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My Top 10 Influential Jazz Songs – Taylor Roberts
Jazz Guitar Today continues to reach out to players. This time, “What SONGS influenced you and your playing style?” Guitarist and educator Taylor Roberts shares his Top 10, and why.
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Wes Montgomery – Canadian Sunset
This was the first jazz guitar solo I ever learned. It’s quite possibly the most lyrical, eloquent, and masterfully voiced guitar solo I’ve heard. I was lucky at the age of 17 to have an excellent teacher who helped point me in the right direction, and every time I hear the recording I still get chills.
Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia John McLaughlin – Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho
“Friday Night in San Francisco” was a pivotal album for me. It helped bridge the gap between what I was doing at the time and where I wound up going. I learned the melody note for note and, instead of paying attention in high school algebra, was charting out all three parts. Aside from the obvious displays of technique from all three players, it was the synergy they created as a group that really struck me.
Tuck Andress – Man in the Mirror
track on “Reckless Precision.” I was turned onto this record when I was still in high school. This tune floored me. At the time, trying to sit down and play this sort of stuff was way over my head, but at this point, I play my arrangement (which I mostly stole from Tuck) on just about every gig. His touch, tone, and taste are what I love the most about his playing. In my mind, he wrote the book on what I do as a solo guitarist today.
Top 10 Influential Jazz Songs Continued…
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Joe Pass – Have You Met Miss Jones
This was the first track on his album with Niel Henning Orsted Pederson called “Chops.” I had a steady duo gig with a bassist at the time, and this album was our Bible. While their respective techniques are jaw-dropping (as the album title implies), it’s the interplay and storytelling that are the most compelling aspects of the recording. Their take on this is a more straight-8th feel. Just incredible.
Russell Malone – Sing
Easily in my top 3 of greatest jazz guitar solos of all time. The album “Jazz at the Bistro,” which is a live duo performance with Benny Green, completely changed my paradigm. It’s hard to find nowadays as it’s only sporadically available on CD, but if you get the opportunity, give it a listen. It exemplifies my favorite setting to play in, which is guitar and acoustic piano. This is their take on a classic by James Taylor. The overall arc of Russell’s solo is an absolute rollercoaster of bebop, blues, and traditional swing, and I’ve stolen so much of his vocabulary and phrasing from this solo that it dominates the majority of my playing today.
Russell Malone – How Deep is Your Love
Another track from his duo album with Benny Green, “Jazz at the Bistro.” Russell has an instantly recognizable style as a solo guitarist. There’s just so much soul!! This was also the first recording I’d ever heard of a guitarist using the harp-harmonic technique that was pioneered by Lenny Breau. There is a video of this arrangement from a different live performance on YouTube.
Jim Hall – The Bridge
From Sonny Rollins’ iconic album of the same name, this solo (and Jim’s playing in general) reminds me that I don’t have to deliver a barrage of blistering chops in order to make a statement on fast tunes. Add to the fact that I’ve never really heard any contrived, muscle-memory licks from Jim and you wind up with a perfect cocktail.
Top 10 Influential Jazz Songs Continued…
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Wes Montgomery – No Blues
On the first track from my own personal Holy Grail of Jazz Guitar, “Smokin at the Half Note,” Wes gives a masterclass on phrasing, development, and the importance of the blues in this music. Staring out with perfectly stated, single-note lines, then developing into his signature octaves, and with “shout chorus” chord-solo melodies, this perfect template has influenced countless other players for decades, including .
Tommy Emmanuel – Over the Rainbow
One of Tommy’s signature standbys. He’s one of a small handful of guitarists who can truly make the instrument SING. Add that to the fact that his harp-harmonic work is arguably the best of anyone alive today, and you wind up with a lyrical, emotional, and authentic take on the classic Harold Arlen tune.
Charlie Hunter – Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Finally, my greatest influence over the past 4 years. As an extended-range guitarist myself, Charlie’s playing spoke to me immediately upon my first listen. It’s not only his deeply blues-rooted playing that gets me. More than anything, it’s his POCKET. So overlooked by many guitarists in my opinion. While this take is in the solo format, he regularly plays duos with drummers, and is a drummer himself. A constant reminder that, to me, time is the most important thing.
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