Jazz Guitar | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1957 | |||
Recorded | January 10 & 24, 1957 | |||
Studio | Los Angeles, California | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 47:15 | |||
Label | Pacific Jazz | |||
Producer | Richard Bock | |||
Jim Hall chronology | ||||
|
Jazz Guitar is the debut album by jazz guitarist Jim Hall, recorded in early 1957 for the Pacific Jazz label. [1] [2] [3] It is composed mostly of standards. [4] Hall's group for the original recording sessions was a guitar/piano/bass trio, an instrumental combination popularized by Nat King Cole in the 1940s, and previously used by the poll-winning guitarist Tal Farlow on two notable albums recorded in 1956 for Norgran and Verve.
Jazz Guitar was released as a mono LP by Pacific Jazz Records in 1957 (PJ-1227) with 10 tracks. Hall at the time was a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, which was also recording for Pacific Jazz during the mid-1950s. Jazz Guitar did not sell enough for Pacific Jazz to record a follow-up LP, and Hall continued to work as a backing musician and session musician for more than a decade. He was not given another opportunity to record again under his own name until 1969, when MPS Records released It's Nice to Be With You , though he was a co-leader on several albums released between 1957 and 1966.
In 1963, during a period when jazz guitar albums by Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell were selling well, Pacific Jazz decided to re-release Jazz Guitar, but with significant alterations. Most noticeably, the label hired drummer Larry Bunker to overdub drum parts on the album. Additionally, half of the tracks were also edited to be shorter, with solo sections featuring pianist Carl Perkins and bassist Red Mitchell removed. These edits were made to the master tapes, and no backup copies of the original-length performances were retained by Pacific Jazz Records, with the exception of one title, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be". Pacific Jazz released the revised version of Jazz Guitar in stereo (ST-79), with a different track order from the original LP release and without the song "This Is Always".
In 1988, EMI, which had acquired Pacific Jazz in 1979 as part of their purchase of United Artists Records, released the album on compact disc under the Capitol Records imprint (CDP 7 46851 2). For the CD release, EMI producer Michael Cuscuna used the edited master tapes that were retained from the 1963 LP reissue, but without the overdubbed drum parts. An additional track from the recording sessions, "Too Close For Comfort", was added to the 1988 CD release, and the song "This Is Always" was left off the CD because the master tape no longer existed in any version. The 1988 CD included both the 1963 edit of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" and the full-length 1957 version of the same performance that had survived. On the CD, the full-length version of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" was mistakenly identified as an alternate take.
In 2011, the Essential Jazz Classics label released a CD edition of the album (EJC 55494) that used a copy of the 1957 LP release as source material for the tracks that had been edited in 1963. This release was titled The Complete "Jazz Guitar", and it included all the tracks from the 1957 LP release in their original unedited versions, plus the bonus track "Too Close for Comfort" from the original recording sessions, and five bonus tracks featuring Hall with pianist John Lewis and other musicians. The tracks with Lewis were recorded between 1956 and 1960, and were not part of the sessions for Jazz Guitar.
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Disc | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The AllMusic review by Ken Dryden stated: "A valuable introduction to the long, successful career of Jim Hall. The music sticks to familiar standards from the swing era and is often low key, much like the man himself." [5]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Stompin' at the Savoy" (Benny Goodman/Chick Webb/Edgar Sampson) | 4:35 |
2. | "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" (Mercer Ellington) | 5:44 |
3. | "This Is Always" (Harry Warren/Mack Gordon) | 2:46 |
4. | "Thanks for the Memory" (Ralph Rainger/Leo Robin) | 5:15 |
5. | "Tangerine" (Johnny Mercer/Victor Schertzinger) | 4:25 |
6. | "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young/Ned Washington) | 5:54 |
7. | "9:20 Special" (Earle Warren/Jack Palmer/William Engvick) | 5:42 |
8. | "Deep in a Dream" (Jimmy Van Heusen/Eddie DeLange) | 4:31 |
9. | "Look for the Silver Lining" (Jerome Kern/Buddy DeSylva) | 5:01 |
10. | "Seven Come Eleven" (Goodman/Charlie Christian) | 4:25 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Stompin' at the Savoy" (edited version) | 4:04 |
2. | "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" (edited version of master take) | 4:41 |
3. | "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" (full length version of master take, identified as "alternate take") | 5:44 |
4. | "Thanks for the Memory" | 5:15 |
5. | "Tangerine" (edited version) | 3:53 |
6. | "Stella by Starlight" (edited version) | 3:07 |
7. | "9:20 Special" | 5:42 |
8. | "Deep in a Dream" | 4:31 |
9. | "Look for the Silver Lining" (edited version) | 3:14 |
10. | "Seven Come Eleven" (edited version) | 3:50 |
11. | "Too Close for Comfort" (bonus track from original recording sessions) | 4:23 |
Hot Rats is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental, while "Willie the Pimp" features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears".
Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa, released in January 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label, distributed by Warner Bros. Records. It reached No. 175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
The Shadows is the debut studio album by British instrumental rock group The Shadows, released in September 1961. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart.
Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas is the fifteenth studio album by American singer Elvis Presley, released in October 1971. It was his first Christmas album with new recordings since Elvis' Christmas Album (1957). The album's single, "Merry Christmas Baby" / "O Come All Ye Faithful", was later released in November 1971. This album was a top seller and topped the Christmas LP's chart; it would have charted high on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but from 1963 to 1973, holiday albums were not allowed to chart. Though lacking the commercial appeal of Elvis' first Christmas album, it gradually become a perennial favorite. The album was certified Gold on November 4, 1977, Platinum on December 1, 1977, 2× Platinum on May 20, 1988, and 3× Platinum on July 15, 1999, by the RIAA.
Elvis for Everyone! is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, issued by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3450, on August 10, 1965. Recording sessions took place over a ten-year span at Sun Studio in Memphis, RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, and Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. It peaked at number 10 on the Top Pop Albums chart.
Exclusively for My Friends is a series of originally six albums for the MPS label by Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of private concerts with a small audience in his home studio. The albums have been collected in different box sets over the years.
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, recorded on July 2, 1948, July 23, 1951 and April 7, 1952 and released on Blue Note in 1956. The latter two sessions were originally released on ten-inch LP as Wizard of the Vibes (1952).
Out of the Shadows is a 1962 rock album by British group The Shadows. It was their second album.
Remembering Patsy Cline & Jim Reeves is a tribute album released in 1982 remembering the music of country stars Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves who were both killed in plane crashes in the early 1960s. It was released by MCA Records. A similar album called Greatest Hits of Jim Reeves & Patsy Cline had been released the previous year by RCA Records.
"Take Out Some Insurance" is a blues song released in 1959 by Jimmy Reed written by Charles Singleton and Waldenese Hall but originally credited to Jesse Stone. The copyright registration for the song lists its title as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby".. Tony Sheridan recorded it with different lyrics in 1961 with The Beatles as his backing band. Misidentified, it was released in Germany in 1964 as "If You Love Me, Baby " but subsequently as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby ", "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" or erroneously as "If You Love Me, Baby".
Preflyte is a compilation album by the American folk rock band the Byrds and was released in July 1969 on Together Records. The album is a collection of demos recorded by the Byrds at World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles during late 1964, before the band had signed to Columbia Records and become famous. It includes early demo versions of the songs "Here Without You", "You Won't Have to Cry", "I Knew I'd Want You", and "Mr. Tambourine Man", all of which appeared in re-recorded form on the band's 1965 debut album.
Blue Hour is a collaboration album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and The Three Sounds recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Turrentine with Gene Harris, Andrew Simpkins and Bill Dowdy. The album was reissued in 2000 with an additional disc of unreleased recordings, as Blue Hour: The Complete Sessions.
Fun in Acapulco is the seventh soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23 and February 27, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 28, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.
Jerald Edward Kolbrak, known professionally as Jerry Cole, was an American guitarist who recorded under his own name, under various budget album pseudonyms and as an uncredited session musician.
Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes is an album produced by T Bone Burnett featuring a collective of musicians recording under the moniker The New Basement Tapes—Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford.
Gerry Mulligan Quartet Volume 1 is an album by saxophonist and bandleader Gerry Mulligan featuring performances recorded in 1952 and originally released as the first 10-inch LP on the Pacific Jazz label. In 2001 Pacific Jazz released an album on CD with additional tracks from Mulligan's first five recording sessions.
Jim Hall was an American jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger. His discography consists of 39 studio albums, 10 live albums, 1 EP, 1 single, 10 videos, and 22 compilations, all released between 1957 and 2016. In addition, he was a sideman on numerous albums by other artists.
Live is a live album by saxophonist Paul Desmond recorded in 1975 at the Bourbon Street jazz club in Toronto, Canada and released on the Horizon label. The album's tracks were remixed and re-released in 2020 as part of the Mosaic Records boxed set The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings.