Canard
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2020
- Messages
- 1,992
- Reaction score
- 2,694
- Guild Total
- 4
I scored this 1942 album of 78s, Blues by Basie, in a shop today.
Unfortunately one of the four disks in the set was broken. I wish the stores wouldn't leave the 78s out with the vinyl. They always get broken. They are just so fragile, and very few people are used handling them anymore.
It took a while to clean up the disks once I got them home. Using my collection of witches' brew solutions, some especially for 78s, a variety of brushes, and my vacuum record cleaning machine, I have restored the three non-broken disks to playable condition. The sound is not too bad considering the abuse the poor shellac has suffered over the years.
Anyway, the album features the (acoustic) Jazz guitarist, Freddie Green, who was part of Basie's rhythm section for fifty years or so and who, of his own choice, took few or no solos. There might be only one solo by him on any known recording, a live recording in which Green's solo was laid down when Benny Goodman, leading a jam session of players from his own band, Ellington's band and Basie's group, unexpectedly called on Green to take a solo.
He was a master of comping - as his Wikipedia article says, rapidly changing chords, often with every beat, rather than every measure - an integral part of the rhythm section fusing with the drums and the bass, but especially the drums, propelling the groove forward.
His philosophy:
And he is hard to hear. He becomes part of the texture.
Sugar Blues - he does a little fill near the very beginning and then steps back to comp.
St Louis Blues - he stays entirely in the rhythm section.
His guitars:
Wikipedia:
Unfortunately one of the four disks in the set was broken. I wish the stores wouldn't leave the 78s out with the vinyl. They always get broken. They are just so fragile, and very few people are used handling them anymore.
It took a while to clean up the disks once I got them home. Using my collection of witches' brew solutions, some especially for 78s, a variety of brushes, and my vacuum record cleaning machine, I have restored the three non-broken disks to playable condition. The sound is not too bad considering the abuse the poor shellac has suffered over the years.
Anyway, the album features the (acoustic) Jazz guitarist, Freddie Green, who was part of Basie's rhythm section for fifty years or so and who, of his own choice, took few or no solos. There might be only one solo by him on any known recording, a live recording in which Green's solo was laid down when Benny Goodman, leading a jam session of players from his own band, Ellington's band and Basie's group, unexpectedly called on Green to take a solo.
He was a master of comping - as his Wikipedia article says, rapidly changing chords, often with every beat, rather than every measure - an integral part of the rhythm section fusing with the drums and the bass, but especially the drums, propelling the groove forward.
His philosophy:
You should never hear the guitar by itself. It should be part of the drums so it sounds like the drummer is playing chords—like the snare is in A or the hi-hat in D minor.
And he is hard to hear. He becomes part of the texture.
Sugar Blues - he does a little fill near the very beginning and then steps back to comp.
St Louis Blues - he stays entirely in the rhythm section.
His guitars:
Photos of Guitars Owned by Freddie Green
freddiegreen.org
Wikipedia:
Freddie Green - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Last edited: