Jim Hall--among top 5 most influential guitarists ever?

[Milestones]

To me, it seems like he is.  You of course have to put Charlie Christian, Django, and Wes at the top.  After that?  I'd have no trouble placing Hall in the 4th spot.  The man made his mark early--legendary meetings with Giuffre, Rollins, Evans.   As a leader, he perhaps lagged for awhile, but I think few musicians can claim such a fine run of music near the end: the Telarc records, Something Special, These Rooms, Magic Meeting.  

The likes of Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie, and many more have expressed tremendous admiration and cited direct influence.  He taught and mentored all of them--and many more.  Even Nels Cline is showing the strong debt to Hall on Lovers.  

He was a special and important man and musician.  

 

[paul secor]

I don't know about "influential", but he's not among my five favorite jazz guitarists.

[Milestones]

He was not in my top 5 favorites either, but the appreciation has certainly been growing over the years.  I think now he would be in my top 10.  

[Kate]

 

[mjzee]

I'm not sure about "5," but if you look at the number of guitarists he's influenced, it's huge.  I think it's his touch, more than anything else, that helped expand the jazz guitar vocabulary.  It's an intimate sound, and it allowed guitarists to move away from a blues-based vocabulary, as well as an overly-electric tone and a reliance on fast runs.  He doesn't hit you over the head; instead, he burrows into your ear and caresses your mind.  So, yes, I'm in agreement with you, Milestones.

[sonnymax]

I agree that Jim Hall has been a big influence on many guitarists over the past 30-40 years. I think Joe Pass also has had a great impact on jazz guitarists over the past few decades.

Btw, what's with the black hand? 

Edited October 5, 2016 by sonnymax

[JSngry]

Y'all know that Benny Goodman rehearsal session with Prez, Charlie Christian and Basie where after Benny left that all got so high that they projected into the future and made a record for Pacific Jazz before coming back?

Yeah, earliest Jim Hall is just delightfully, ridiculously right about so many details.  I dig how he moved out from that but never away from that. He had those roots in Christian that never left. I guess his mentorees had the same kind of relationship to him, but...hmmm...none of them seem as intuitively linked to him as he did to Christian.

That might just be the way that evolution go.

[A Lark Ascending]

Listen to 'Moonchild' on the first King Crimson album. I'm convinced Robert Fripp was channelling Hall from his period with Giuffre. Not the first place you'd expect to find his influence. 

[mjzee]

8 hours ago, sonnymax said:

Btw, what's with the black hand? 

Black hand = Jerry Garcia (look at the middle digit).

[Guy Berger]

14 hours ago, paul secor said:

I don't know about "influential", but he's not among my five favorite jazz guitarists.

I think of him the way I think of Bill Evans - tremendously influential (including on folks that I really like), played on some records and with some groups that I love, but not somebody I get really excited about (though I "get" why others love him).

My favorite stuff with him is early in his career - with Chico Hamilton and Jimmy Giuffre.  

[sambrasa]

I grew up listening to younger cats, Metheny, Stern, Frisell, Scofield, did not really think much of Jim Hall. Then I heard Art Farmer's "To Sweden With Love."  Jim Hall is so perfect on this record. Every note is pure gold.

[jazzbo]

I love his sound through the years. I'm a fan. He's up in the middle of my top ten.

[Milestones]

It's intriguing to me that so many guitarists with rock in their backgrounds (and not afraid to display it) have been directed influenced by Hall.  That's everyone I named in my first post.

[gmonahan]

Great, great guitarist, but "influential" is a tough word. I mean, Les Paul would probably be ranked pretty high on the "influential" scale!

 

 

gregmo

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

ill tell u this, i was in line to meet him and a young student kindly asked him, do you have any stories you would like to share, about Paul Desmond?  Jim Hall just shrugged and said, "no, not really.......but ill tell you this, he would of made a really good old guy."  it was the saddest thing ive ever experienced 

Edited October 5, 2016 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[Milestones]

Yes, influence can be measured in several ways; and one can make the case for Les Paul.

All the same, I don't have a single Les Paul recording in my collection. 

 

[six string]

I started paying attention to him ten or fifteen years go but not in a big way.  His subtlety was lost on me originally.  Over time I relaxed into his world and slowly but surely I've become a bigger fan.  He really does have a special approach to his instrument imo.  I've got quite a collection of lps now and I don't see my interest waning.

[Milestones]

He is indeed a subtle player, but this is a man who was certainly committed in everything he did.  

[gmonahan]

16 hours ago, Milestones said:

Yes, influence can be measured in several ways; and one can make the case for Les Paul.

All the same, I don't have a single Les Paul recording in my collection. 

 

I have the box set.  it's very far from jazz, I think, but there's some amazing guitar there! So yes, if we confine it to jazz guitarists, give Jim Hall a vote.

 

 

gregmo