Re: One Guitarist, One Drummer

[Daryl Shawn <highhorse@mhorse.com>]

Thanks for your reaction, Kris. To each their own, eh? I personally find 
Nels' mastery of the guitar (having seen him an embarrassing number of 
times) to be nearly unmatched, in terms of command of technique and 
sound. If we're singling out articulation, yeah...I don't know any 
guitarist, or even other instrumentalist, who can match Trane there.

I personally find distortion to be one way in which a guitar can 
approach the dynamic expressiveness of a wind instrument. When Coltrane 
screams through his sax, there's nothing like it, but I think distortion 
IS screaming (and hence, I hate when people use distortion on ballads, a 
la Joe Satriani). The clean jazz tone has a rich tradition to it, but if 
you're trying to capture that same explosive, raging, screaming power 
that a saxophone can produce when really set free, I find some juice to 
be useful. Or a lot of juice :-D . But there's personal taste to be 
accounted for, and history too when we're talking about classic albums.

checking out Billy Kilson now, thanks for the ref.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com
www.chinapaintingmusic.com

> It is very good, but doesn't do what Interstellar Space does for me.  
> And clearly (with no disrespect to Nels, but more of a comment about 
> the sheer genius of Coltane), Nels' articulation on the guitar does 
> not match Coltrane's articulation and mastery of the sax.  Again, I 
> don't think anyone would deny that without underestimating Coltrane.
>
> I don't know much about Nels Cline, and have not listened to all of 
> his material. All of it is very good from what I have heard. I like 
> the tracks on the CD where he is playing clean, more than those where 
> he has the shreader guitar tone.  The massive distortion gets on my 
> nerves after a while.
>
> I would like to hear John Morris (guitar) and Billy Kilson (drum) 
> doing their take of Interstellar Space.  I saw Billy Kilson with Dave 
> Holland a few years ago, and was blown away. I have never seen a jazz 
> drummer play with such energy and speed.  And of course, Morris that 
> raw jazz tone that do well with a homage to Interstellar Space.
>
> Kris