Great Jazz
 

So, I am currently listening to a fellow named MArc Atkinson, if any of you know of him share your opnions. But I am just thinking, I am interested in knowing about some less "known" yet genius jazz players. I know afew myself, guys like marc, uuh lenny breau, he is a bit better known, they are both madd good guitar players, if you have any good artists to share, please I am very interested

Bill Frisell.

I saw him do a one-man show one time where he ended up accompanying himself on four delay pedals at once. WILD shit.

This won't be too helpful, but all my guitar playing colleagues are going nuts right now about a guy named:

Ben Monder

His homepage looks pretty homemade, but his show last year at Toronto's most frequented jazz club was without a doubt the most talked about show here last year. I missed it!

Did you want recommendations about non-guitar?

How "less known" are we talking? I thought Bill Frisell was pretty known, but maybe that's just because I grew up in LA. Now that I think of it, my friend's sax teacher in LA was really good and I have an album he did with a vocalist named Penny Watson. It's straight-ahead with vocal melodies (and it's very melodic), so it's not overly vocal and the solos aren't very out. I don't know if you're into that kind of jazz, but his name is Danny House and you can find that album I have here.

Trumpeter Dave Douglas and a slew of artists associated with him, such as pianist Uri Caine , bassist Mark Dresser and pianist Vijay Iyer should definitely be checked out. All are pushing the boundaries of improvised music in various ways. Hopefully you'll give them a try as I expect you'll make some wonderful discoveries. Many of them have links pages where you'll find names of even more artists who are all creating amazing new things.

Good luck.

Yeah, I'd say Frisell is pretty well known. Damn good too.

This might be too cliche or too off the wall but I'm listening to John Zorn's "The Circle Maker" right now, and while it's not the jazziest thing on the planet it IS totally groovy and interesting (and Jewish :D ). Might I recommend his earlier albums with Naked City as well.

ratbastid,

If Bill Frisell is as wild as you say, I just might have to check him out.

Well, certainly not less known, but maybe less played would be John Scofield. And on allmusic.com, they list Scofield as, "...One of the "big three" of current jazz guitarists (along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell), Scofield's influence grew in the '90s." Hahaha...

There's also John Abercrombie, but I have to be in the right frame of mind for that stuff. And, since I can only think of John's right off the bat, try John McLaughlin. I'm a Pat Metheny fan, myself.

To do some research, head out to www.allmusic.com. Put in your artist name, then when you get their page, scroll down a bit. You'll see a few cool sections like Similar Artists, Followers, and Performs Songs By. This is a great resource.

IM big on lenny breau..I really suggest getting some of his stuff. Also go for some of Eddie Costa if you like piano.. he played with tal farlow in a drummerless trio. He is really a peice of work. and of course guys like Horace Silver, Jack McDuff,and Oscar peterson, a little more well known, but damn good

Can't go without some Pat Metheny. The latest couple CDs are really the jam. The guy's a genius.

Oh yeah, Lyle Mays is a genius too.