most obvious influences were blues. There may have been some jazz influence, but it isn't evident in this selection. Similarly, I am still trying to figure out why Chet Atkins and Carlos Santana are here. These guys are the greatest, but they're not jazz. Another tune sounds like early aimless experimental overfuzzed guitar (also non-jazz) music--and I was shocked to check the notes and find out it was recorded in the late 90's.

After I pondered the "what is jazz" question, I tried to figure out what the producers were trying to do with this collection. I didn't necessarily expect the best known selections from each guitarist; I think a "best of the best" would be tiresome. But I couldn't identify any other theme holding this thing together. Illustrate the progression of jazz guitar? Well, the selections are not always chronological--a Barney Kessel recording from 1957 is followed five tunes later by Chet Atkins in 1951. A selection by Derek Baily from 1996 is followed by the Hendrix tune from 1966. There seems to be no particular pattern or grouping. Is it about a collection of the most influential jazz guitarists and their recordings? Well, I must admit I never knew that Toots Thielemans even played guitar until now. The recording of him doubling himself on whistling Bluesette is deftly played but lightweight and more of a novelty than an influence. There are many great guitarists represented, but in many cases I am baffled by the selections. Solo Flight by Charlie Christian is undeniably a seminal piece. Unit 7 is my personal favorite recording by Wes Montgomery. How Insensitive was one of Charlie Byrd's favorites; I heard him play it in Annapolis many years ago. On the other hand, Just Friends by Pat Martino is a great take, although is earlier work that doesn't truly represent how his style eventually evolved and how most people think of him today. I can think of any number of George Benson tunes I would have preferred (but thank you, oh thank you, for not using Breezin').

And why does this collection stop in 2001 with a recording by Bill Frisell? Did jazz guitar stop evolving five years ago?

On the plus side there are many artists I was not familiar with that are/were great players and I'm happy to get a taste so I can go explore further. Jimmy Raney and Hank Garland are not in my current collection but their recordings here make me want more. My favorite run on the collection is the last six or seven songs on Disc 2 (see Amazon's list for songs), which I play over and over and over, except it must be in the car as I drive to work because my wife doesn't have quite the same appreciation as me.

After listening to the entire set of 4 discs about 6 times, I have zoomed in on about a third of the songs that I really enjoy listening to, a third that are fine for historical significance but don't really do it for me, and a third that I just don't need to hear again.

The collection is well worth the price, and the included booklet (it's not just a pamphlet, it's really a small book) with notes about all the artists is a keeper all by itself.

I have posted a more detailed review of individual songs on my web site at [...].

I have been a fan of the jazz guitar since elementary school, and I own a fairly substantial collection that spans several decades. When I first learned of this new release I was very excited.I purchased my copy thru' amazon - almost purchased 4 additional copies for holiday gifts, but the wife stopped me- and started listening to it the moment it arrived.
I was impressed with the packaging as well as the layout/background information on the featured players. I was however extremely dissatisfied with the selections. I do not know what the inclusion criteria are for the works that were featured, but almost all the guitarists featured had more wellknown , and in my opinion, better work than that which was highlighted. Larry Carlton, Pat Metheny, George Benson, Phil Upchurch - all these guys had way better stuff that could have been included.Maybe the featured work appeals to Jazz musicians or aficinados, but for a regular listener/customer it falls short.

A monumental work, this four-CD box set celebrates the evolution of jazz from the perspective of our favorite instrument. Featuring representative cuts from 75 pivotal players, 100 Years of Jazz Guitar offers selections from the dawn of recorded music (originally captured on Edison cylinders) extending to the present day. The adventure begins with a harp-guitarist strumming in 1906 and stretches to Bill Frisell's "Ron Carter," released in 2001. Relatively unsung giants, such as Lonnie Johnson, Roy Smeck, and Eddie Condon rub shoulders with the likes of Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, Wes Montgomery, and Pat Metheny. The scope is enormous -- shifting from Sol Hoopii's bouncy lap slide to Marc Ribot's skronky sonics is a mind-bender -- but that's what makes this collection so valuable. We hear the entire spectrum of jazz guitar, from swing to bebop to funk to avant-garde. There's plenty to read, as well: John Scofield penned the collection's intro (he also appears musically), there's a bio for every player, and 25 of the included guitarists reveal who they find inspiring and why. "Essential" is an overused word, but in this case, it's wonderfully appropriate.

Jazz guitar has been a hobby of mine for too many years to count. I was esecially influenced by Johnny Smith, Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, you know, the lush hollowbody humbucker tones and "cascading riffs." Many of the pre-Charlie Christian players were those i had read about but never listened to.
That being said. this is THE BEST anthology someone like me could want. It doesn't matter how many records by any of these players you may have, hearing the "history" of the jazz guitar as clear as these CDs sound and grouped as they are is a joy. BUY THIS NOW!

