Kenny Burrell

[Milestones]

The early Blue Note sessions contain some great stuff, such as a solo "But Not for Me" and a superb version of "Nica's Dream."

[jlhoots]

Nice thread - BUT I disagree with the dismissal of Guitar Forms which IMHO is excellent.

[JSngry]

Nice thread - BUT I disagree with the dismissal of Guitar Forms which IMHO is excellent.

Not dismissing it, it is excellent, it just doesn't have the visceral appeal of the CTI album, imo. Same producer, radically different results.

Different, that's all.

[Mark Stryker]

Nice thread - BUT I disagree with the dismissal of Guitar Forms which IMHO is excellent.

Not dismissing it, it is excellent, it just doesn't have the visceral appeal of the CTI album, imo. Same producer, radically different results.

Different, that's all.

Two cents: Also from vastly different eras. There might be literally just six years between "Guitar Forms" (1964/65) and "God Bless the Child" (1971), but the world had changed A LOT more than, say, between 1954-60 or 1960-66

Edited February 19, 2013 by Mark Stryker

[sgcim]

Kenny da man!!!

My fave Kenny was when he played his D'Angelico back in the 60s and 70s on LPs like "Night Song". I don't know why he had to go back to those coarse, un-pedigreed Gibsons.

There's no other guitarist who can touch him on ballads, and his sense of groove on medium tempoes is perfection.

I recently read some self-appointed 'genius' pontificate that Kenny sounds "white". That's how out of hand things have gotten with the younger generation of jazz "artists". How can you come out of the Detroit jazz scene of the 40s and 50s and sound white?

I've caught Kenny live a number of times, and he was always the best. He even owned a jazz club in NY which he named The Guitar, which featured the top players in NY of the late 60s and early 70s till it folded after a few years.

[Stereojack]

Nice to see the great Kenny Burrell getting his props here. He is my FAVORITE guitarist. Happily he has a large body of work. I like Live at the Village Vanguard, Guitar Forms, Bluesy Burrell (w/ Coleman Hawkins), On View at the Five Spot, Midnight Blue (the title track was my theme back in my radio days) to name a few winners.

[JSngry]

Nice thread - BUT I disagree with the dismissal of Guitar Forms which IMHO is excellent.

Not dismissing it, it is excellent, it just doesn't have the visceral appeal of the CTI album, imo. Same producer, radically different results.

Different, that's all.

Two cents: Also from vastly different eras. There might be literally just six years between "Guitar Forms" (1964/65) and "God Bless the Child" (1971), but the world had changed A LOT more than, say, between 1954-60 or 1960-66

And it might also be worth wondering if it was Creed Taylor who had the most catching up to do, since Kenny always had that "core" audience that something like God Bless The Child would grab on to.

Also wondering - with what label/producer did KB's leader dates of the 1960s have greater "popular" success, Argo/Chess or Verve?

[Sundog]

Too many excellent leader dates for me to pick a favorite. As a sideman however, I would highly recommend Stanley Turrentine's Hustlin'. Kenny totally locks in with Shirley Scott and the results are a clinic in creating soulful grooves.

[mjzee]

We should start a thread for "Most Consistent Jazz Artist." For me, it's KB. I know any date he's on will be soulful, swinging and enjoyable.

Special mention should be made for last year's "Tenderly," his first (!) solo recording. I'm curious what others think of it. It sounds to me like he's a little out of his element, but is giving it the old college try. Maybe I need another listen. Certainly he deserves credit for pushing his boundaries, esp. at this stage of his career.

[fasstrack]

Did anyone mention Ellington is Forever? If so I missed it. I had it on vinyl-2 LP set. Came out in 1975. A beautiful example of what a mature, focused leader Kenny can be, especially on a pretty ambitious date. This is a recording with no fat or waste and a loving tribute. And Kenny lets the guitar subtly lead but without dominating. I dug that Joe Henderson was picked for this-shrewd choice. Also in the cast: Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Mel Lewis, Ernie Andrews. Grab this if you don't already own it. (Make sure the CD corresponds to the original double LP. I've seen 'volume one' on CD, which may not have all the tracks).

[Jim R]

Recent thread on Kenny Burrell:

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more:

[mjzee]

Another very enjoyable date. Kenny generously shares the spotlight with an all-star band (Roland Hanna, Jimmy Owens, Jerome Richardson, Steve Turre, Benny Powell) and two vocalists (Jeannie Bryson and Vanessa Rubin):

[Milestones]

I mentioned Ellington is Forever right off the bat. Kenny's love of Ellington's music is legendary, and I'm sure many of you know that he has taught college courses on Duke. I don't know if the two CDs correspond perfectly to the original LPs, but they are very lengthy and it's quite a cast of players, with all those mentioned by Fasstrack and more (also Nat Adderley, Gary Bartz, Jimmy Smith, and Quentin Jackson).

