The Chetboard

It's been about seven years since Kenny Poole passed away, but I still consider him to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time! He had a way of projecting his arrangements and style, without deviating so much from the melody that it was unrecognizable as many jazz players do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SebvNnRp7t0

David

I've known a number of jazz musicians over the years and many of them follow a complex series of rules that guide them throughout a song. I wonder what was going through Kenny's mind while he played all of this? There's a difference between finding the sound that is in your mind strictly by ear vs. thinking of rules as you progress through a song. David, I agree with you about playing in such a way as not to obscure or bury the melody line and losing the" identifying essence" of a particular song.

I guess that the advantage of the formal training is that one is taken through a lot of material and patterns that they can at least have been exposed to and have played, regardless of whether or not they will ever choose to use any of it. In other words, their "bag of tricks" may be larger than for someone like me who is limited only to what I've heard and tried. But then I've heard and tried a lot.........lol.

Rande

"

We should not let the memory of great guitarists like Kenny Poole die away. He was an amazing player. Here he keeps the samba beat going while all the while playing a most beautiful melody in 2 and 3 parts. That's a little more difficult than chewing gum and walking at the same time. Bravo!

You are right, David, it was 7 years ago (a few days ago - May 27th) that we lost Kenny. His approach to playing solo guitar was simply unique. There are few that even try "improv" bass lines with melody and chords. Two that come to mind are the late Ted Greene (California) and the very alive Craig Wagner from L'ville - both of which, I believe, "worked out" all of their tunes ahead of time. I know for a fact that Craig did, as he elaborated on that subject in one of his workshops at CAAS - right after this idiot (me) asked him why he didn't look like he was enjoying his playing. (lol) I'm assuming that Ted did as he would play the same thing over again when he played the song again. With Kenny - it was all improv.

I asked Kenny that question about what was going on in his head when he was playing, one time, and all he did was look at me.. It must have been the WRONG QUESTION!!! However, after several years of intense observation (and, asking his close "educated" jazz guitarist buddies) - I can offer this explanation (remember he never played a pass-through the same twice): If he was to want to play Yankee Doodle/Dixie (and, he could) he didn't have to "work out" the two parts - he could just think about both parts at the same time. Yep - he was special. He was an excellent bass player - and, an excellent guitarist. He was probably the only musician that could really do both at the same time - because in his head - he was both. (If you'd like to hear his bass playing find an album he played bass on with his life long mentor, Cal Collins - "Milestones".)

Training? Kenny took TWO lessons when he was in his mid-teens. The first lesson the instructor taught him some stuff. The second one - he was teaching the instructor. "I didn't see any reason to go back," he professed.

Neat bit of info about Kenny that is very interesting for us CBers is that it was Chet's "Fingerstyle Guitar" album he heard at a downtown music store in Cincinnati when he was about 16 that turned him onto guitar. He told me that that was all he could think about after that. (He was supposed to be going to a trade school that he parents sent him to - but, he was just hanging around that music store most of the time.)

Youz can quit reading my diatribe, here, but I guess the recent loss of JD Norman has got me nostalgic.

For some reason Kenny took to our newly formed Ohio Fingerstyle Guitar Club - probably because Chet was his first influence. Every now and then (oh, maybe 2 - 3 times a year) I'd get a call from him on a Tues afternoon, "Palmer, you boom-chuckers getting together tonight at the coffee house?" (He loved to tease us about our thumb picks.) He'd then find somebody to drive him up to Columbus from Cincinnati to play BASS with JD and me that evening at our OFGC Club Jam. Back in those days my club membership would actually READ my eNewsletters and in only a few hours after receiving his call the little coffee house would be packed - including several local jazz guitar icons. I didn't want to bore him or the audience who had come to hear Kenny anymore that I needed to - so, we would only play one hour set with him. Then, I turned it over to the professional jazz guitarists for the next hour and he would play bass with them. Then, the last hour would be all Kenny and his Hofner 6 string. ...... Ah, the good ol' days...

Palmer

He did make that Hofner sound good, but he would have sounded good on any guitar. I play the DVD I got from the OFGC every year or so and watch in amazement as Kenny plays.

Mike

Just a little "audio" candy for any of you that really like what Kenny Poole did on guitar.. My Little Choo-Choo.. http://ofgc.net/images/Poole/2%20My%20L ... o-Choo.wma

Palmer