Mark Stryker Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 John Clayton has Ray Brown's bass. Ray had been like a father to John, and when he died his widow wanted John to to have the instrument. My recollection is that John bought it from her but not for a few years until he could deal with the emotion of it. Quote
BillF Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Simon Spillett has Tubby Hayes' tenor - appropriately. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Here's a picture of Wes's guitar before and after post-fire restoration.My link there is a more comprehensive article in August 98 Guitar Player magazine. George Benson had Grant Green's D'Aquisto at one point but has since on sold it I believe. My link Actually it seems like Benson had the Montgomery and Green guitars at one point. The interview below suggests Pat Metheny owns the restored L-5 while the Green D'Aquisto has also been on sold... "You recently auctioned off some instruments you owned that originally belonged to some pretty famous people. GB. Yes. Pat Metheny bought Wes Montgomery’s L5 at auction. I didn’t know it until I ran into him in Europe and he said, “George, I got the Wes guitar.” And I’m happy, because now I know it’s in good hands. I worried about it when I auctioned it off. Also, Grant Green’s guitar. That’s one of the best-sounding instruments I’ve ever heard, but it was in my closet and I was afraid the termites were going to eat it up. Considering the times being what they were, we did very well and got a lot of money". My link I can't be sure, but I think I heard that Gregory Green, Grant's oldest son, who works as Grant Green Jr, got that guitar in the end. MG Quote
mikeweil Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Dexter Gordon played Ben Webster's tenor - don't know what happened after Dexter's passing. Quote
Jim R Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 IIRC the René Thomas Riverside liner notes said it was the same model that Charlie Christian used. That's correct (a late-1930's Gibson ES-150), except that the Thomas LP was on Jazzland. I think the notes also said that the guitar was extremely rare (only a handful known to exist, or somesuch statement), which is false. The fancier ES-250 (also used by Christian) is the extremely rare model. Quote
Jim R Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Does George Benson really need the money? I suppose that's going to be difficult to know for sure, and I don't know when Benson sold Green's guitar, but that guitar was a D'Aquisto. D'Aquisto was John D'Angelico's apprentice, and basically carried on D'Angelico's legacy after he died (even finished building some of D'Angelico's unfinished instruments). D'Aquisto took the craft to another level with some of his innovations, and became THE master archtop luthier until his unfortunate passing. D'Aquisto's guitars were commanding huge (6-figure) prices for some time, so in a way it's kind of hard to blame Benson for liquidating that guitar. I mean, it could be argued that everybody needs that kind of money. Quote
robertoart Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Here's a picture of Wes's guitar before and after post-fire restoration.My link there is a more comprehensive article in August 98 Guitar Player magazine. George Benson had Grant Green's D'Aquisto at one point but has since on sold it I believe. My link Actually it seems like Benson had the Montgomery and Green guitars at one point. The interview below suggests Pat Metheny owns the restored L-5 while the Green D'Aquisto has also been on sold... "You recently auctioned off some instruments you owned that originally belonged to some pretty famous people. GB. Yes. Pat Metheny bought Wes Montgomery’s L5 at auction. I didn’t know it until I ran into him in Europe and he said, “George, I got the Wes guitar.” And I’m happy, because now I know it’s in good hands. I worried about it when I auctioned it off. Also, Grant Green’s guitar. That’s one of the best-sounding instruments I’ve ever heard, but it was in my closet and I was afraid the termites were going to eat it up. Considering the times being what they were, we did very well and got a lot of money". My link I can't be sure, but I think I heard that Gregory Green, Grant's oldest son, who works as Grant Green Jr, got that guitar in the end. MG I hope so. Quote