[danasgoodstuff]

Recent thread on Kenny Burrell:

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more:

Can we still get to the one where Moms hates on Kenny, or has that been disappeared like a south american dissadent?

[Gheorghe]

I can say, Kenny Burrell has a special meaning to me. When I was very young and fell in love with jazz, the only stuff I knew was the typical bebop or hardbop setting with tp, ts/as, p,b,dr. I didn´t even know about styles and thought all that stuff is "old jazz" and stuff like Return to Forever or Miles´"Agharta" (then the stuff youngsters would listen to) which I thought might be "new jazz"......

The guitar I thought belongs to "new jazz" (70´s stuff) and I didn´t have no idea about earlier settings with that instrument. Then I purchased that double LP (BN LA-Series) "Paul Chambers & John Coltrane" which I really liked, and it´s Kenny Burrell on guitar. So that was the first time I heard a guitar player doing hornlike stuff, soloing like Trane, Miles and the musicians I knew.

So, naturally, Kenny Burrell was the first guitar player I purchased albums to get my "hard bop collection"........ . I heard Kenny Burrell before Wes.....

[Jim R]

Recent thread on Kenny Burrell:

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more:

Can we still get to the one where Moms hates on Kenny, or has that been disappeared like a south american dissadent?

It's here. He/She ;) "lives on", but only because people quoted him/her. ;)

Edited February 20, 2013 by Jim R

[fasstrack]

I mentioned Ellington is Forever right off the bat. Kenny's love of Ellington's music is legendary, and I'm sure many of you know that he has taught college courses on Duke. I don't know if the two CDs correspond perfectly to the original LPs, but they are very lengthy and it's quite a cast of players, with all those mentioned by Fasstrack and more (also Nat Adderley, Gary Bartz, Jimmy Smith, and Quentin Jackson).

Thanks. I didn't know about material with Nat Adderly, Gary Bartz, or Quentin Jackson. Was that a different date? Jimmy Smith was on the '75 recording I know. BTW I've heard Ellington returned the compliment, citing Burrell as his favorite guitarist.

[JSngry]

IIRC, there were two volumes, 2 LPs each.

Agreed, excellent albums.

[mikeweil]

Yes, there were two volumes of Ellington Is Forever, two double LPs with material cut a several sessions, incl. several all-star sidemen: Jimmy Smith, Thad Jones, Joe Henderson, Jerome Richardson, etc.

The music was nice but I didn't like the sound of these sessions. Typical 1970's dead studio sound with bass pickups and all ...

Ernie Andrews sang on a few tracks, but I didn't like him. Quentin Jackson's fragile vocals on one tune, OTOH, were very touching.

AllMusic link Vol. 1

AllMusic link Vol. 2

Edited February 21, 2013 by mikeweil

[robertoart]

Kenny da man!!!

My fave Kenny was when he played his D'Angelico back in the 60s and 70s on LPs like "Night Song". I don't know why he had to go back to those coarse, un-pedigreed Gibsons.

There's no other guitarist who can touch him on ballads, and his sense of groove on medium tempoes is perfection.

I recently read some self-appointed 'genius' pontificate that Kenny sounds "white". That's how out of hand things have gotten with the younger generation of jazz "artists". How can you come out of the Detroit jazz scene of the 40s and 50s and sound white?

I've caught Kenny live a number of times, and he was always the best. He even owned a jazz club in NY which he named The Guitar, which featured the top players in NY of the late 60s and early 70s till it folded after a few years.

I think it would have been a miracle for Burrell to have emerged at that time with that tone (and lines), and not been from a Black music community.

Does the choice of guitar/amp change a great player like Burrell's sound that much, or was it rather a change in 'conception or approach instead, kinda like what jsngry was saying earlier in the thread? Even the difference in 'era's' for instance, as Mark Stryker refers to, might have an effect on the way we perceive tone and performance?

Edited February 21, 2013 by freelancer

[EyeSpeech]

I got to meet him at Yoshi's a couple years ago. He played a great set. KB is a very humble guy. Amazing to think he played alongside Trane and most other notable musicians.

Edited February 22, 2013 by EyeSpeech

[sgcim]

Kenny da man!!!

My fave Kenny was when he played his D'Angelico back in the 60s and 70s on LPs like "Night Song". I don't know why he had to go back to those coarse, un-pedigreed Gibsons.

There's no other guitarist who can touch him on ballads, and his sense of groove on medium tempoes is perfection.

