Identifying Particular Players

[benson_murrensun]

Coincidentally I was having a discussion tangentially related to this yesterday with a guy who is a Telecaster afficianado. He said that Teles of different construction and components had distinctly different sounds. I told him that I have heard BILL KIRCHEN play numerous different types of Teles and I can always tell it's Bill playing.

[sonicus]

There are many comments here that I concur with here , it's that Signature Mark , that telegraphed signature of the Artist of their Mind , Body and Soul , ___that voice from their entity  just like brush strokes that come through regardless of  what instrument .      I like that Miles Davis quote that left  Hal left in his post #390 ;Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.  
 
    Mica , ____this is an awesome thread that you started here , I really like the introspective aspects that it can ignite within our minds ,  Cool !
 
     I don't want to be redundant in mentioning other players that already have been mentioned .   These also come to mind , Wes Montgomery ,  Jack Casady, Joe Pass . Don Ellis,   Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis & Lew Soloff ; You have probably heard this before  , one of my favorite trumpet players with such  aspects !   ______
http://www.jazztrumpetsolos.com/solo.asp?soloist=LewSoloff&Solo=SpinningWheel
 
 
 
      I am sure others will come to mind as well .
 
      Sonic Regards !
 
     Wolf

[sonicus]

Shame on me, ____   How could I leave out Michael Manring ?    I can Always tell it's him !    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4Ra2KOyas
 
    Or Mark Egan ! !   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD_PbVFEOnQ&feature=related

[hammer]

I concur with with just about all of the artistis who have been named.  Carlos is actually the one that I can identify the easiest but Jerry, Stevie, Jimi, and Duane aren't far behind.  Sticking to guitar I would add to the mix Pat Methany, Ralph Towner, Terry Kath, and David Wilcox (the folkie).
 
I find it interesting that almost all of the artists whose names have been offered are not of current vintage. Do people think that's primarily due to: (1) what I assume to be the ages of most of us; (2) how today's music is produced and reproduced; and/or (c) fewer unique players being around at the national level?

[herbbone]

Lindsey Buckingham, The Edge, Brian May also seem to come to mind.

[pauldo]

I think the answer that was originally given covers it well:
I think what matters most is that the musician has something to say with their music.  
And from that we learn a musicians 'message' and recognize it instantly in a song.

[David Houck]

Benson mentioned Bill Kirchen.  For those still digging through the memory banks, here he is playing an old familiar tune.

[hammer]

Pauldo (and others): Does your response (I think what matters most is that the musician has something to say with their music.) to my question regarding the lack of current artists being identified  mean that you think that many of today's musicians (at least those recording and recognizable at a national or international level) have less to say with their music than those of the past? If that's what you have intended to communicate I think I'd have to disagree. Those who are truly musicians haven't changed, it's what is done to the music after its recorded that had undergone a metamorphisis. Music for music's sake seems to no longer be the norm. It's music to make $$$$ that drives the industry and therefore everything that is produced is produced to sound like whatever is selling at the moment.
 
I find it interesting to note that my son, who is a guitarist and currently in college, listens almost exclusively to my old albums (GD, Santana, Allman Brothers, Jimi, Coltrane, Miles  etc.) rather than more recent offerings.  He recently wrote a paper for a Sociology of Music class that focused on how changes in the way we listen to music (personal music devices versus sitting around a stereo with friends)has changed the manner in which we interpret and enjoy the medium.

[sonicus]

Hammer ,   Much of the music that I think that you refer to if I am not mistaken has similarities to the classical  Sonata Allegro form .      Often Jazz improvisation goes through such stages in development in the moment  when you take it out  and thenbring it back to the head    From the classical then to jazz and then to rock such as Grateful Dead style jams , variations and etc ...      Such influence is so vastly spread as a vehicle for expression and to have a conduit for magical communication amongst the musicians. One can truly have something to say as a musician when one enters this realm.    
 
     I think what is happening on some level in some current so called popular music  is less of what I wrote in my first paragraph.  There is still Jazz ,Blues, R&B, Funk  and some rock  and fusion  , etc .. that follows exercises in self expression and jamming and the such but less main stream  . Therefore ;  Yes,  I can see validity in the last sentence of your first paragraph of your post # 63.
 
 
 
Marc Sabatella's Jazz Improvisation Primer: Jazz Fundamentals
www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/ms-primer-3.html - Most jazz since the bebop era is based on a form that is actually quite similar to the sonata allegro form from classical theory: an optional introduction, ...
►

[darkstar01]

form?! what?!  
just kidding, but I do love free jazz. and I play a lot of totally improvised music.  
speaking of which, one of the most recognizable voices in music history: Ornette Coleman.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Thanks, Dave - I love getting links here!  This is a fav; learned it when I was 18, still doing it today (you'd think I'd be better at it by now), and never saw this version.  It rocks - plus, it led me to Bill with Arlen Roth, which led me to Arlen with Danny Gatton, which led me to Danny with Vince Gill & Albert Lee......I gotta get up from this chair or I'll be crawling deeper into the Telecaster rabbit hole all freakin' day!
 
Brian, as far as the $$$ goes, remember Beatlemania? McCartney has said we were the Spice Boys  and we'd sit around and say let's write a swimming pool.  Now granted, that was much more his attitude than John's or George's, but it was the engine that drove the whole insanity - and they managed to make some music, too.  As for older vs. newer, I will just say that every day I teach, I see kids who could be my grandkids wearing Beatles & Grateful Dead t-shirts; does anybody really think their grandkids will be wearing Justin Beiber or Eminem shirts to school?
 
Peter

[David Houck]

Peter; of course when you start going down that path you eventually get to the amazing Roy Buchanan.  This video is a great example of his unique voice and technique.
 
[moderator's edit: unacceptable spelling error]
 
(Message edited by davehouck on July 21, 2011)

[David Houck]

Peter, I just watched the Kirchen and Roth video; that was fun.  There's some guitar pickin' going on in that video.  And the Roth/Gatton vid is a hoot as well.  I've seen the One Way Rider vid before, and it's great as well.  Thanks!

[paulman]

Wow, great thread and I won't waste any time restating what's already been said.  
 
I do have an anecdote though.  New Years Eve 1991 I was a friend house for a NYE party, and the group partook in some reality enhancement.  
 
I was a total NOOB to the Dead world, just hot for GD stuff in particular.  The host put on this weird, psychedelic county music with this blazing sunrise sounding Pedal Steel.  I was whacked out of my brain and mezmerized by this music!  
 
All of a sudden I look up and say That sound like Jerry for some reason and the one dude looks at me and says That IS Jerry!.   It was NRPS Live NYC 1970 and it blew me away..JERRY blew me away.  
 
Then I got on the bus, and learned everything I possibly could about the band, Jerry, The Dead, etc.  (and Alembic too)
 
So my point is even being a NOOB and out of my mind, Jerry still sounded like Jerry, even on Pedal Steel, and said Hello let me play with your Jello-fied mind for a while

[sonicus]

Peter and Dave , thanks for those Vids , Awesome!
 
paulman (Roger) , I agree  , I loved Jerry on the pedal steel as well. I really liked what he did with it yet it is my understanding that he was not completely convinced  himself  that he was that good with it in all his humbleness. I think he smoked on pedal steel and YES , it sounded like Jerry !  His Birthday is August  1  .