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“The Bridge” by Sonny Rollins and Company with Jim Hall.

Intense…

As always, cross that bridge after it’s gone and click pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.

I’ve been hearing that Jim Hall and Bill Frisell have been working on a recording project for quite a while. From what I understand, it will be coming out early next month. I’ll be looking forward to that one.

This clip of “The Touch Of Your Lips” looks to be from sometime in the mid/late 60s (just guessing) and it’s Jim playing with one of my favorite rhythm sections, Steve Swallow and Bob Moses.

As always, free your mind then click pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.

In my early years of playing, I didn’t get Jim Hall. That changed and every time I hear Jim play it’s a lesson. And, not just a jazz lesson, it’s bigger than that. There is stuff in his music that applys to all music and really to life in general.

When I first came to the Ozarks, I was eighteen, had been playing for a little more than four years. I was very interested in expanding my knowledge of music theory. I found this guy named Dave Scott who was giving jazz theory lessons. That sounded like it might open some doors so, I gave him a call. It turned out that Dave’s primary instrument was trumpet. He also played “some piano and bass”. He told me that he had never taught a guitarist before but would like to give it a shot if I was willing. I only studied with him for a couple of months but, it was on the best things I’ve ever done. I didn’t keep in touch with Dave but the things he taught still stick. He was a fine musician. Even though piano wasn’t his instrument, he could sit down and demonstrate ideas to me on piano. That was a big lesson right there because, he was a really good piano player in my mind. He would take a standard like say “All The Things You Are” and play the changes with the left hand, doing subs and comping really well and improv solos with his right hand and what he played with either hand was real deal stuff. He’d be playing along and, stop and say, “that was kind of cool” and write out the voicing and line he just played. Then, he would have me see if the voicing was possible to play on the guitar. If it wasn’t he’d drop a note, maybe add a note until he came up with something that worked for guitar that also sounded good to him. See he was looking for chords that would be something that a soloist would like to play over.

One day, Dave went over to his record collection and pulled out an album by Bill Evans and Jim Hall; “You ever hear this? You got to get this one. You got to listen to both these guys”.

Now, I had heard Jim Hall before and like I said, I just didn’t get it. One thing was the tone. At the time, I was listening to a lot rock, blues and fusion stuff. Jeff Beck, Tommy Bolin-that was some tone you could sink your teeth in to. But, I got the Evans-Hall record (Crosscurrents?) and it dawned on me that Hall’s tone complimented the piano in the duo setting. That’s something that it isn’t the easiest thing to do with your bluesy tone that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. The tones I was accustomed to would get in the way of the piano. Also, as I picked up a chord voicing here and there from Hall or Evans they were often similar to the ones Dave was showing me. I was realizing that a lot of the standard guitar voicings were convenient to guitar but didn’t always leave proper space for the solist or even other players that were comping.

Jim Hall never steps on the other guys toes. He always leaves space with the tone and the notes. He allows the conversation to happen. In the above clip, listen to what Jim plays behind Steve Swallow’s bass solo. It compliments what Steve does, and the solo is very musical partly because of what Hall does behind it.

When Jim solos, he speaks in cohesive phrases. Always allowing the other guys to play something interesting behind him. He never plays the cliche lick you might expect. He pushes harmonic boundries. Notice that his phrases aren’t endlessly long runs. The phrases breathe. He doesn’t hit you with too much to contemplate but, it’s solid content. His solos encourage the other guys to play their asses off. That’s an amazing accomplishment. See, if you can do that in a blues song or a rock thing, you are way ahead of the game. That’s what I mean about Jim’s playing being a lesson that applies to all music. If you could apply the same priciples to your day to day interaction with other people, you would be ahead of the game as well, I thnk.

Through the years, I’ve played with a bunch of horn players and keyboard players that had jazz chops. I make it a point to ask. who are some guitar players you like? Jim Hall keeps coming up. Guitar players, even great guitar players will sometimes play for other guitar players. The gunslinger thing. Take that! Jim Hall, I’ve never perceived that from him. He plays for the song, for the music, for the other players, for the moment; he plays for life.

And, the guy is well in to his 70s, still vital, still playing his ass off and still encouraging others to do the same. Nice work Jim.