Most underated guitarist?

[tubeornot2b]

Johnny Smith? Anyone who knows of him surely holds him in the highest esteem.... but like too many he is most likely unknown to many of todays players.

[jazzuke]

Agreed....which is why I put him on the list.

He's still playing, local small club gigs in Colorado Springs for fun and hasn't recorded in over 50 years...and has to be one of the greatest guitarists still alive.

[Danny]

                             David Lindley
Guitar
Violin
lap steel
                 just about any stringed instrument

[Queequeg]

                            David Lindley
Guitar
Violin
lap steel
                just about any stringed instrument

BTW, I saw David Lindley here last week. Quite a good show.
now, BTTTAH...
I suppose he/she qualifies as "under-rated" if the name falls off of, or at the bottom of the Best Guitarists lists published by various intelligentsia [i.e.: Rolling Stone, et al] and the poster here thinks better of him/her.
Ergo, Hendrix who is invariably near or at the top of all of those lists couldn't really be considered under-rated.

[hadden]

I never know what underrated means exactly. Maybe under the radar would be better.

[jbrummer]

I wonder what the forum thinks of Australian guitarist Jeff Lang?  He certainly knocks me over with his slide work and, at least in the states, is very much under the radar/underated.  He performed a song, think it was called "By Face and Not Name," on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion a few years back that haunts me to this day.

And while I'm here, I'll second the vote for Willy Nelson as a guitar player as well.

[Zohn]

And while I'm here, I'll second the vote for Willy Nelson as a guitar player as well.

I agree, I'm not so sure "Trigger" does though...

[canoe65]

The late George Harrison.   

[hadden]

The late George Harrison.    

Such great guitar tones from Harrison. I find so many of the electic sounds now to be bad -- generic and harsh, crappy in so many ways, too much gain or whatever. Tons of money spent on rigs and it still sounds like doodoo.

[ishtar]

The average listener (non-guitar playing listener) doesn't know what he/she is hearing. They are incapable of appreciating a virtuoso. It requires a modicum of training to become skilled at listening to someone like Ry Cooder (could have named hundreds of others) just as it does to appreciate a jazz saxophone player. Thus, the American Idol crowd will flock to the likes of Kenny G and not to John Coltrane.
Consequently, all the best guitarists are under-rated.
As Frank Zappa so poignantly put it many years ago (speaking of under-rated guitarists) "Most people wouldn't know good music if it came up and bit them in the a$$."

You folks have heard Pat Metheny's take on Kenny G, haven't you?

http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

I am particularly fond of Bill Frisell's playing.  Hey, he's collaborated with Ry Cooder on a Johnny Smith-styled rendition of Shenandoah!...  Kind of ties a few of our preferences together.

Frisell is a great collaborator....  One of his tighter connections is with Greg Leisz, another find guitar player.

I have been enamored with a lot of ECM label guitarists- Metheny, Towner, Abercrobie, Terje Rypdal, Frisell.

Lindley is fabulous....

Then there's Jim Hall....   Toots Thielemans could play...

Bruce Cockburn can rip it up, can't he?...

Lots more floating around in my head....

Sorry, but they are all under rated

[bearsville0]

Wow, that Kenny G obituary really has some zing!!!


I love the ECM record label. Great classical selection especially the variety of Bach recordings they have.  Great taste in album art. 

[Denis]

Speaking of ECM and good soprano sax players, Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble did an album called Officium...it was early, Gregorian type chants and Garbarek improvising over it; a weird mix but I loved it.  I got that CD years ago when I worked in an HMV. 

I am a big jazz fan and underrated guitars abound all over the jazz world.  Grant Green is the smoothest player I think I've ever heard.  His Blue Note recordings are really outstanding.  Idle Moments is chock full of tone and feel.  Great stuff.

[DaveyO]

Whoa!!!1
Pat Methany is a little pissed at Kenny G it seems.
Not to change the thread I created, but come on,
I give credit to Kenny G ,not because hes such a great sax player, I think hes pretty good actually and I thought he blew pretty good with Jeff Lorber as well.But I give him credit for creating memorable melodies that people remember , his smooth Jazz stuff is ok too.If he's made a heap of money off that , more power to him.Music is not all about chops.If that were the case ,I wouldnt listen to the music that I do, example, the Beatles, America, the Eagles, ect,,,,not great technical musicians but they write great songs that the world remembers and sing along to.Pat Metheny should know that the average non musician doesnt care about chops, they just like to hear melody.
By the way,
If Kenny was so sharp, dont you think that who ever recorded him would point that out.
I dont agree that he should take Louis Armstongs classic tune and do what he did.(for that matter, I would love to hear Nat King Cole's unforgettable by himself,and not with his daughter )

I have heard about Pat Methenys views through my brother (who is a big fan by the way)and from what I can tell , he is a bit of an elitist, but maybe ,just maybe , he might be a little envious of Kenny G's sucess?
Just my opinion,
Dave

[unclrob]

OK wierd Kenny G story.I spent 2 years hand crafting sax mouth pieces for Dukoff Mouthpieces in Miami and Kenny G was and may still be a client,anyway he came down to pick out some and spent a few hours playing different ones and as for technic theres one called circullar breathing and this guy's got it down.Also a very real nice guy.

