Jim Hall Trio - St. Thomas

[ahaaaaaaaaah]

Penny Lane!

[nathanalexander28]

hell yeah.. jim hall was the FIRST guitarist to be featured on a jazz album as the only comping (accompanying) instrument, playing chords behind the soloist. (no piano)

it was sonny rollins "the bridge". just sonny on sax, jim on guitar, drums and bass....

so think twice before you bash jim ;)

[ubernaffa]

@nathanalexander28 I could be wrong, but I am fairly sure that Barney Kessel was the first guitarist to record without a pianist.

[hjerthinfarkht]

Is he using an octave-pedal? Pretty cool :)

[davnkatz]

My jazz group is learning this and instructor told me to work up a bass solo - not just bass line. This is great 'cause clearly shows bassist progress od sound. No way can I play this good, but it gives me something solid to work on. Thanx

[wurlitzer90]

YEAH Geoff Keezer on piano!!!

[HendrixcommaMartin]

I think they really capture the essence of this song better than most people do. It's such a simple form that many people just want to rip on it, but these guys really make a song of it. Someone before mentioned Jim's guitar with the octave pedal sounding like steel drums; I don't know if that was intentional or not, but the description is dead on, and this performance really does evoke the Caribbean.

[ImproviseNow]

that piano players got some seriously cool ideas

[TheJJAAZZZZ]

damn this is a ripping St. Thomas

[jsm355]

jazzgtrplayer is correct . However even on the tech side of things Jim Hall is CERTAINLY NO SLOUCH !! .

Mr.Hall has the harmonic language way under his belt and if I had to choose Harmonic understanding or Technical facility .... Harmonic is it . The tech part comes over time without ever realizing you have achieved it sometimes .

[future4you]

I love playing this tune. Jim's take is really different.

[squizzy104]

Well?..Sorry not for me! Love Jaz but this is taking it over the top and it just becomes jibberish! Sorry Guys.

[alanheath]

Wonderful stuff!!

[TheCasualSax]

is that scott colley on bass? great playing, especially that piano player.

[b1llybrown]

hes using a hog!!! ahhhhahaha

[gloucester414]

Mr. Jim sounds like the steel drums of that part of the world. Like coming in on a boat into bermuda and all these guys coming out with that type of sound. i am typing this along with the music, really great!!!!!!!!!

[TruAgape123]

OMG!!! Who was that piano player? He was freekin awesome! I love the way he owned it, especially those bass keys!! I 've got to buy this CD.

[shama2]

wena scott como va todo por alla!

[embers17]

nice jam

[SamwiseGUITAR]

This is truly remarkable music! Absolutely Beautiful! Jim Hall Owns! : )

[rubileno]

Viva el viejo loco!!!

[peartree7231]

he uses a whammy pedal !

[b1llybrown]

its a hog!!! ELECTRO HARMONIX !! ITS EITHER THE HOG OR THE POG! MY BET IS HOG! I HAVE IT AND I LOOOOOVE IT!!!

[bela2ives]

@b1llybrown it is whammy.not a hog the still great pedal.

[eatme765wes]

is he using an octave pedal or is that just the quality

[Reinocerous25]

i would guess a pedal

[kevinm4435]

octave pedal, you see ihim use it in a few other videos.

[5656bigsteve]

Yeah, my money's on an octave pedal too. Unfortunately I never heard one sound good. Jim's great though.

[loren1283]

Why is it that on every comment page there is one asshole? there should be some kind of mechanism where people love the privalige of commenting if they get too many thumbs down.

[boomerangfarm]

who's the asshole? isn't it cool and interesting when people say something stupid? spurs some conversation. better to not have rules and ignore those ignorant comments that bother you. better than that, you can have a good laugh, or get riled up. post your true opinions people!

[s05110057]

wow!!!! I really like how they comunicate!!

[Venantius3691]

I love Jim's mainstream stuff. Actually if I ever decide to do transcriptions there are only 3 guitarists I would bother to emulate: Wes, Jim and Jimmy Raney. But I don't like this rendition. He completely throws away form and doesn't seem to be sure in which key to play the melody (at the beginning). At times I feel I'm listening to free jazz, especially when his sidemen just stand by as they don't seem to have a clue about the bandleader's intention. No accounting for tastes...

[pak087]

the changing of keys is intentional...jus in case you didn't figure that much out...

[bizz021]

i dont know why you guys dont listen right to this song, it is badass trio jam. The pianist was amazing the guitar solo was all soul and feel. Lets not forget about the bass!! in all badass jam

[TOERAG54]

Funkee impro.

[guitarsmurf2501]

Nothing against Jim Hall, but I really don't like this. It's one of those moments in jazz where they take a tune so far out, it's beyond recognition.

[raggedy]

ahahaha

[mibifinalist]

beyond recognition?! the head is played totally straight here, and the chords are exactly the same! listen properly next time.

[guitarsmurf2501]

I always listen properly and yes you can still tell what tune it is, but it's too far gone to call it a "melody". I just don't like it.

