This week, while I’m battling the last vestiges of a cold, I thought I’d feature a couple of videos of some of the guitarists I’ve already featured playing together, in groupings known as “The Great Guitars.”
In the 1970’s, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and Charlie Byrd united as The Great Guitars and recorded several albums under that name. Later, Tal Farlow replaced Ellis and they did some more gigging together under the same name. In both versions of the group, Byrd’s brother Joe played bass, as you’ll see in the videos.
Today’s first video features Byrd, Kessel, and Ellis (looking left to right as they’re seated on the stage) playing a Herb Ellis tune, “Out of Drive.” This was taped in 1979 (the title at the beginning of the video has it as 1977). The order of solos is Ellis, Byrd, and Kessel, with Joe Byrd getting in a few licks after those three. The second video is from 1988, featuring Kessel, Farlow, and Byrd (again, left to right) on the standard “Trouble in Mind.” Charlie plays the head, followed by solos by Kessel and Farlow before getting back to Charlie.
If you’re interested, the full video of the concert from which the first video was taken can be seen here.
The Great Guitars, your Two for Tuesday, December 2, 2014.
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Very nice. I liked the second one best.
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I like the way Charlie Byrd, on the classical guitar, sounds with the electrics. A great contrast.
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