Everyone will find something of their own here, be it pre-Charlie Christian or late period Miles. My own contribution (as a reviewer) is to commend the compilers for a keen sense of history. Instead of simply falling into the listmania cliche of "the 100 best X" they have chosen players according to a wide variety of criteria. Two that JUMP out here are: (1) how INFLUENTIAL a guitarist has been regardless of record sales or fame; (2) how HISTORICALLY or MUSICALLY significant a given recording has been. In the first category I note the recognition of Lenny Breau and Sonny Sharrock who are far from household naems. In the second category I note the inclusion of tracks that point to landmarks in the evolution of music and jazz guitar : Birds of Fire, June 15 from Duster (Burton/Coryell), Bright Size Life. This box set will delight you if you are a well-seasoned jazz enthusiast or coming to the genre for the first time. A fantastic value!!!!

What a shame one never gets to hear Oscar Almen do what he does better
than just about any other Guitarist,Or hear enough Django,Charlie Christen
,Teddy Bunn,To really understand why they are more than just fine Guitarist....they are "Jazz Greats"

Thats because this Collection is more Intrested in getting
non jazz fans to buy this set.
There's a few odd things about this very good box set.The fact
that the cover of the Booklet(which is very nice)is a picture of a flattop
guitar,and there's plenty of Guitars and Guitarist that should be in a rock or pop collection

I guess when they were trying to update the fine two record set
50 years of jazz Guitar,They stuck with the one track pre artist.
This makes for a lot of space for many guitarists,Which is the main
problem with this set.Instead of giving you 2 or 3 cuts from real
jazz greats(not just fine Guitar Players)they fill the four
cds with Pop and Rock recordings that have no place in a jazz Guitar
collection.
I love Santana ,but he's not Jazz,Part of something being jazz in
improvisation,something that Santana doen't do much of .Which
doesn't make "Europa" any less great,.Also just because you
Improvise doesn't mean that a artist is a jazz also.Theres plenty
of Guitarists that have nothing to do with jazz on this set.Some
are jazz players who play pop(Earl Klugh),Others like Hendrix
or Jeff Beck aren't Jazz at all.The last pages
of the booklet are pictures of Strats and Les Pauls and even
a Classical guitar gets a double page spread how silly is That!

This is not an exhaustive collection (how could you compile a complete representation of Jazz guitar?), nor does it necessarily represent the best work of the featured players, or even include everyone that might have deserved a place. And there are some odd choices for inclusion (Hendrix, Santana, Beck, etc.), that stretch the definition of Jazz. But this set delivers an expansive overview of the guitar in Jazz in a way that no other collection could hope to do. To hear pre Charlie Christian through the Golden Age of Hollowbodies to contemporary masters in one place is eye opening. The liner notes are a wonderful addition, giving plenty of background info on the players you might only have known through their music. The final section asks many of them to name their favorite tracks, which will be a great place to continue the exploration of this great music.

a survey of some of the most brilliant guitarists of the past 100 years - not strictly speaking JAZZ guitarists however, though, I suppose it could be argued that all music is a kind of Jazz from some perspective. Armstrong said all music was folk music because he never heard a horse sing (though, if you stretch singing a bit...) - this is a similar case. If you stretch your meaning of Jazz suddenly Sanatana and Hendrix pop out as Jazz guitarists.

some of the stand outs for me on this set were on the later cds - I was already familiar with much of the earlier material - but I weirdly, had not heard of Sonny Sharrock, or Mark Ribot (both wonderful!) and was glad to be reminded of many others the likes of which range from Beck to Scofield - and back and forth a bit.

This set is CHEAP as dirt too - and with a nice book, a great addition to any guitar player's collection.

After listening to this 4 cd set several times I've come to the conclusion that it could have been better condensed into 2 spectacular jazz cd's. First of all, cd 1 starts off with what sounds like banjo. Who's bright idea what it to include it on 100 years of jazz guitar? There are also songs that are dominated by saxophone and/or vocals with guitar as a background instrument.
If I wanted to hear vocals and sax I would have purchased cd's with vocals and/or Coltrane or Sonny Rollins, repectively.
There are only a few gems on cd 1 most notably Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian.
Cd 2 is probably the best with cd 3 close behind. However, can somebody tell me why Jimi Hendrix doing "Manic Depression" is on this cd? If you know the answer then perhaps you may also know why in the world Carlos Santana is on this collection as well.
And Derek Bailey's 1997, "Should Be Reversed" is just garbage!!! THIS IS NOT JAZZ!!! Who's bright idea was it to put this track on the compilation? I keep thinking, another Django tune, another Wes Montgomery, Pass, Ellis, Burrell tune would have been better suited to make this a better compilation.
All that 1970's distorted psuedo-jazz fusion racket by the likes of John McLaughlin and others dominate cd 4. Cd 4 contains all the "really want to play rock, but call themselves jazz guitarists."
There are some great guitarists and tasty licks on this cd package, but there is also NON jazz on this too. Be advised.

Some great music here, but I'm at a loss to understand many of the selections - vocals, rock, blues, and some totally inexplicable choices. Why on earth they'd pick songs featuring tenor sax, organ, and singers like Tony Bennett is a mystery. I'm guessing the selections have more to do with licensing and availability than prime examples of great jazz guitar. I think I can manage one "mix tape" CD out of the 4 CD's in the box.
Nice booklet.