Back in the mid seventies Mr Kessel played a gig at Fat Tuesdays in NYC , I was a teenager studying guitar with The great Joe Monk ..and he was there along with a who's who of jazz guitar players from NYC and Long Island. Anyway, kessel blew the roof off the place and my friend and i nearly got kicked for screaming like two little girls at a Beatles concert!
Back in the mid seventies Mr Kessel played a gig at Fat Tuesdays in NYC , I was a teenager studying guitar with The great Joe Monk ..and he was there along with a who's who of jazz guitar players from NYC and Long Island. Anyway, kessel blew the roof off the place and
Note that even though he's suing a 30's Gibson Charlie Christian rare earth cobalt pickup on the guitar, there is no Gibson name on the headstock. Installing that must have been fun....it attaches to the front of the guitar with three screws on the face of the body...and two of the screws, when rotated, will raise and lower the pickup into the guitar, and back up toward the strings. Getouttahere....
Note there even though he's suing a 30's Gibson Charlie Christian rare earth cobalt pickup on the guitar, there is no Gibson name on the headstock. Installing that must have been fun....it attaches to the front of the guitar with three screws on the face of the body...and two of the screws, when rotated, will raise and lower the pickup into the guitar, and back up toward the strings. Getouttahere....
Doesn't it drive you nuts that every time he starts to shred the camera moves away from his left hand? Jeez....Note the violin bridge...plus the fact that he uses no pickguard, which on this model pickup, is a very cool pickguard. (shaped specifically and binded to match the edge of the pickup in reverse)
@gabri3l367 Non ci sperare troppo,i giovani chitarristi,tranne rare eccezioni,partono da Metheny in avanti.Come un attore che conosce De Niro e non sa chi e' Marlon Brando.
@maxswing78 Grazie è un piacere scambiare quattro chiacchere con esperti. Io non dimenticherei nemmeno per l'armonizzazione il mio idolo e maestro " Barry Galbraith " e soprattutto Tal Farlow e il mitico JIMMY RANEY. Vedi è brutto fare classifiche ma studiando per anni la chitarra mi sono reso conto che i grandi sono davvero pochi e sono questi. Adesso ci sono solo dei cloni senza personalità. Ciao Max e viva la grande chitarra jazz.
@gabri3l367 Ci dovremmo fare una suonata prima o poi,non credi?Con la scomparsa del grande Herb Ellis,a parte Jim Hall,la vecchia scuola non esiste piu.Se ne sono andati via originalita',gusto nella scelta delle note,repertorio(gli standard sono ormai snobbati)e sopratutto lo swing,il caro vecchio swing.Dimenticavo Kenny Burrell,che mi piace moltissimo.Hai ragione,gira e rigira i capiscuola sono sempre loro,i cloni milioni.
@maxswing78 Certo che ci faremo una suonata Maxswing78 . Se vuoi anche due o tre , ect.....Un altro grande che adoro io è Louis Stewart e poi sono un estimatore di Henri Crolla che aveva grande sensibilità e una vena malinconica piacevolissima. Viva Barney Kessel !!!!!
The bassist is Ron Mathewson from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. A great world class player resident at Ronnie Scott's for many years. As for the Gibson logo on Barney's Guitar, it would have been covered up with tape as no advertising allowed on BBC TV......UC !!!!!!
he was one of the first guitarist to go electric, he spent a lot of time playing in all black bands, and without his input into the i doubt we would have a lot of the jazz players we have, he even had to paint his hand black in one of the video, how weird lol. ....As for the pick up he was a big fan of Charlie Christan and had a modified CC pick up on his guitar,, sorry to be so boring but i'm a bit of a fan lol
saw this man live not long before he died, this man is amazing, he's on so many of the old recordings as well as Herb Ellis, Billie Holidays stuff etc. he's on 60 albums, played with Oscar Peterson and loads of other eg. Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sam Cooke, the list is huge,
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@TheBoringProphet Unfortunately that is true. Jazz music is too advanced for the masses. It's amazing when I hear people putting down Jazz when it's only because they are too musically unsophisticated to understand it.
@tbcass I agree with you...what i've found over the past 57 yrs is Jazz requires TOTAL concentration and fewer & fewer , especially today, have a trained attention span.
It becomes as tiresome to them as Rap does to me. The commercial music played for the past few decades has no depth, imagination etc and is a reflection on how banal society is.
