Jazz guitarists--nice guys?

[Milestones]

I've had the strong impression of many jazz guitarists being really nice guys--laid back, friendly, dignified, articulate.  I'm thinking of people like Jim Hall, Bill Frisell, Kenny Burrell, John Scofield, Wes Montgomery, and Pat Metheny.  This is in contrast to rock guitarists, many of whom have been complete shits and wackos. 

I'm sure I am over-generalizing.  I'm sure there are jazz guitarists you wouldn't want to spend two minutes with.  But do others on the forum get this same feeling/impression?

 

 

[Rooster_Ties]

Most (maybe all?) of the jazz guitarists I knew back in Kansas City were all pretty chill. Thinking of about 8-9 different players over the 17 years I lived there.

Didn't know any rock guitarists back then, nor now.

[jazzbo]

The one guitarist I know very well, Willie Oteri (though far more frequently a tenor saxophonist now) is a wonderfully even-keeled individual and a consummate musician who is friendly and warm. . . as long as you are not a numbskull.

[Gheorghe]

I didn´t get to meet the famous guitarists personally, Wes was dead when I was a kid, Kenny Burrell I think didn´t tour much, in any case I can´t remember to see him on concert or festival in Austria. 

I jammed a few times with Karl Ratzer when I was almost a kid and he was very quiet, but wonderful to make music on bandstand when we did some standards and bop standards with Allen Praskin. Really wonderful. 

I played with other guitarist on gigs or jam sessions and they were very nice and cooperative with a few exceptions when they were too loud and would cover everything and do endless solos....

[mikeweil]

From what I have seen live, and whom I had contact with during m,y discographical research, this may be true. Local guys I played with were 50/50.

Edited September 1, 2021 by mikeweil

[Rabshakeh]

Al Di Meola?

[Ken Dryden]

Gene Bertoncini was very nice the times I have heard him in person and during phone interviews. Joe Pass was very friendly during a phone interview but he could be very impatient with soundboard operators. He lambasted a guy during a solo concert I attended when feedback happened mid-song. while another who did audio for a Las Vegas gig said he was very difficult to with.

[Teasing the Korean]

8 hours ago, Milestones said:

I've had the strong impression of many jazz guitarists being really nice guys--Pat Metheny.  

You should talk to my friend who worked for Pat's management company. 

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Al Di Meola?

You should talk to my friend who worked for Al's management company. 

[jlhoots]

I met Barney Kessel & Jim Hall. They were both very pleasant.

[Ken Dryden]

I did a phone interview with Herb Ellis in the late 1980s. I don't know why he was so difficult, but after I hung up, I rewound and erased the tape without bothering to listen to it. 

Of course, the worst artist I ever had to deal with was Andre Previn. He delayed scheduling the interview until well past my normal press deadline and I ended up having to make a special trip downtown on a Saturday morning to do the phone interview. This was for a cover feature, yet he only wanted to allow 10-15 minutes. There were numerous restrictions about topics (I wasn't interested in talking about any of his ex-wives, while his film work wasn't really relevant to the article, since its focus was on jazz). He was impatient and I would have told my editor to scrap the assignment if I hadn't thought he would have had extreme difficulty assigning another artist at such a late date. Previn ended up getting sick and missing his gig at the Blue Note, which the feature was promoting.

 

[JSngry]

What's the deal with being "nice", anyway? Who cares? There's many points in between being an executable felon and being Mr. Almost God.

[HutchFan]

My guess is that if you talked to enough jazz guitarists you'd encounter the same spectrum of humanity -- from dickhead to saint -- that you see in any other group of people.

OTOH, rock guitarists -- or anyone who's subjected to any sort of continuous adulation (any famous actors, musicians, whatever) -- I'm not as sure about.  I think fame would often have its effect of messing up a person, losing their sense of perspective, introducing needs to put up walls, etc.  That's what makes it different, not the instrument or the musical genre.

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by HutchFan

[JSngry]

And probably just as many who will be on any range of behavior depending on the situation. Plenty of variables, and just because somebody is nice to you one time doesn't mean he's going to be nice to everybody always.

