Tiny GRIMES

⬇️ TINY GRIMES ⬇️

(Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes)

DISCOGRAPHY (44LP/CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes (July 7, 1916 – March 4, 1989) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He was a member of the Art Tatum Trio from 1943 to 1944, was a backing musician on recording sessions, and later led his own bands, including a recording session with Charlie Parker. He is notable for playing the electric tenor guitar, a four-stringed instrument.

Grimes was born in Newport News, Virginia, United States, and began his musical career playing drums and one-fingered piano. In 1938 he took up the electric four-string tenor guitar. In 1940 he joined the Cats and the Fiddle as guitarist and singer. In 1943 he joined the Art Tatum Trio as guitarist and made a number of recordings with Tatum.

After leaving Tatum, Grimes recorded with his own groups in New York and with a long list of leading musicians, including vocalist Billie Holiday. He made four recordings with his own group, augmented with Charlie Parker: "Tiny's Tempo", "Red Cross", "Romance Without Finance", and "I'll Always Love You Just the Same", the latter two featuring Grimes' singing.

In the late 1940s, he had a hit on a jazzed-up version of "Loch Lomond", with the band billed as Tiny "Mac" Grimes and the Rocking Highlanders and appearing in kilts. This group included tenor saxman Red Prysock and singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Grimes continued to lead his own groups into the later 1970s and he recorded on Prestige Records in a series of strong blues-based performances with Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet, Pepper Adams, Roy Eldridge and other noted players including, in 1977, Earl Hines.

With Paul Williams, he co-headlined the first Moondog Coronation Ball, promoted by Alan Freed in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 21, 1952, often claimed as the first rock and roll concert. In 1953 he may have played on the Crows one-hit wonder, "Gee", that has been called the first original rock and roll record by an R&B group.

Grimes died in March 1989 in New York City from meningitis at the age of 72. (Wikipedia)

Grant GREEN

⬇️ GRANT GREEN ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1959-2007 (54CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Grant Green (St. Louis, Missouri, June 6, 1935 – New York, January 31, 1979; some sources erroneously give the birth year as 1931) was a jazz guitarist and composer.

Recording prolifically and almost exclusively for Blue Note Records (as both leader and sideman) Green performed well in hard bop, soul jazz, bebop and Latin-tinged settings throughout his career.

Critics Michael Erlewine and Ron Wynn write, "A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar ... Green's playing is immediately recognizable -- perhaps more than any other guitarist. Critic Dave Hunter described his sound as "lithe, loose, slightly bluesy and righteously groovy".

He often performed in an organ trio, a small group with an organ and drummer.

Apart from Charlie Christian, Green's primary influences were saxophonists, particularly Charlie Parker, and his approach was therefore almost exclusively linear rather than chordal. The simplicity and immediacy of Green's playing, which tended to avoid chromaticism, derived from his early work playing rhythm and blues and, although at his best he achieved a synthesis of this style with bop, he was essentially a blues guitarist and returned almost exclusively to this style in his later career.

Green used a Gibson ES-330, then a Gibson L7 with a Gibson McCarty pickguard/pick-up, an Epiphone Emperor (with the same pick-up) and finally had a custom built D'Aquisto. George Benson said he would turn all the bass and treble off the amp, and max the midrange. This way he could get his signature punchy, biting tone.

Wes MONTGOMERY

⬇️ WES MONTGOMERY ⬇️
(John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery)
DISCOGRAPHY 1957-2014 (106CD/DVD)

 BIOGRAPHY 
        

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Bobby Broom, Royce Campbell, Grant Green, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Howe, Russell Malone, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour, Joe Diorio, Tuck Andress, David Becker, Randy Napoleon, and Emily Remler.

Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to NPR Jazz Profiles "The Life and Music Of Wes Montgomery", the nickname "Wes" was a child's abbreviation of his middle name, Leslie.

He came from a musical family; his brothers, Monk (double bass and electric bass) and Buddy (vibraphone and piano), were jazz performers. The brothers released a number of albums together as the Montgomery Brothers......

