Essential Jazz (Guitar, but not only) Recordings

Wes Montgomery
1. Smokin at the Half Note (or the CD called "Impressions: The Verve Jazz Sides")
2. Incredible Jazz Guitar
3. Full House

Jim Hall
1. Jim Hall Live!
2. Intermodulation with Bill Evans (also Undercurrents, but I like this one a little better)
3. The Bridge with Sonny Rollins

Grant Green
1. Idle Moments
2. with Stanley Turrentine - Up at Minton's

Kenny Burrell
1. Midnight Blue (his playing is really simple on this one, but it's a great place to pick up licks from)
2. Lotus Blossom (maybe my favorite guitar sound on this recording)

Joe Pass
1. Virtuoso (THE solo guitar recording, Vol. 2 and 4 are also very good)
2. The Best of: Pacific Years (great overview of early, hard-bop Joe)
(3 and 4) Also “Live at Donte’s” (great example of guitar trio) and “Tudo Bem” (almost pop-sounding Brazillian influenced recording, but he burns on it).

Tal Farlow
1.Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow
2. with Red Norvo Trio “Modern Red Norvo”
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Red-Norvo/dp/B0000667QQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195063998&sr=1-2

The stuff with Norvo and Charles Mingus is amazing, and can be found on lots of Tal compilations, too.

Jimmy Raney
1. With Stan Getz, at Storyville
2. Jimmy Raney Featuring Bob Brookmeyer
http://www.amazon.com/Jimmy-Raney-Featuring-Bob-Brookmeyer/dp/B000CIXCDM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195070516&sr=1-3

Raney also did some time with Norvo, there’s a CD that has both Farlow and Raney which is great. His later stuff is also great, though a lot of my favorites (on the Xanadu label) are out of print.

Les Paul (not just the name of a guitar!)
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Capitol-Masters-90th-Birthday/dp/B0009IW9CU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195070624&sr=1-1
This looks like a good compilation. Anything with “How High the Moon” and “the World is Waiting for the Sunrise”

Ed Bickert – maybe the best chord player. Refined like Raney, but could make the guitar sound like a piano.
1. With Paul Desmond, “Pure Desmond”
2. With Frank Rosolino, “Thinking About You”. I spoke with the drummer on this date Terry Clarke, he said they did a week (or two?) at a club and never played the same tune twice. Plus, they play tunes in unusual keys on this.

Lenny Breau – could play more guitar than, maybe, anyone, ever. Classical, flamenco, country, bebop. For my money the best solo guitarist ever.
1. Five O’Clock Bells / Mo’ Breau
http://www.amazon.com/Five-OClock-Bells-Mo-Breau/dp/B000003TKN/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195071124&sr=1-2
2. Live at Bourbon Street

The story about him is that two guys were standing outside of a club he was playing at, and the first guy says “sounds like 2 great guitarists playing in there”. The second guy says “yeah, except there’s just one”.

Pat Metheny – the PMG stuff runs more towards “contemporary” sounding stuff, but he has straight ahead, avant garde, folksy CD’s too.
1. Bright Size Life (in between fusiony and straight ahead)
2. Pat Metheny Group (White Album) (more fusion)
3. Travels (fusion)
4. 80/81 (straight ahead/avant garde)
5. Trio Live (straight ahead)

John Scofield
1. Shinola
2. with Trio Beyond – “Saudades”
3. Time On My Hands

Bill Frisell (not a big fav of mine, but very influential. I tend to like him on other peoples records better than his own)
1. Live
2. with Don Byron, “Romance with the Unseen”

Jack Wilkins – SMOKIN’ HOT!!!
1. “Trio Art”
2. with Bob Brookmeyer “Live at Sandy’s Jazz Revival”

George Benson
1. George Benson Cookbook
2. In Concert – Carnegie Hall

Pat Martino
1. Live – the version of Sunny on this is definitive
2. Think Tank – gets mixed reviews, but I think it’s a classic

Hank Garland
1. Jazz Winds from a New Direction (included on the double CD “Move”)

Gene Bertoncini – my teacher
1. Body and Soul

Django
Any good compilation with Stephane Grappelli, “Swing de Paris” is the best I’ve found
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_m_pop/?search-alias=popular&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-artist=django&field-title=&field-label=proper&field-format=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Music-Album-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Music-Album-Submit.y=0

