Jimmy Gourley 1926-2008

[brownie]

Sad to report that guitarist Jimmy Gourley passed away this weekend in suburban Villeneuve-Saint-Georges where he resided.

Gourley came to Paris in the early '50s and adopted (and was adopted by) the country.

He played and recorded with most of the jazz greats including Lester Young, Clifford Brown, Bud Powell, etc...

Gourley's French Wikipedia entry.

Watch and listen to Jimmy Gourley (with Barney Wilen, Philippe Combelle...)

Edited December 8, 2008 by brownie

[sidewinder]

That's very sad news Brownie. I always liked his recordings with Clifford Brown and Gigi Gryce - for sure one of the best guitarists on the French scene. And an expat from the US for many years. RIP.

[king ubu]

Sad news. He was a very good guitar player indeed! That album he did with Barney, I just love it!

[Niko]

rip love that Jazz in Paris album with Eddy Louiss for instance...

[Big Beat Steve]

Sad to see another legendary person is gone.

I first got to hear him on the 1953 Clifford Brown/Gigi Gryce recoprdings and was (and still am) quite impressed by the fluent lines he played there among the horns.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for posting this sad news, Brownie.

Love that album he made with Lou Bennett.

RIP

MG

[Bluerein]

And after France, UK, Germany and Switzerland, The Netherlands pays his trubute to this master of the guitar as well!!!

Thanks for the music!

[Larry Kart]

Wonder what, if anything, Gourley's passing means about the fate of the tapes he was supposed to have of otherwise unrecorded genius Chicago guitarist Ronnie Singer, who committed suicide with his wife in the early '50s. See pp. 268-9 of Ira Gitler's "Swing To Bop." Gitler heard him and was very impressed. The last time I heard of the tapes, a year or two ago, it sounded for a while like there was a strong lead there -- that Gourley did have them and was negotiating to have them released -- but nothing since.

Comments on Singer:

"Fantastic. Great talent. He would have been one of the all-time greats." (Lou Levy)

'...a great player. He was saying as much as Jimmy [Raney] was at the time." (Gourley)

"He had a spirit, a sound that reminded me of Charlie Christian, that kind of raw sound and power." (Gitler)

'...he had something special." (Lee Konitz)

[jazzbo]

Sad news, RIP Jimmy. I'll spin "Left Bank of New York" in honor of your wonderful talents!

Edited December 8, 2008 by jazzbo

[paul secor]

Unhappy to read the news of his passing. Thanks for the music you gave us, Mr. Gourley.

[Peter Friedman]

Sad news. I have long enjoyed Jimmy Gourley's playing.

[Don Brown]

Just this past Saturday I was playing a Jimmy Gourley CD on which Stan Getz sits in on several numbers. Gourley was a fine musician who I first heard in the early '50s on a 10-inch Contemporary LP. The music had been leased from a French label and I didn't realize at the time that Gourley was an American.

[David Gitin]

You can also hear him (with Kenny Clarke) in the soundtrack for the film "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (outstanding film version of Ambrose Bierce's short story).

[blind-blake]

Sad to report that guitarist Jimmy Gourley passed away this weekend in suburban Villeneuve-Saint-Georges where he resided.

Gourley came to Paris in the early '50s and adopted (and was adopted by) the country.

He played and recorded with most of the jazz greats including Lester Young, Clifford Brown, Bud Powell, etc...

Gourley's French Wikipedia entry.

Watch and listen to Jimmy Gourley (with Barney Wilen, Philippe Combelle...)

Wow! Great videos! Thanks, man! Gourley really was awesome.

Edited December 9, 2008 by blind-blake

[fasstrack]

Lotta guys to add to that list: Eddie Diehl (I'm right across the street from his house in Poughkeepsie right now); Ray Crawford; the great and totally forgotten John Collins; the late Shawn Leavitt (he died young and was a great player when I knew him in the late 70s, early 80s); Joe Cohn; an amazing player named Tim Breen who scared the shit outta everyone who ever heard him (including his hero George Benson) then died at 56 a wreck from drugs; the late Dan Converse whose only sins seem to have been being a good player and getting cancer----just so many soldiers no one ever heard of except a few musicians---because---at least in part in some cases---they spent their lives making other people with bigger egos sound good.

If there's even one guy on the scene today that could fill any of those shoes I'd love to hear it. Haven't yet.

Ah, life is BS, to loosely quote the Book of Ecclesiastes.

I guess the consolation is when you know you're good as well as those with ears to hear it. In the cases of the above and others there aren't too many of those kinda ears around these days (or any days).............

If I sound bitter......................well, I sound bitter.

[brownie]

It took Le Monde a full week to report Jimmy Gourley's death! Better brush up your french...

http://www.lemonde.fr/carnet/article/2008/...31298_3382.html

For an encore, here is Gourley with Lucky Thompson, Bud Powell, Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke at the Blue Note club in Paris back in December 1959

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_U_QwOAl20

[king ubu]

Hey, fast mister, John Collins isn't forgotten in this house!

brownie, thanks for posting the link to the obit.