I recently read some self-appointed 'genius' pontificate that Kenny sounds "white". That's how out of hand things have gotten with the younger generation of jazz "artists". How can you come out of the Detroit jazz scene of the 40s and 50s and sound white?

I've caught Kenny live a number of times, and he was always the best. He even owned a jazz club in NY which he named The Guitar, which featured the top players in NY of the late 60s and early 70s till it folded after a few years.

I think it would have been a miracle for Burrell to have emerged at that time with that tone (and lines), and not been from a Black music community.

Does the choice of guitar/amp change a great player like Burrell's sound that much, or was it rather a change in 'conception or approach instead, kinda like what jsngry was saying earlier in the thread? Even the difference in 'era's' for instance, as Mark Stryker refers to, might have an effect on the way we perceive tone and performance?

Kenny definitely changed from a more generic bop approach in his early LPs, to his own style by the time he led dates on Verve. The same way Phil Woods went from a Bird imitator to his own man on that Herbie Mann date in 1957. In fact you can hear both of them on KB's LP "A Generation Ago Today". Phil sounds like he's making fun of Kenny when they trade fours on "Stompin' At the Savoy".

It could have been the superior recording facilities at Verve compared to the funkier sound of his Blue Note LPs, but his sound on that Night Song LP is clearer, rounder, fuller and warmer than any guitarist I've ever heard. We can probably thank Kenny (and Johnny Smith) for making the D'Angelico New Yorker sell for $40,000, and the pickup he used, the DeArmond 1100 Super Chief, $1,000.

[.:.impossible]

On View At The Five Spot was one of the very first jazz records I checked out of the library as a sophomore in college. Imagine that. Tina Brooks... one of the first musicians I was exposed to in the music.

[robertoart]

Kenny da man!!!

My fave Kenny was when he played his D'Angelico back in the 60s and 70s on LPs like "Night Song". I don't know why he had to go back to those coarse, un-pedigreed Gibsons.

There's no other guitarist who can touch him on ballads, and his sense of groove on medium tempoes is perfection.

I recently read some self-appointed 'genius' pontificate that Kenny sounds "white". That's how out of hand things have gotten with the younger generation of jazz "artists". How can you come out of the Detroit jazz scene of the 40s and 50s and sound white?

I've caught Kenny live a number of times, and he was always the best. He even owned a jazz club in NY which he named The Guitar, which featured the top players in NY of the late 60s and early 70s till it folded after a few years.

I think it would have been a miracle for Burrell to have emerged at that time with that tone (and lines), and not been from a Black music community.

Does the choice of guitar/amp change a great player like Burrell's sound that much, or was it rather a change in 'conception or approach instead, kinda like what jsngry was saying earlier in the thread? Even the difference in 'era's' for instance, as Mark Stryker refers to, might have an effect on the way we perceive tone and performance?

Kenny definitely changed from a more generic bop approach in his early LPs, to his own style by the time he led dates on Verve. The same way Phil Woods went from a Bird imitator to his own man on that Herbie Mann date in 1957. In fact you can hear both of them on KB's LP "A Generation Ago Today". Phil sounds like he's making fun of Kenny when they trade fours on "Stompin' At the Savoy".

It could have been the superior recording facilities at Verve compared to the funkier sound of his Blue Note LPs, but his sound on that Night Song LP is clearer, rounder, fuller and warmer than any guitarist I've ever heard. We can probably thank Kenny (and Johnny Smith) for making the D'Angelico New Yorker sell for $40,000, and the pickup he used, the DeArmond 1100 Super Chief, $1,000.

Glad to hear another Night Song fan. I have the original Verve White label pressing of this. It sounds even better on vinyl. In fact did this session ever get a CD release?

I originally had it on a cheap 'Record Club' type record that I had for years. When I returned to buying vinyl in the 'ebay' age, I had to research the original sessions on the web to find out how and where the tracks first appeared. As soon as I got the discographical info that it was originally released as 'Night Song', I tracked down the Verve vinyl. You can do that with the great 1960's Verve albums because Collectors haven't bumped the prices up, and you can often find mint sounding records as well.

Recent thread on Kenny Burrell:

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more:

Can we still get to the one where Moms hates on Kenny, or has that been disappeared like a south american dissadent?

It's here. He/She ;) "lives on", but only because people quoted him/her. ;)

I remember that thread very clearly

Moms/Clem comes out fighting,

jsngrey then presents the case for the defence.

Can we have a rematch? sngrey v mom in a battle for Kenny's reputation

Edited February 22, 2013 by freelancer

[Milestones]

I don't see much fighting here at Organissimo, unlike other Forums I have used.

It's odd to think there would be a fight over Burrell. He might not be everyone's cup of tea, but he is not the kind of musician who would spark controversy.