One Mint Julep - Barney Kessel 1964

One Mint Julep - Barney Kessel 1964
Barney Kessel's trio in a broadcast recording in the Netherlands in 1964. With him on bass is Buddy Woodson and Stan Levey on drums.
Barney Kessel (1923 -- 2004) was an American jazz guitarist He began his career as a teenager touring with local dance bands before moving on to bands such as that led by Chico Marx. He quickly established himself as a key post-Charlie Christian jazz guitarist. In 1944 he participated in the Lester Young film "Jammin' the Blues" most of it to be seen on my youtube site, and in 1947 he recorded with Charlie Parker's New Stars on the "Relaxin' at Camarillo" session for Dial Records.
Barney Kessel is known for his innovative work in the guitar trio setting. In the 1950s, he made a series of albums called "The Poll Winners" with Ray Brown on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. Kessel was also a member of the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown in the early 1950s. The guitar chair was called the hardest gig in show business since Peterson often liked to play at breakneck tempos. Herb Ellis took over from Kessel after a year or so.
A "first call" guitarist at Columbia Pictures, during the 1960s Kessel became one of the most in-demand session guitarists in America, and is considered a key member of the group of first-call session musicians now usually known as The Wrecking Crew. In this capacity he played on hundreds of famous pop recordings. During the 1970s, Kessel presented his seminar 'The Effective Guitarist' in various locations around the world.
Kessel released several solo albums even late into his life. "The Blue Guitar" and "Kessel Plays Standards" were both released late in his career, showcasing his longevity as a performer and his undying creativity.
Kessel died of brain cancer. He had been in poor health after suffering a stroke in 1992.

• Category

  Music

[BryanBetts]

YEAH BABY! this is THE one i have been looking for! it was posted quite some time ago, but removed for what ever reason. thank you so much for posting this version. this is a real steamer!

[cass2112]

man that is pure jazz with a twist that cat can sure play some cool groove on that guitar..........nice!

[GrooveWorshipper]

swangin!



[Greg Box]

that's one cool cat! i listen to this at least once a day!

[Paul McCabe]

Barney was my first Jazz Hero...what a great player...and his arrangements on `Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By`are just wonderful and to this day still very `Hip`...He is the `DUDE`.

[Goergebenson]

When Barney swung he was hard to beat, always interesting harmonies and substitutions, timing, yeh!!!! When he held it together my Fav

[Robert King]

Subscribed. You seem to have overlooked Barney's giggin' with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars.....those were great years for jazz and I was privileged to go to Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach after my discharge from the Air Force in the early fifties. Howard Rumsey (just celebrated his 94th birthday last November (2011). He's a neighbor of mine and we get together about once a month to talk music .....he's still a very hep cat!

No one like Kessel - met him years ago. majskyking@gmail.com

[Terence Francis]

Oh I sooo love it...

[thesku11s]

And it actually has a hundred times more soul, groove & tone that if someone else was doing it too!

[memphist1]

As far as critisizing Hendrix, not many non-rock guitarists or musicians liked rock or rock players at the time. According to Kessel's children, he later decided Hendrix actually was an innovative blues guitarist.

[Shea Daniels]

He criticized Hendrix?  Why? That's sad.

[iThrashNano]

Simply amazing 0_0