Jim R Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) Here's a picture of Wes's guitar before and after post-fire restoration.My link there is a more comprehensive article in August 98 Guitar Player magazine. George Benson had Grant Green's D'Aquisto at one point but has since on sold it I believe. My link Actually it seems like Benson had the Montgomery and Green guitars at one point. The interview below suggests Pat Metheny owns the restored L-5 while the Green D'Aquisto has also been on sold... "You recently auctioned off some instruments you owned that originally belonged to some pretty famous people. GB. Yes. Pat Metheny bought Wes Montgomery’s L5 at auction. I didn’t know it until I ran into him in Europe and he said, “George, I got the Wes guitar.” And I’m happy, because now I know it’s in good hands. I worried about it when I auctioned it off. Also, Grant Green’s guitar. That’s one of the best-sounding instruments I’ve ever heard, but it was in my closet and I was afraid the termites were going to eat it up. Considering the times being what they were, we did very well and got a lot of money". My link I can't be sure, but I think I heard that Gregory Green, Grant's oldest son, who works as Grant Green Jr, got that guitar in the end. MG I hope so. Skinner auction listing from 2007: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4296426 2009 article, stating that the guitar was sold by Benson to NY dealer Rudy Pensa: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Mar/Grant_Greens_D_Aquisto_New_Yorker.aspx Perhaps Pensa sold it back to Green's son, but I haven't found anything about that thus far. Edited October 30, 2012 by Jim R Quote
Jim R Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Photo of Freddie Green's guitar now up on Gruhn's site: Doesn't get much more legendary than this in the world of jazz guitars. Quote
Brownian Motion Posted October 30, 2012 Report Posted October 30, 2012 Tony Rice plays a Martin D-28 that belonged to Clarence White. Jimmy McPartland played a cornet given to him by Bix, but I don't believe Bix ever played that particular instrument, just gave it his seal-of-approval. Quote
jeffcrom Posted October 31, 2012 Report Posted October 31, 2012 Not as interesting as some of the stories here, but the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the old mint on Esplanade has several notable instruments, including the cornet Louis Armstrong played at the Waifs' Home, Bix Beiderbecke's last cornet, one of Sidney Bechet's saxophones, and several others - it's been a few years since I visited, and I can't remember all of the details. Quote
brownie Posted October 31, 2012 Report Posted October 31, 2012 In the recent biography of Django Reinhardt it was mentioned that after his death, all of his possessions were burned, along with his trailer, in the gypsy tradition (a bizarre ritual). What a waste...though it cuts down on family fights over who gets what... A Selmer 503 that belonged to Django is currently on display at the 'Django Reinhardt, Swing de Paris' exhibition at the Paris Cité de la Musique. The guitar was given to the Music Museum back in 1964 by Django's widow Naguine. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted October 31, 2012 Report Posted October 31, 2012 Here's a picture of Wes's guitar before and after post-fire restoration.My link there is a more comprehensive article in August 98 Guitar Player magazine. George Benson had Grant Green's D'Aquisto at one point but has since on sold it I believe. My link Actually it seems like Benson had the Montgomery and Green guitars at one point. The interview below suggests Pat Metheny owns the restored L-5 while the Green D'Aquisto has also been on sold... "You recently auctioned off some instruments you owned that originally belonged to some pretty famous people. GB. Yes. Pat Metheny bought Wes Montgomery’s L5 at auction. I didn’t know it until I ran into him in Europe and he said, “George, I got the Wes guitar.” And I’m happy, because now I know it’s in good hands. I worried about it when I auctioned it off. Also, Grant Green’s guitar. That’s one of the best-sounding instruments I’ve ever heard, but it was in my closet and I was afraid the termites were going to eat it up. Considering the times being what they were, we did very well and got a lot of money". My link I can't be sure, but I think I heard that Gregory Green, Grant's oldest son, who works as Grant Green Jr, got that guitar in the end. MG I hope so. Skinner auction listing from 2007: http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4296426 2009 article, stating that the guitar was sold by Benson to NY dealer Rudy Pensa: http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/Mar/Grant_Greens_D_Aquisto_New_Yorker.aspx Perhaps Pensa sold it back to Green's son, but I haven't found anything about that thus far. I believe it was before 2007 that I heard that, so maybe it was old info, duff info or relating to a different one of his father's guitars. MG Quote
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