From: ujwb@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Jeff Beer)
Subject: top 10 guitar list
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:06:41 GMT

ALL BEER TOP 10 LIST on GUITARS TO HANG THE WORLD WITH:
(see, I could do pub for your metal bands...)
 
1.    Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas: PANGEA & AGHARTA (Miles Davis, leader)
      This is like having twin Jimi Hendrix!
 
2.    Segovia:  Chaconne (from 2nd Violin Partitia)

      Segovia is the Spanish guitar master.  On this particular 
      selection, it is a transcription of a Bach violin piece.
      Gorgeous beyond belief...
 
3.    Derek Baily:  The Uh Uh Uh, from Steve Lacy "Dreams"
      Hey, they got sort of a rock groove on this, in a Lacyan way...
      Derek uses a wah-wah.  Pretty unorthodox, normally he uses
      a saxophone mouthpiece cap...
 
4.    John McGlaughlin:  Jack Johnson (Miles Davis, leader)
      How bout the shuffel with Billy Cobham, and Miles strutting over
      Mac?  The way Mac comps for Miles, that is more interesting
      than any solo.  Remember, good licks does not good music make.
      It is a total musical effort, and how well the band plays together
      determines how good the music is.
 
5.    Jimi Hendrix:  MACHINE GUN, from Band Of Gypsies, Filmore New Years Eve
 
      There are tons of Hendrix of course, but this one reminds me most
      of Coltrane.
 
6.    James Blood Ulmer:  No Wave (out of print Moers album)
      The 1st album with Music Revelation Ensemble,  it is some 
      harmolodic funk a la Ornette Coleman.  The time swirls in a
      hundred directions at once, but it is still funky.  Blood
      has 100 different articulations, much like Monk had, and
      like Clifford Brown.
 
7.    Sonny Sharock:  LAST CALL, from Last Exit, Koln
      People have called this band "metal", but when Sonny had to
      play through the house Marshall's he said: "The guitar player in
      those Marshall amps is not me!"
 
8.    John Scofield & Bill Frisell:  THRILL SEEKERS, from Bass Desire's
      Second Sight.
 
      Scofield is Mr Super-Line, and Frizz is spacey with his splattering
      chords.  Great contrast between two guitar styles of today's
      jazz.
 
9.    Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman:  Song X   (anything)
 
      and you thought Pat was an innocent country boy playing Yuppie Muzak?
      He is on top of Ornette's music, which has an entirely different
      set of rules than what most everyone else plays.
 
10.   Baden Powell, SARAVA, from Trisetza on Guitar
 
      The Brazilian master, playing a blazing afro-samba with chuica's
      blaring like a humming bird on speed...
      The music is in the samba/bossa nova style, and in terms of guitar
      technique, Powell also picks a lot of influences from jazz and 
      Iberian guitar styles.

There are some people I like that I missed, I have an interesting Hans
Reichel LP.   Kevin Eubanks (now on the Tonight Show Band with Branford)
does some interesting things on Dave Holland's Extensions.  Frisell's
work with Paul Motian should be checked out.  Though he plays lute, 
you can't ignore Lutz Kirchoff.   Grant Green, he started a thing.  Jim
Hall would swing anybody's book.

The others?

We covered Jimi, he is my favorite.
As for Zappa, I never liked him much as a soloist, but he always seemed to set
some nice things up for his ensembles and to accompany his soloists.
There are others, like Fripp, Belew (sp), Holdsworth, who are good, but never
turned me on.  Ditto with Stevie, but I have heard some good things from
Eric.  For blues, my favorite is Buddy Guy.   Of course there are so
many unknown blues guitarist that can come in and kill.  Go to blues
clubs in Chicago and you will see.

Jeff
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