Charlie Christian
“Original Guitar Genius” is my favorite compilation
http://www.amazon.com/Original-Guitar-Genius-Charlie-Christian/dp/B000BO5LY0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195142662&sr=1-5

Eddie Lang
“The New York Sessions”, like the Christian and Django box sets are pretty affordable and quite complete.
http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Sessions-1926-1935/dp/B00009XH3X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195142767&sr=1-3

Mike Stern
1. Give and Take

John McLauhglin
1. Birds of Fire (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
2. Live at Royal Festival Hall (playing nylon string triggering a synth)
3. After the Rain

Johnny Smith
1. Moonlight In Vermont

George Van Eps
1. Mellow Guitar

I’m also a big fan of Kurt Rosenwinkel, Rodney Jones and Adam Rogers among younger guys. Vic Juris and John Abercrombie are two others I should have mentioned. Joe Beck is an amazing chord player, too. Joe Diorio. Howard Roberts was also great.

*** Added later on!!! ***
Ooooh, I can't believe I forgot to mention Emily Remler!!!

That’s enough guitar players.

Miles – Kind of Blue, Birth of the Cool, Miles Smiles, Highlights from the Plugged Nickel (actually the whole box set is amazing, but pricey)

Charlie Parker – the Savoy and Dial recordings.

Coltrane – Giant Steps and A Love Supreme are the obvious choices, but I prefer Blue Train, Coltrane Jazz and Live at Birdland.

Monk – “Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall” is transcendent. I like his groups with Charlie Rouse and Ben Riley, too, so “Straight No Chaser” is a good place to start.

Sonny Rollins – already mentioned “The Bridge” with Jim Hall, “Saxophone Colossus” would have to be mentioned, along with “Night at the Village Vanguard”. There must be 20 recordings I could list here, but those are good places to start. "The Impulse Story" is a nice compilation, too.

Wayne Shorter – “Speak No Evil” is an almost perfect jazz record. I also love “Heavy Weather”-era Weather Report. Most of his Blue Note records from the 60’s are classics.

Bill Evans – The live stuff at the Vanguard with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro are required listening. “Waltz for Debby” and “”Sunday at the Vanguard” (both are included in “Complete Vangaurd Recordings, 1961”).

Cannonball Adderley – “Somethin’ Else”

Duke Ellington – hard to narrow down, here. The “Blanton-Webster” recordings (several compilations) cover early important recordings, “Black, Brown and Beige” is an important extended work, and “Such Sweet Thunder” is a favorite later Ellington recording.

Count Basie w/Freddie Green – Freddie Green may be the most important guitarist in the history of jazz. His rhythm playing freed up the Basie band in a way that eventually made bebop possible. Never underestimate what he does. Early Basie has Lester Young (among others) but later recordings allow you to hear Freddie better. “The Complete Decca” is everything you would need from early Basie, though you can find the same things elsewhere. “Atomic Basie” is great Second Testament Basie (First Testament refers to the band with Lester Young, etc. Second Testament refers to later bands where there were more written arrangements). “Count Basie and the Kansas City 7” is a great small group recording, very easy to hear FG on this.

Lester Young – so much good Prez, the Ken Burns is a decent compilation including his “Lady Be Good” solo. Some of his classic solos are on Billie Holiday records. Actually, there’s a label called Quadromania that have great, inexpensive 4-CD sets that capture lots of great things together.

Coleman Hawkins – something with the “Body and Soul” recordings, obviously. Again, Ken Burns seems to be an ok compilation. “The Hawk Flies High” is a nice, later recording with Barry Galbraith playing great FG-style rhythm guitar.

Ornette Coleman – “The Shape of Jazz to Come”. “Love Call” is a personal favorite.

Louis Armstrong – Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. Pick a compilation, there are a bunch. This should, of course, be first on the list.

Jaco – “Jaco Pastorius”

And of course everything by Jimi Hendrix (esp. Are You Experienced, Electric Ladyland, Band of Gypsies) and Jeff Beck (esp. Blow by Blow and Wired).

I’m sure I missed a few – but that’s an awful lot.