@TheBoringProphet That is very true....i once saw Eric Clapton try and play Jazz. Wow, what an embarrassment! He kept playing his 4 licks he learnt from Buddy Guy...great for Blues BUT as Wes Montgomery used to say " One can't play licks when playing Jazz....if you do you'll run out of ideas during the 1st bar".
The "Rare Performance" dvd contains a 1987 interview in which Barney talks about his guitar. Built in 1946, it has a 1939 pickup constructed with high quality cobalt & copper. The bridge was specially made to violin standards. The unusual volume/tone controls came from an old record player and gave him better visuals than later controls which could reflect off lighting. The dvd has an excellent booklet. Worth a buy for anyone interested in the technique and versatily of one of the finest.
No idea about the pickup, sorry. As for the sweeping, yeah, Kessel did a few things unlike other guys in his generation (or later ones, for that matter). He did a fair amount of bending, for example--way more than others. He's also not as "obscenely clean" as a guy like Herb Ellis, which I like. I much prefer the raw, but far more interesting ideas he's playing (plus he makes up for it with soul)
@agellerv From what I know, It's a modified es350 with a charlie christian pickup with a notch on the b string. Fretboard was replaced with a dotted ebony board. The pickup was first placed right next to the fretboard but he pushed it back a bit. If you look at Kessel's early footages, you can see what I mean. The headstock was refinished to hide "Gibson" logo because he had a feud with the company. Kessel often taped the logo prior to the refinish.
@jefsut I'm sure a lot of people did "sweep picking" long ago. I play bass and was raking (sweeping with your fingers) back in the 70's. I didn't think about it or work it out. It just happened because it's an easy way to play notes fast compared to alternate plucking. I can never understand why people are impressed with sweeping. I'm more impressed with players who can play fast while alternate picking as it is far more difficult. Plus sweeping only works while playing across multiple strings.
@jefsut yes it'a charlie christinn pickup, one of the first guitar pickups,first seen on the early gibsons es150 it's single coil, not sure about the impendance,think it´s low impendance coil
@jefsut its actually older than the guitar which is about a '43, the pickup is a "39 model that Barney just really liked, theres a vid on here somewhere that he talks about his gear
@jefsut: I believe in another video he mentions that it's a pickup from the '30s, which is wound of the highest quality metals that are no longer available in such quality.
Thanks for the dvd confirmation. I have immediately ordered it from Amazon. Totally agree that this is a really fine example of Barney's style - sensitive, swing and unbelievable technique. Has been a favourite of mine since his early recordings with Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five. I've spent a couple of hours listening to other postings of his work after seeing this. Terrific upload. Thanks.
Does anybody know why the Gibson logo was taken off the top of the headstock? I must have seen Barney a couple of hundred times when I lived in San Diego years ago, and could never get an answer.......jim
I think Barney was quoted a long time ago that because his guitar was so heavily modified over the years (certainly refinished a few times), it wasn't really a Gibson anymore. Of course his endorsement deal with Gibson and that mutant Barney Kessel model didn't go so well, so he may have had the logo removed out of sheer spite, but that's a personal opinion. He was a man of a lot of opinions--always interesting as hell. He was truly one of jazzdom's great personalities. I sure do miss him.
In the 60's BK had a little feud with Gibson and told his luthier to take the logo off so that he doesn't endore Gibson. Prior to that, he use to tape the logo.
I asked Barney when I lived in San Diego about the headstock thing; he told me that he never liked the Gibson Barney Kessell model, and had wished that Gibson had never released it..............jim
Somewhere in a interview w/ "Steve Howe" of "YES, he states that "Barney Kessel" was one of his top 5 influences. After viewing this clip, it's clear why. Thank you for posting.
One of the most underrated guitarists in my opinion. He should be up there with JoePass, Martino, Montgomery and all the other "elites." His arrangement was just as bad ass as his playing
Oh,pat's the best at what he does. All the greats are the best at what they do. that's what so great about jazz guitar is that they are all different.The pat martino thing always comes up,everybody loves him,they all wanna be like him,he plays so fast,i've never heard him make the slightest mistake but still i'm left feeling cold and unemotional.Anyway,i'm much more interested in Tal farlow who makes tons of mistakes.
@4578a In 2 5 1 Would wes know to pull out the Subdom Substitution? For example, though a 2 5 1 Wes went to 2nd octive voicings and used his thumb to slide though them. Lets say the song in 2 5 1 went though Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Very simple, Would he ever have the idea liek the other guitarist I put on my list to use do such as a thing as to play Dm7 (Then hitting D Dorian landing on the G Tonic) Then G7 Then playing a Db7 then Cma7? He just was not as good with theory, and couldn't read music.
@4578a Pat is far better then Wes, Infact Charlie parker should be where Wes is. It should go. 1 Joe Pass 2 Barney kessel 3 Charlie parker 4 Pat martino 5 Tony Mottola 6 Jody Fisher 7 tal farlow 8 Ted Greene 9 Mark Whitefield 10 Wes.
@TheBeatlesCom Well i can't really take anything you would have to say into consideration. It seems as if your priorities are a bit askew. Say,anybody is better than anyone else. Whatever. But! No one has ever played like Wes montgomery(at least as good as the style he plays) with the warmth of the thumb and the fullness of the octaves.He's an original. Joe pass didn't originate his own style that we know him for until after Wes died! ,oh and you left a few out there. Django,Lenny,Kenny,Etc.
@4578a oh you're right I 10 Djano 11 Wes. nah not really Djano deserves a spot up there But I don't have time to replace it all, sorry Wes wasn't that great. Sure Irespect him for what he did in changing what people thought of guitar and such but thats like in rock n roll Sure hendrix changed music but is he better then all rock guitarist that came after him? Lol hell no. So I can respect what he did for music, but musicaly though theory and physicaly playing Wes just wasn't that great.
@TheBeatlesCom Everyone has an opinion but your just a fucking loser. Let's hear your fucking demo. Post up something with you playing so we can hear how much better you are than Wes. You didn't actually say that but if your going to diss the greats than at least have something of your own to say. A more appropriate thing to say is Wes wasn't that great but i can't even compare to him so what does that say about me? You Suck!! That's what this is all about. Your lack of talent! Prove me wrongplz
@4578a Sir, I am above collage music theory, I have been studying jazz for 8 years now, I have been majoring in music for 6 monthes now. I am also the only one in my class able to read bass cleff, due to the unfortunate reason most guitarist seem to think they can get by with just Notation. Wed played 2nd octive voicings all the time, he never was one to do things such as switch from a Minor/major Triad in something like, lets say a 2 5 1 progression.
@TheBeatlesCom Fuck all this theory . Wes didn't need it ,he was above it. Some people just go straight over it to the heart of the visceral music experience. Let's hear your fucking demo!
@4578a Theory is the reason Jazz has advanced. Jody Fisher is a man who studyed straight theory and look how amazing he is. Wes didn't know theory therefore thats why he was always using 2nd octive voicings. he couldn't create chord types in Chord formula like theory helps you to do. If they told him to play a Cm7b5 What would he do? He would give them a weird face and just play F 2nd octive voicing. What would Jody fisher or Joe pass do?
@4578a He would do the chord formula theory. Cmaj scale is C D E F G A B C. C is the root E is the 3rd but its minor therefore its flattend C Eb Gb for the 5h b5 is flattend so C Eb Gb Bb. And thanks to theory you own't have to fiddle around alot of the major scale and pentatonics, you could do things like jody fisher and charlie parker, In C you could use C ionion D Dorian E Phygian F Lydian G Mixolydian A Aelion B Locrion. Or the 6th of the maj scale is 6th (Submediant) So MinorMajor Am/C.
@4578a Enough with the "!" It makes you look so immature, and I took that into consideration and put a video up last night, appearntly you didn't check.
@TheBeatlesCom So your Brian la chance? That's you. Well, your a decent guitar player but fucking c'mon man! There it is again! Go back to the woodshed and call me when your 80. that's the last time we will correspond. Your a fucking waste of time!
@4578a It was always and was my opnion, you seem to really dislike it. I am sorry I never cared nor was influenced by wes. Did I say hewas a bad player? No. He had a great spotlight and playing quality for his time. What I am saying he is just not as technicaly good as most out there or there around that time. But once again my opnion, sorry you dislike it.
@4578a Your really downplaying it now. I heard your stuff and i would think with all your knowledge of theory you'd be a little more creative but what you played wasn't all that creative or interesting and the tone you had on the johnny smith one wasn't the greatest jazz tone. makes me really wanna hear some WES MONTGOMERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Done!
@4578a You have no right to look down me when you have no musical videos of you yourself, infact with not much music thought and you probably read "Tabs" You probably suck anyways, All your "!" And caps are just immature and make you look like you're 9, I got into collage and in a music major, what did you do? Sit at home and complain to people on they're opnions online? Pathetic.