Howard ROBERTS

⬇️ HOWARD ROBERTS ⬇️

DISCOGRAPHY 1957-2002 (20CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Howard Roberts (October 2, 1929 – June 28, 1992) was an American jazz guitarist, educator and session musician.

He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and began playing guitar at age 8. By the time he was 15 he was playing professionally locally.

In 1950 he moved to Los Angeles. There, with the assistance of Jack Marshall, he began playing with musicians including Bobby Troup, Chico Hamilton and Barney Kessel. In about 1956, Bobby Troup signed him to Verve Records as a solo artist. Around that time he decided to concentrate on recording, both as a solo artist and session musician, a direction he would continue until the early 1970s.

Roberts played rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass and mandolin, both in the studio and for television and movie projects, including lead guitar in the theme from The Twilight Zone, guitar on the theme from The Munsters and rhythm guitar on the theme from I Dream of Jeannie.

Artists Roberts backed included Georgie Auld, Peggy Lee (Fever), Eddie Cochran (Sittin In The Balcony), Bobby Day (Rockin Robin), Jody Reynolds (Endless Sleep), Shelley Fabares (Johnny Angel), Dean Martin (Houston), The Monkees, Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, and The Electric Prunes.

In 1963, Roberts recorded Color Him Funky and H.R. Is A Dirty Guitar Player, his first two albums after signing with Capitol. Produced by Jack Marshall, they both feature the same quartet of with Roberts (guitar), Chuck Berghofer (bass), Earl Palmer (drums) and Paul Bryant alternating with Burkley Kendrix on organ. In all he recorded nine albums with Capitol before signing with ABC Records/Impulse! Records.

From the late 1960s, Roberts began to focus on teaching rather than recording. He traveled around the country giving guitar seminars, and wrote several instructional books. For some years he also wrote an acclaimed column "Jazz Improvisation" for Guitar Player magazine. To support his teaching activities, he founded the Guitar Institute of Technology, and Playback Publishing.

Roberts died of prostate cancer in Seattle, WA on June 28, 1992. His wife Patty, also active in musical education and curriculum development, continued in this field after his death.

He founded Roberts Music Institute in Seattle, WA, which is currently owned by his son, Jay Roberts.

Jeff_GOLUB

⬇️ JEFF GOLUB ⬇️

DISCOGRAPHY 1988-2015 (2+14CD)

 BIOGRAPHY 

Jeff Golub (born April 15, 1955, Akron, Ohio) is an American Blues & Jazz guitarist.

Jeff Golub is a contemporary jazz guitarist with 11 solo albums and 3 CD's as the leader of the instrumental band "Avenue Blue". Before becoming an instrumentalist, Golub worked as a sideman to a number of very successful rock and pop artists.

He's arguably best known for his work with Rod Stewart, whom he played with from 1988 until 1995 performing on 4 albums and 5 world tours as well as recording the live DVD "One Night Only" live at Royal Albert Hall.

Born in Copley, Ohio, outside of Akron, Jeff started playing by emulating 60's blues rock guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, etc...Then, following up on the artists that these musicians cited as their inspiration, he delved deeper into the blues listening to Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and anyone named King --B.B., Albert, and Freddie.

Golub was in his teens when he first heard a Wes Montgomery record. This moment set him on a whole new course which led him to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. While in Boston he played in The James Montgomery Band. From Boston Jeff moved to New York in 1980 where his first major gig was with rocker Billy Squier.

Jeff appeared on 7 albums and 3 world tours with Billy. He released his first solo recording, "Unspoken Words" for Gaia Records in 1988 but really embraced his role as band leader and instrumentalist with the release of "Avenue Blue" in 1994 for Mesa Bluemoon/Atlantic records.

Golub was a member of Dave Koz & The Kozmos, the house band of The Emeril Lagasse Show.

In June 2011, Golub became blind due to collapse of the optic nerve.

In September 2012, Golub fell on the tracks of a subway and was dragged by the train before being saved by Good Samaritans. Golub was brought to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center with minor injuries.