Great Guitars

Byrd/Kessel/Ellis Interfusion

The Great Guitars of Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis should need little introduction to Wellington jazz listerners; this is the second album released under their collective name and they have twice toured here giving formidable performances to appreciative audiences. But listening to this record I am convinced that as performers they excel in the flesh rather than on vinyl

That is not to say this record is not good; it is that and maybe even a bit better. Yet the rapport which these three highly individual jazz guitarists have when they play together lacks that certain edge of tension and excitement which they build up when playing to an audience.

This set is structured in a pattern similar to their concert programme, featuring the trio, with solo and duo pieces interspersed and the occasional assistance of rhythm team Wayne Phillips, drums, and Joe Byrd on bass; climaxing with a medley in tribute to the three great jazz guitar stylists of all time—Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian. Most of the pieces are jazz standards from the thirties and forties: Lover, Makin' Whoopee. Body and Soul, Cow Cow Boogie, Nuages, Flying Home; but in the hands and under the fingers of Byrd, Kessel and Ellis they are all transformed into valid jazz interpretations. Their picking really gets hot on Lover, Outer Drive, and Flying Home, especially on the latter which takes the record out in style. The quieter ballads such as Body and Soul and Amparo, are delicately presented, giving us an appreciated contrast and variety to three fine guitarists hitting it out together is trying to pick out their individual styles, being able to recognise who the soloist is and who plays what licks. Charlie Byrd favours the classic guitar style, playing with precision and grace on an accoustic model. Barney Kessel is a largely self-taught musician and plays in a very individual, tense and jagged way, emphasising the chordal structure of a song and the possibilities of harmonization or disharmony using related pattern. Herb Ellis is a classic blues riffer, striking the melodies with a jovial assurance; a very clean electric player who can really hit hard when he wants to.

This is an expertly balanced performance, well recorded, and one which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to any guitar fanatic.

—Tim Nees.