@4578a Just curious as to why you didn't name Lenny breau? Ted green and jody fisher are beyond being heavily influenced by him. He's the genuine article.
Thanx so much 4 posting.. I never realized how incredible the man played....Unreal.... well ;I have to go now ,so I can give away all my guitars to anyone who wants them.........DALLAS
May I be the first to pass on my sincere and unforgettable experience of having the pleasure of seeing and listenning to Barney Kessel at Ronnie Scott's way back in 1968 with the kind generosity of Trefor Owen. Wow, thats over 40 years ago and I am still trying to seek some of that far reaching ability.
The Gretsch Double Anniversary I bought that day in Sound City is long gone but I still have some nice replacements.
@Readymover I also saw Barney at Scott's Club in 1968...saw him again a year later at Ronnies during the' Jazz Expo Festival. He was with Kenny Burrell & Grant Green. This film is absolutely wonderful.
WoW
ehanbameh1 1 week ago
Brilliant
mickhutchinson 1 month ago
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CatClemonsOfficial 1 month ago
Ya I thought malmsteen invented sweep picking, barney was ahead of his time and an innovator.
dezertfox4323 1 month ago
@dezertfox4323 You must be insane to think any 1980s guitarist or whenever Malmsteen came out invented any new technique on a guitar.
myxolydfly 6 days ago
That's some of the best old-school plectrum chord melody playing out there. I can really see and hear why Lenny Breau liked him a lot.
Modes9 5 months ago
@Modes9 Ya you can't get that sound with fingers, your thumb can never sound like that.
geoffreyefloyd 2 months ago
What a pimp. Look at that huge ring on this picking hand.
GreyJazz90 5 months ago
Wow.
I'm sure I'm not the only one here who can play a bit, but when I see something like this, heh. I can't play at all! Just amazing.
jdx350 6 months ago
MASTER !!!!!!
marcoferraz 7 months ago
Did he do the guitar playing for "Cry Me a River"
margot9230 8 months ago
Back in the mid seventies Mr Kessel played a gig at Fat Tuesdays in NYC , I was a teenager studying guitar with The great Joe Monk ..and he was there along with a who's who of jazz guitar players from NYC and Long Island. Anyway, kessel blew the roof off the place and my friend and i nearly got kicked for screaming like two little girls at a Beatles concert!
sirtubbyhayes 11 months ago
Back in the mid seventies Mr Kessel played a gig at Fat Tuesdays in NYC , I was a teenager studying guitar with The great Joe Monk ..and he was there along with a who's who of jazz guitar players from NYC and Long Island. Anyway, kessel blew the roof off the place and
sirtubbyhayes 11 months ago
Thanks for posting this, I have never seen a video that shows that much of his chording. Totally awesome!
Barney is my favorite. Grant Green is real close though.
vegetasrevenge 11 months ago
is it just me or does it look like he's plugged in to a hiwatt half stack?
TrueMason 1 year ago
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TrueMason 1 year ago
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Note that even though he's suing a 30's Gibson Charlie Christian rare earth cobalt pickup on the guitar, there is no Gibson name on the headstock. Installing that must have been fun....it attaches to the front of the guitar with three screws on the face of the body...and two of the screws, when rotated, will raise and lower the pickup into the guitar, and back up toward the strings. Getouttahere....
sclogse1 1 year ago
Note there even though he's suing a 30's Gibson Charlie Christian rare earth cobalt pickup on the guitar, there is no Gibson name on the headstock. Installing that must have been fun....it attaches to the front of the guitar with three screws on the face of the body...and two of the screws, when rotated, will raise and lower the pickup into the guitar, and back up toward the strings. Getouttahere....
sclogse1 1 year ago
this was tremendous
zdlrrebel 1 year ago
Doesn't it drive you nuts that every time he starts to shred the camera moves away from his left hand? Jeez....Note the violin bridge...plus the fact that he uses no pickguard, which on this model pickup, is a very cool pickguard. (shaped specifically and binded to match the edge of the pickup in reverse)
sclogse1 1 year ago
chitarrista bianco con un senso ritmico nero. Il mio preferito!!!
occhei1 1 year ago
barney is chuck norris of sweep pickers
orsalis 1 year ago
the king of chord melodies
Eurobubble70 1 year ago
bravoo!!! fantastic sound, kessel is one of my favourites!!!
sandroroj 1 year ago
Troppo bravo !!!! I giovani dovrebbero ascoltare di più i grandi del passato.
gabri3l367 1 year ago
@gabri3l367 Non ci sperare troppo,i giovani chitarristi,tranne rare eccezioni,partono da Metheny in avanti.Come un attore che conosce De Niro e non sa chi e' Marlon Brando.
maxswing78 1 year ago
Grande Barney Kessel !!!! Unico e inconfondibile. Grande gusto nell'armonizzazione.
gabri3l367 1 year ago
@gabri3l367 Come armonizzatore e' stato tra i piu grandi,non dimentichiamoci nemmeno di George Van Eps e dell'indimenticabile Joe.
maxswing78 1 year ago
@maxswing78 Grazie è un piacere scambiare quattro chiacchere con esperti. Io non dimenticherei nemmeno per l'armonizzazione il mio idolo e maestro " Barry Galbraith " e soprattutto Tal Farlow e il mitico JIMMY RANEY. Vedi è brutto fare classifiche ma studiando per anni la chitarra mi sono reso conto che i grandi sono davvero pochi e sono questi. Adesso ci sono solo dei cloni senza personalità. Ciao Max e viva la grande chitarra jazz.
gabri3l367 1 year ago
@gabri3l367 Ci dovremmo fare una suonata prima o poi,non credi?Con la scomparsa del grande Herb Ellis,a parte Jim Hall,la vecchia scuola non esiste piu.Se ne sono andati via originalita',gusto nella scelta delle note,repertorio(gli standard sono ormai snobbati)e sopratutto lo swing,il caro vecchio swing.Dimenticavo Kenny Burrell,che mi piace moltissimo.Hai ragione,gira e rigira i capiscuola sono sempre loro,i cloni milioni.
maxswing78 1 year ago
@maxswing78 Certo che ci faremo una suonata Maxswing78 . Se vuoi anche due o tre , ect.....Un altro grande che adoro io è Louis Stewart e poi sono un estimatore di Henri Crolla che aveva grande sensibilità e una vena malinconica piacevolissima. Viva Barney Kessel !!!!!
gabri3l367 1 year ago
The bassist is Ron Mathewson from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. A great world class player resident at Ronnie Scott's for many years. As for the Gibson logo on Barney's Guitar, it would have been covered up with tape as no advertising allowed on BBC TV......UC !!!!!!
Girsie 1 year ago
just a great player...terrific video. Thanks for the music!
646879 1 year ago
him and pass r the best that ever did it..
ThaBeatDocta 1 year ago
he was one of the first guitarist to go electric, he spent a lot of time playing in all black bands, and without his input into the i doubt we would have a lot of the jazz players we have, he even had to paint his hand black in one of the video, how weird lol. ....As for the pick up he was a big fan of Charlie Christan and had a modified CC pick up on his guitar,, sorry to be so boring but i'm a bit of a fan lol
MikeHenrick 1 year ago
saw this man live not long before he died, this man is amazing, he's on so many of the old recordings as well as Herb Ellis, Billie Holidays stuff etc. he's on 60 albums, played with Oscar Peterson and loads of other eg. Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sam Cooke, the list is huge,
MikeHenrick 1 year ago
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metallica04100 1 year ago
I would kill to get my hands on that guitar of his. I wonder if its in some museum right now.
BorysPomianek 1 year ago
Rockers play 3 chords for 1000 people, & jazz players play a 1000 chords for 3 people.
TheBoringProphet 1 year ago 19
@TheBoringProphet Unfortunately that is true. Jazz music is too advanced for the masses. It's amazing when I hear people putting down Jazz when it's only because they are too musically unsophisticated to understand it.
tbcass 1 year ago
@tbcass I agree with you...what i've found over the past 57 yrs is Jazz requires TOTAL concentration and fewer & fewer , especially today, have a trained attention span.
It becomes as tiresome to them as Rap does to me. The commercial music played for the past few decades has no depth, imagination etc and is a reflection on how banal society is.
taildragger53 1 year ago
@TheBoringProphet That is very true....i once saw Eric Clapton try and play Jazz. Wow, what an embarrassment! He kept playing his 4 licks he learnt from Buddy Guy...great for Blues BUT as Wes Montgomery used to say " One can't play licks when playing Jazz....if you do you'll run out of ideas during the 1st bar".
taildragger53 1 year ago
That's a Charlie Christian pick up.
Jkasperovich 1 year ago
I think its the Charlie Christian pickup.
Jkasperovich 1 year ago
True Jazz
oglioko 1 year ago
0 dislikes =)
hmfvunit 1 year ago
Barney could've just played perfectly clean but his playing outside ideas beyond his abilities caused him to make mistakes. It's a sign of growth!