[Dan Gould]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

What's the deal with being "nice", anyway? Who cares? There's many points in between being an executable felon and being Mr. Almost God.

Indeed.

2 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

My guess is that if you talked to enough jazz guitarists you'd encounter the same spectrum of humanity -- from dickhead to saint -- that you see in any other group of people.

 

I would hope so ... 

Here's another question: Do huge-fingered guitarists understand just how much easier it is for them, and are they grateful for this physical gift that had nothing to do with the time spent practicing or honing their craft? Are they at all sympathetic to the not-so-physically gifted who also try to play?

Asking for a friend.

[Milestones]

Not trying to prove anything...just an observation.  I have personally not met any major guitarists other than Frisell for a few seconds.

Maybe it's really more about jazz guys (in general) being nicer than rock guys.  But we all know that there are some pricks in jazz, and usually we love them anyway--or at least love their music.

 

  

 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

From what I've read about Tal Farlow he must have been a very easy-going and pleasant guy.

 

 

[sgcim]

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

From what I've read about Tal Farlow he must have been a very easy-going and pleasant guy.

 

 

If you think Pat Metheny is a nice guy, you should read Gary Burton's autobiography "Learning To Listen". He devotes a page to why he fired PM from his band.

Tal came down to hear me at a club I was playing at in NY. We went out for breakfast afterwards, and he was the most easy-going, mellow guy you'd ever meet. Not even a hint of egotistic manner about him. Considering he was, at one time, IMHO, the greatest mainstream jazz guitarist living, I could only think that he practiced Zen Buddhism.

10 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

I did a phone interview with Herb Ellis in the late 1980s. I don't know why he was so difficult, but after I hung up, I rewound and erased the tape without bothering to listen to it. 

Of course, the worst artist I ever had to deal with was Andre Previn. He delayed scheduling the interview until well past my normal press deadline and I ended up having to make a special trip downtown on a Saturday morning to do the phone interview. This was for a cover feature, yet he only wanted to allow 10-15 minutes. There were numerous restrictions about topics (I wasn't interested in talking about any of his ex-wives, while his film work wasn't really relevant to the article, since its focus was on jazz). He was impatient and I would have told my editor to scrap the assignment if I hadn't thought he would have had extreme difficulty assigning another artist at such a late date. Previn ended up getting sick and missing his gig at the Blue Note, which the feature was promoting.

 

Tough job assignments.

12 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

You should talk to my friend who worked for Pat's management company. 

You should talk to my friend who worked for Al's management company. 

I can imagine!

[Teasing the Korean]

25 minutes ago, sgcim said:

I can imagine!

The story about Al getting shat on by pigeons is priceless...And it was his own fault!

Edited September 2, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[Milestones]

Pat Metheny has that big grin and easy manner, but clearly he has a bit of a dark side.  I guess we all do to some extent.  I've heard he's a perfectionist, and those people will be mean at times. 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Milestones

[medjuck]

I met Pat Martino in the elevator of a cheap hotel a few years ago when he was just starting his "comeback".  Seemed like a nice guy especially considering I condescendingly asked if he had a gig when I saw his guitar and he had to explain who he was.  

[mr jazz]

Larry Coryell always gracious. No extended conversations but he listened to me.

[gvopedz]

I saw a lady ask Paco de Lucia for his autograph - he gave her his autograph and immediately asked her for a kiss.  She gave him a kiss.

[Steve Reynolds]

Mary Halvorson is exceptionally nice and friendly 

same for Brandon Seabrook

then again for most/vast majority of the musicians I’ve encountered in and around the “downtown” NYC scene over the past 25 years fit this description.

how they are once one would get to know them is probably another story but it’s nice to know that when I go to a show and say hello to someone in the band it’s been a nice experience 99% of the time over the years 

 

[JSngry]

8 minutes ago, gvopedz said:

I saw a lady ask Paco de Lucia for his autograph - he gave her his autograph and immediately asked her for a kiss.  She gave him a kiss.

Did she ask for a baby?

[sgcim]

23 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

The story about Al getting shat on by pigeons is priceless...And it was his own fault!

Do tell!!!!