Six Remarkable Jazz Guitar/Bass Duet Albums

Joe Pass:  Northsea Nights:  Pablo Records; Joe Pass: guitar;  Neils-Henning Orsted Pedersen: bass; 1979

Joe Pass is one of the most prolific guitarists in jazz history.  When he recorded his Virtuoso albums, his producer, Norman Granz, and Joe went into the studio and Norman called out tunes and Joe just played them off the top of his head.  What came from those sessions are what we know as the Virtuoso albums Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4.  

Orsted Pedersen was born in 1946 in Denmark, started on the piano but switched to the upright bass at age fourteen and by fifteen was playing gigs in nightclubs. At age seventeen he turned down an offer to play in and travel with the Count Basie Orchestra because was too young to live and travel in the United States.

Northsea Nights is a live recorded concert from the 1979 Northsea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. At first glance, one would think that this is a set of overdone Standards but in the hands of these two masters, each song sounds as new and as fresh as if it was written yesterday.  It begins with a fiery version of the Frank Loesser classic “If I Were a Bell” moving on to “Round Midnight” where each musician explores the deep caverns of the melodic material in this Standard.  Pass’ and Pedersen’s contrapuntal interplay is equally as deep on “Stella By Starlight” as any two-part invention by J.S. Bach. How could one improve upon the Gershwin melody “I Can’t Get Started” but the surprising embellishments that both Pass and Pedersen come up with does.  The album closes with an ad-lib tune that the guys compose on the spot and call “Blues for the Hague.”

Larry Coryell:  Quartet; Jazzpoint DDD 1021; Larry Coryell: guitar, Miroslav Vitous: bass,  1987

The Quartet album starts with a fiery version of the waltz “Some Day My Prince Will Come.”  In Coryell’s and Vitous’ earlier work, such as Coryell’s Spaces album, there was lots of musical dialogue and interchange between them.  Larry told me in an interview “Miroslav Vitous is a genius, he is more than a bassist, he is a composer, orchestrator, and musicologist.  There is one thing he has that wish I had and that is his tremendous confidence…. He is one of the few bassists I’ve heard that can do an entire record by himself and sound good.”

In the second tune, Miles Davis’ “Nardis” Miroslav takes the first solo putting his incredible technique on display.  Another highpoint is his lyrical bow work as Miroslav plays the head on Jobim’s “Corovado” followed the head with another blistering solo from Coryell.  Vitous is equally lyrical in his arco work in “Stella by Starlight” performed as a moderate ballad.  

Larry and Miroslav named the album Quartet because they pay homage to the special chemistry between pianist Bill Evan and his first bass player, Scott LaFaro.  Evans and LaFaro took the piano trio to a new level with their interplay and musical dialogue.  Sadly, LaFaro was killed in an auto accident after a couple of years with Bill Evans.

The album closes with a song called “The Peacocks” by another great pianist, Jimmy Rowles’ who released the song, in 1977, with Stan Getz.

Bill Frisell:   Small Town; ECM Records  ECM 2525:  Bill Frisell: guitars; Thomas Morgan: bass;   2017  

In 2011 guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist, Thomas Morgan worked with drummer Paul Motian and vocalist Petra Haden on a wonderful album of Paul’s entitled The Windmills of Your Mind that would be Motian’s last. 

In 2016 Frisell and Morgan reunite for the first time for this live recording date at New York’s Village Vanguard that was released for ECM Records. The album opens with Paul Motian’s “It Should Have Happened a Long Time Ago” that Frisell did with Motian in 1984.  Their playing is pure nuance and grace.  With Frisell’s gravitation toward playing single lines and Morgan’s inventiveness, the synergism is pure counterpoint at the highest level. They pay homage to Bill’s work with saxophonist Lee Konitz in their reading of Lee’s “Subconscious Lee.” Three wonderful originals especially Frisell’s “Small Town” which is pure Americana.  Fun readings of the folk song “Wildwood Flower” and Fat Domino’s rock and roll classic “What a Party”.  The album closes with a wonderful yet haunting rendition of John Barry’s “Goldfinger” from the 1964 James Bond movie of the same title.  What outstanding musical sensitivity Frisell and Morgan display.  It seems that they almost are reading each other’s thoughts.

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