4578a 1 year ago
The "Rare Performance" dvd contains a 1987 interview in which Barney talks about his guitar. Built in 1946, it has a 1939 pickup constructed with high quality cobalt & copper. The bridge was specially made to violin standards. The unusual volume/tone controls came from an old record player and gave him better visuals than later controls which could reflect off lighting. The dvd has an excellent booklet. Worth a buy for anyone interested in the technique and versatily of one of the finest.
adstocklad 1 year ago
Mine too and thanks for it-david
teazle2 1 year ago
Great video.
Wow, and I always thought sweep picking was the province of shredders! That was a revelation to me.
I noticed the Charlie Christian pickup on the guitar, but curious about more info on that.
Anyway, thanks for posting. Very inspiring.
jefsut 1 year ago 3
No idea about the pickup, sorry. As for the sweeping, yeah, Kessel did a few things unlike other guys in his generation (or later ones, for that matter). He did a fair amount of bending, for example--way more than others. He's also not as "obscenely clean" as a guy like Herb Ellis, which I like. I much prefer the raw, but far more interesting ideas he's playing (plus he makes up for it with soul)
agellerv 1 year ago 7
@agellerv From what I know, It's a modified es350 with a charlie christian pickup with a notch on the b string. Fretboard was replaced with a dotted ebony board. The pickup was first placed right next to the fretboard but he pushed it back a bit. If you look at Kessel's early footages, you can see what I mean. The headstock was refinished to hide "Gibson" logo because he had a feud with the company. Kessel often taped the logo prior to the refinish.
michaelmchung 1 year ago
@jefsut I'm sure a lot of people did "sweep picking" long ago. I play bass and was raking (sweeping with your fingers) back in the 70's. I didn't think about it or work it out. It just happened because it's an easy way to play notes fast compared to alternate plucking. I can never understand why people are impressed with sweeping. I'm more impressed with players who can play fast while alternate picking as it is far more difficult. Plus sweeping only works while playing across multiple strings.
tbcass 1 year ago
Comment removed
sclogse1 1 year ago
Comment removed
sclogse1 1 year ago
@jefsut yes it'a charlie christinn pickup, one of the first guitar pickups,first seen on the early gibsons es150 it's single coil, not sure about the impendance,think it´s low impendance coil
franfailde 1 year ago
@jefsut its actually older than the guitar which is about a '43, the pickup is a "39 model that Barney just really liked, theres a vid on here somewhere that he talks about his gear
And hell yeah you can sweep in jazz! :)
CaptainJazz92 10 months ago
@jefsut: I believe in another video he mentions that it's a pickup from the '30s, which is wound of the highest quality metals that are no longer available in such quality.
aarfeld 10 months ago
Thanks for the dvd confirmation. I have immediately ordered it from Amazon. Totally agree that this is a really fine example of Barney's style - sensitive, swing and unbelievable technique. Has been a favourite of mine since his early recordings with Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five. I've spent a couple of hours listening to other postings of his work after seeing this. Terrific upload. Thanks.
adstocklad 1 year ago
Look how close his action is..amazingly low like Wes.
jazz1bro 1 year ago
Half way thru I realised that I was just staring with my mouth wide open. Really soulful player.
ozzsihing 1 year ago
genius
great jazzman.
Not for him, the bossa nova would not exist. He was the greatest influence of João Gilberto.
Thanks for post.
conradopaulino 1 year ago 2
I love this.Thank you for posting this.
Guitfiddlejase 2 years ago
Boy do I love that riff from 1:31 to 1:36!
railcar123 2 years ago 2
Maybe it's a Hondo II. LOL
uschdog 2 years ago
ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOL!
Guitfiddlejase 2 years ago
Does anybody know why the Gibson logo was taken off the top of the headstock? I must have seen Barney a couple of hundred times when I lived in San Diego years ago, and could never get an answer.......jim
j3625252525 2 years ago
I think Barney was quoted a long time ago that because his guitar was so heavily modified over the years (certainly refinished a few times), it wasn't really a Gibson anymore. Of course his endorsement deal with Gibson and that mutant Barney Kessel model didn't go so well, so he may have had the logo removed out of sheer spite, but that's a personal opinion. He was a man of a lot of opinions--always interesting as hell. He was truly one of jazzdom's great personalities. I sure do miss him.
lgrinnell99 2 years ago 3
thanks for the info on the guitar...
what a great upload, thanks to the poster!
matthewcross 2 years ago
In the 60's BK had a little feud with Gibson and told his luthier to take the logo off so that he doesn't endore Gibson. Prior to that, he use to tape the logo.
michaelmchung 2 years ago
I asked Barney when I lived in San Diego about the headstock thing; he told me that he never liked the Gibson Barney Kessell model, and had wished that Gibson had never released it..............jim
j3625252525 2 years ago
Amazing, my dad named me after this gentleman, Barney
georgebarney 2 years ago
the solo part is just so beautiful. What a sound.
mrgone78 2 years ago
per un pezzo così 5 stelle non bastano, ce ne vogliono 6 !
micheleiac 2 years ago
I wish he did more solo pieces..don't get me wrong..i like the band, but i also love just concentrating on the guitar.
Tezman82 2 years ago
Somewhere in a interview w/ "Steve Howe" of "YES, he states that "Barney Kessel" was one of his top 5 influences. After viewing this clip, it's clear why. Thank you for posting.
DonTerhune1200cc 2 years ago
Boy does Barney swing on this one! Does anyone know who the Bass Player is? Great player.
jkip44 2 years ago
One of the most underrated guitarists in my opinion. He should be up there with JoePass, Martino, Montgomery and all the other "elites." His arrangement was just as bad ass as his playing
dylantish 2 years ago 2
He is up there with all the other elites.You can just squeeze him in between Wes and Joe and knock Pat martino out of that spot.
4578a 2 years ago 5
@4578a pats good at what he does man
Whatisthescore 2 years ago
Oh,pat's the best at what he does. All the greats are the best at what they do. that's what so great about jazz guitar is that they are all different.The pat martino thing always comes up,everybody loves him,they all wanna be like him,he plays so fast,i've never heard him make the slightest mistake but still i'm left feeling cold and unemotional.Anyway,i'm much more interested in Tal farlow who makes tons of mistakes.
4578a 2 years ago 4
@4578a In 2 5 1 Would wes know to pull out the Subdom Substitution? For example, though a 2 5 1 Wes went to 2nd octive voicings and used his thumb to slide though them. Lets say the song in 2 5 1 went though Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Very simple, Would he ever have the idea liek the other guitarist I put on my list to use do such as a thing as to play Dm7 (Then hitting D Dorian landing on the G Tonic) Then G7 Then playing a Db7 then Cma7? He just was not as good with theory, and couldn't read music.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom Well i can't really take anything you would have to say into consideration. It seems as if your priorities are a bit askew. Say,anybody is better than anyone else. Whatever. But! No one has ever played like Wes montgomery(at least as good as the style he plays) with the warmth of the thumb and the fullness of the octaves.He's an original. Joe pass didn't originate his own style that we know him for until after Wes died! ,oh and you left a few out there. Django,Lenny,Kenny,Etc.
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a oh you're right I 10 Djano 11 Wes. nah not really Djano deserves a spot up there But I don't have time to replace it all, sorry Wes wasn't that great. Sure Irespect him for what he did in changing what people thought of guitar and such but thats like in rock n roll Sure hendrix changed music but is he better then all rock guitarist that came after him? Lol hell no. So I can respect what he did for music, but musicaly though theory and physicaly playing Wes just wasn't that great.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom Everyone has an opinion but your just a fucking loser. Let's hear your fucking demo. Post up something with you playing so we can hear how much better you are than Wes. You didn't actually say that but if your going to diss the greats than at least have something of your own to say. A more appropriate thing to say is Wes wasn't that great but i can't even compare to him so what does that say about me? You Suck!! That's what this is all about. Your lack of talent! Prove me wrongplz
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a Sir, I am above collage music theory, I have been studying jazz for 8 years now, I have been majoring in music for 6 monthes now. I am also the only one in my class able to read bass cleff, due to the unfortunate reason most guitarist seem to think they can get by with just Notation. Wed played 2nd octive voicings all the time, he never was one to do things such as switch from a Minor/major Triad in something like, lets say a 2 5 1 progression.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom Fuck all this theory . Wes didn't need it ,he was above it. Some people just go straight over it to the heart of the visceral music experience. Let's hear your fucking demo!
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a Theory is the reason Jazz has advanced. Jody Fisher is a man who studyed straight theory and look how amazing he is. Wes didn't know theory therefore thats why he was always using 2nd octive voicings. he couldn't create chord types in Chord formula like theory helps you to do. If they told him to play a Cm7b5 What would he do? He would give them a weird face and just play F 2nd octive voicing. What would Jody fisher or Joe pass do?