[jrmckamey]

melody doesn't start until 0:30 the beginning is an intro

[edcerc]

isnt that a good thing?

[dropfan195]

need a little more practice when it comes to jazz. good though

[sbonfiglioli]

Hahahahaha.

You clearly have no idea who Jim Hall is.

Or how to listen to jazz.

[jazzgtrplayer]

You or jazz legend Jim Hall?

[dropfan195]

Jim Hall or Django Reinhardt

Jim Hall or John Coltrane

Jim Hall or Eric Dolphy

Jim Hall or Sun Ra

Jim Hall or Art Blakey

Jim Hall or Charlie parker????

[jazzgtrplayer]

Jazz isn't a competition. Jim Hall's musical concept is completely different from the people you named, just as Coltrane's was different from Django's. He might not win on technical skill, but his harmonic awareness is second to none and that's why Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Pat Metheny and others have recorded with him.

[lexo30]

@jazzgtrplayer I'm not defending a stupid comment, but you could argue that Parker, Coltrane and Sun Ra were a familiar kind of jazz musician in that they were innovators whose work took some time to become accepted (Sun Ra's work is still not exactly mainstream). Django was a phenomenon. Blakey was a great musician and bandleader but not someone who pushed back the boundaries of jazz - hard bop is a retreat from bebop. Hall is, I think, a great if subtle innovator, and technically brilliant.

[niggerfuckshitreborn]

@jazzgtrplayer dont forget paul desmond.

[JazzyGiord]

@dropfan195 Jim.

It's my favourite jazz musician.

[juanmat68]

fuck scott colley is such a bad ass....jim too!!

[BradyBills]

Cool stuff. What pedal is he using to harmonize his beginning stuff? A Whammy possibly?

[minor7b5b9]

proves that Jim Hall can take a "nothing" tune and make something out of it. If Sonny Rollins hadn't written it, it never would have made it to a fake book.

[hitmanisback]

totaly agree ,stthomas aint 1 of my favs either

[minor7b5b9]

many fake book tunes are there because of WHO wrote them, not how good they are

[club349]

you're slow, this is way worse than the original

[minor7b5b9]

I think you're right.This is a piece of shit.

[minor7b5b9]

Getz was able to take the Brazilian idiom & put it together in a jazz format without losing the beauty & integrity of the original. Rollins, with Jim Hall tried the same thing with Calypso & it was a dismal failure.

[gillyarchtop]

Listen to Jim Hall's version of St. Thomas on the Live in Tokyo recording. Terry Clarke on drums and Don Thompson on upright... beautifully recorded and was one of great moments in jazz.

[NoGuitar]

...except sonny rollins didn't write it, per se. he based the tune on a nursery song from the virgin islands.

[minor7b5b9]

Sonny went through a whole period of Calypso-Jazz. I wouldn't be surprised if he did a lot of "borrowing" from the Carribean.

[kevinm4435]

c'mon now, you can't criticize any of these musicians.

[minor7b5b9]

if you read what I had to say again, you'll see I'm complimenting Hall on making something out of a "nothing" tune. He is one of my favorite jazz guitarists for many years. I also have an extensive collection of Sonny Rollins stuff, the best when he & Hall played together. Just don't like the song & what they are doing with it.

[HammondB200]

Fuck i missed it

[takefive54]

uninspired

[Tobey2k4]

please explain

[benjazz84]

the most impressive thing about jim hall's style is the way he plays chord melodies, it's different from any other jazz guitarist. there's something from folk and classical music IMO

[jthemump]

The piano player is geoffre Keezer for anyone wondering. He has a duo cd with Hall from a couple years ago

[lexo30]

Sounds like Jim is using an octave divider in the first few bars - weird because he never normally uses pedals.

[junyanyan]

So, who's on the piano?

[stthomas69]

it´s great jazz is the best.

i like " st.thomas " it´s my favorit jazz them

St.Thomas - germany

[Bopeliano]

I love that tune too ; )

[ai4281]

octaver on guitar?

[seventhst]

I read that miles had asked jim to play on bitches brew but I couldnt picture it but hearing his cool comping on the little middle section man I should have known.... jim you cool B

[Humbaba]

Nice clip.

The bassist is Scott Colley, IMO one of the best out there today.

[ogulkoker]

Is he using a harmonist?

[bigolcracker]

Awesome! Who is the piano player, Gil Goldstein? I guess I don't know the bass player either! Great, though. I love the song, love the playing. Thanks for sharing.

[fluffybal]

shit missed this gig!

[Grippowitz]

Jim Hall is the cat who inspired all of the "modern" Jazz guitar greats more than any other (ie. Metheny, Scofield, Stern, Frizzel etc)He's the bridge (no pun intended).

[UlugOzkan]

Yes it is.

[paulsmith132]

what the hell, this is really out there and abstract...but i like it!

[Zeitgeist74]

That means that Hall is still "out there" makin' it great!

[trebor95405]

You dah man Jim.......never give up!

-------you are the greatest!