[pigtown]

Somebody mentioned Brad Paisley earlier.  A guy in the same vein who's been around longer is Steve Wariner.  Steve is one of only a few people Chet Atkins called a "Certified Guitar Player,"  Tommy Emmanuel another.  Here's some SW on youtube; check out his Chet Atkins covers on there as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSpJ9XwjeQM

[ishtar]

OK wierd Kenny G story.I spent 2 years hand crafting sax mouth pieces for Dukoff Mouthpieces in Miami and Kenny G was and may still be a client,anyway he came down to pick out some and spent a few hours playing different ones and as for technic theres one called circullar breathing and this guy's got it down.Also a very real nice guy.

I think Metheny, while entitled to his opinion, must have had his socks on too tight during the interview.  His socks must have been tight a few times with regard to Kenny G.  I read the interview and shared it like someone talks about an accident they witnessed...  I am not a fan of Kenny G, though there are plenty of folks who are, and who am I to put down a person who is using their music and skills to please a good sized audience?

I used to be a huge Pat Metheny fan, but some of the free jazz and Ornette Coleman extensions left me restless and not pleased as a listener. My interest in his music and performance came when he was doing etherial, melodic, and jazzed up rock stuff, earlier in his recording career.  When he hooked up with another huge favorite of mine, Joni Mitchell, I couldn't have been more excited about the collaboration (along with the rest of the band on Mitchell's Shadows and Light CD/DVD)....

I imagine Pat might think similar thoughts to Woody Allen, who made a ppint in one of his movies about people telling him, "My wife and I love your films, particularly the early funny ones..."

I love Pat's early and melodic work.

Like Pat, I am entitled to my opinion and I think the whole freedom to express opinion is done most civilly without ripping on others.  And if you can't say something nice about someone or something that means something to another, better to keep quiet.

I recall going to a big rock show.  Some friends were huge fans of a band I won't name and took me along.  I thought the show was an endurance test.  I kept thinking, "These guys think they're the Who, and they suck, the arrogant bastards".  Though, not really a Who fan, much, either, I didn't share my thoughts with my friends.  A couple days later, I was in a different city and riding down the elevator in my hotel when the bassist from said band got onto the lift.  I spoke and should have been mute... "Are you the bass player for XXXX?"

"yes."

"I saw you in Minneapolis two nights ago."

"Great!  Did you enjoy the show?"

"My friends are big fans, and they really enjoyed it."

"Are you coming tonight?"

"no".

It was pretty awkward, but I tried, probably unsuccessfully, to be gracious.

But back to my gawker slowdown, and sharing the horror- I am probably as bad as the next person, and I ought to be going something more upbuilding than sharing Metheny's rants...

Time to put the wet clothes in the dryer...

[dgrose]

I love Pat's early and melodic work.

Me too.
Regardless of that he shouldn't criticize anyone. He's done his share of what he criticizes Kenny G. for.
Playing out of tune? Metheny played bass on a few tunes on a CD early in his career and he was horribly out of tune. I couldn't believe someone didn't say something about it to him in the studio.
The first "concert" they filmed was supposed to be from a European tour and most of it was shot in a gym and they "played" over pre-recorded tapes. 
He released an album called "Zero Tolerance for Silence". I agree with the reviewer who said "This might just be the worst album I've ever heard." or "I confirm: totally unlistenable" or "...totally unlistenable and perfect for extracting confessions from prisoners and clearing the room of unwanted party guests."

That said, at his best Pat Metheny is one of my favorite musicians. Kenny G. is not...  but I do like a couple of his melodies.
No need for Metheny to heap disdain when he isn't above criticism himself. His ranting did nothing to alter my feelings about Kenny G. and certainly only served to lessen my opinion of Metheny himself.

dg

[tadol]

I do agree that when an artist dies, their work should be considered complete, and not used as the basis for someone elses screwing around. If you want to record your own version of something, thats fine, but if the original artist cannot give their approval, it shouldn't be allowed. That goes for material that is "owned" by family or others. I know there have been a few good ones, but there is too much potential for abuse -

Tad

[rockstar_not]

How about unrated altogether?

There's a guitarist on a relatively unheard of band's CD that I have that I have always loved his combination of rhythm and solo work - his name is Chris Combs.  There is very little recorded material by him.

Here's a soundclick link - love the understated solo at 3:18-3:50

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=1009094&q=hi&newref=1

And another link
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=1009083&q=hi&newref=1

listen for the tasty solo starting at 3:05.  Maybe this stuff isn't hard to play - I just like the tastefulness of it and I really don't know how he got the combination of tone and whatnot.

[rockhound]

Speaking of ECM and good soprano sax players, Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble did an album called Officium...it was early, Gregorian type chants and Garbarek improvising over it; a weird mix but I loved it.  I got that CD years ago when I worked in an HMV. 

I am a big jazz fan and underrated guitars abound all over the jazz world.  Grant Green is the smoothest player I think I've ever heard.  His Blue Note recordings are really outstanding.  Idle Moments is chock full of tone and feel.  Great stuff.

  I have a few of Jan Garbarek's albums - top notch stuff, especially Officium.  You may also like a collaboration between Jonas Knutsson and Johan Norberg, called Skaren: Norrrland III released last year.