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@4578a He would do the chord formula theory. Cmaj scale is C D E F G A B C. C is the root E is the 3rd but its minor therefore its flattend C Eb Gb for the 5h b5 is flattend so C Eb Gb Bb. And thanks to theory you own't have to fiddle around alot of the major scale and pentatonics, you could do things like jody fisher and charlie parker, In C you could use C ionion D Dorian E Phygian F Lydian G Mixolydian A Aelion B Locrion. Or the 6th of the maj scale is 6th (Submediant) So MinorMajor Am/C.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom Your avoiding the point. i wanna hear you put all this theory into effect. I wanna hear you!!!!!!!!!!!!
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a Enough with the "!" It makes you look so immature, and I took that into consideration and put a video up last night, appearntly you didn't check.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom So exclamation marks make you look immature. NO! Ok, where do i find your video. What do i look up. I wanna see this, genius.
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a Maybe on my profile?
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@TheBeatlesCom So your Brian la chance? That's you. Well, your a decent guitar player but fucking c'mon man! There it is again! Go back to the woodshed and call me when your 80. that's the last time we will correspond. Your a fucking waste of time!
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a It was always and was my opnion, you seem to really dislike it. I am sorry I never cared nor was influenced by wes. Did I say hewas a bad player? No. He had a great spotlight and playing quality for his time. What I am saying he is just not as technicaly good as most out there or there around that time. But once again my opnion, sorry you dislike it.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@4578a Your really downplaying it now. I heard your stuff and i would think with all your knowledge of theory you'd be a little more creative but what you played wasn't all that creative or interesting and the tone you had on the johnny smith one wasn't the greatest jazz tone. makes me really wanna hear some WES MONTGOMERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Done!
4578a 1 year ago
@4578a You have no right to look down me when you have no musical videos of you yourself, infact with not much music thought and you probably read "Tabs" You probably suck anyways, All your "!" And caps are just immature and make you look like you're 9, I got into collage and in a music major, what did you do? Sit at home and complain to people on they're opnions online? Pathetic.
TheBeatlesCom 1 year ago
@4578a Just curious as to why you didn't name Lenny breau? Ted green and jody fisher are beyond being heavily influenced by him. He's the genuine article.
4578a 1 year ago
good sweep picking!!, he´s great!!
manduker 2 years ago
Man do I miss this guy. I saw him back in NYC and in Hartford School of Music. Wow. What a player.
zinnington 2 years ago
This is the best of Barney, he is not drowned out by the bass as so many of his other pieces seem to be.
This is perfection.
bbcisrubbish 2 years ago
This is my favorite guitarist of all time!!! Where is his work, from the Blueslogy Album of the 60's.
cpayton314 2 years ago
The Master himself! Is that from the DVD "Barney Kessel - Rare performances"? Wish I could have the notes for that nice intro..
miro108 2 years ago
yep, that's the one. Great DVD, though some of the camera work is annoying.
agellerv 2 years ago
Thanx so much 4 posting.. I never realized how incredible the man played....Unreal.... well ;I have to go now ,so I can give away all my guitars to anyone who wants them.........DALLAS
Tototwice 2 years ago
I want one : )
mindaflame7 2 years ago
sorry, the last one just left yesterday ; (
Tototwice 2 years ago
He´s so great!
crismoraes99 2 years ago
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crismoraes99 2 years ago
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1930Wls 2 years ago
Excuse me, please.
crismoraes99 2 years ago
You're excused, cris.....what happened, did you expell some "air?"
logansGT 2 years ago
This video is absolutely inspirational. Nobody could play a guitar like Barney Kessel.
aaronentresz 2 years ago
May I be the first to pass on my sincere and unforgettable experience of having the pleasure of seeing and listenning to Barney Kessel at Ronnie Scott's way back in 1968 with the kind generosity of Trefor Owen. Wow, thats over 40 years ago and I am still trying to seek some of that far reaching ability.
The Gretsch Double Anniversary I bought that day in Sound City is long gone but I still have some nice replacements.
Thanks for the experiences Trefor. Doug.
Readymover 2 years ago
lucky!
agellerv 2 years ago
@Readymover I also saw Barney at Scott's Club in 1968...saw him again a year later at Ronnies during the' Jazz Expo Festival. He was with Kenny Burrell & Grant Green. This film is absolutely wonderful.
taildragger53 1 year ago