July 2005 Newsletter

July's Newsletter Contest Winner scores a T- Shirt and enters for the Guitar Giveaway; Tim Robinette for his article on 'Ol Waylan. Congrats! Everyone - we need more cool stories, keep them coming! Also.......

Another interesting tale from Michael Wright, The Different Strummer. New this month we welcome Larry Payne, who contributes a massive piece of work interviewing Jazz Guitar god, JOHN ABERCROMBIE.

As always your input and comments are welcome. Enjoy the Guitarticles! Mike Robinson

I believe this story happened in about 1966, during my last year of high school at Paradise Valley High in Phoenix, Arizona. I was a wannabe rock 'n roll guy and like most of my friends, always had a few guitars lying around. I had this one friend, Richard Guimont, who was not a musician, but his Mom just happened to own JD's night club in Scottsdale. JD's was kind of an upscale country sort of place, and country was not really my bag in those days. But, because of knowing Richard, I could get in free, and they did occasionally have a few decent acts, such as the Everly Bros, or Johnny Rivers -so I had been there a few times. At about this point in time, however, JD's had a "house band" known as Waylon Jennings and the Waylors. Waylon was a young ex- disc jockey, who had just come up to Phoenix from Texas. His only claim to fame up to that point was a brief stint with Buddy Holly's band, before that fateful "day the music died."

Return with us now to ancient Japan, when mighty Shogun warriors roamed the countryside like Medieval knights righting wrongs by wielding sacred iron battle axes. Oh, wait; this is about guitars, isn't it? Still, when you gaze on this 1968 Kawai Concert, you're looking at a remarkable example of early, idiosyncratic Japanese guitar design that, in a way, has more to do with being Japanese than with the demands of export marketing. Maybe this was because by 1968 the market was pretty soft, so it didn't matter if they turned the designers loose. Or maybe it was an expression of pride. Or something in the water. Whatever the reason, in 1968 there was this whole batch of bizarre Japanese guitars that were unique and strange, many of them employing what seemed to be Asian aesthetics, most, though not all, from Kawai and its subsidiary Teisco.

Let's agree that the guitar, despite the glories of the past fifty or so years, is still in its infancy. So, isn't what it was, nor is it what it will become. It couldn't be. The guitar has evolved not only in the way it's built but also in the way it's played. And what might once have required a big, voluptuous archtop can easily be done with a bolt-neck slab and some modeling gear. Still, it's nothing to worry about. After all, it's the music that matters. Music, though, can fool even the most eager listener. Why? Because to appreciate music--really, to understand it--we first try to define what it is. That's a benefit, but it's also a bias. But when you find something you can identify with, it becomes something you crave. You'll want to know more about it. That's the case with jazz guitar great John Abercrombie. It's amazing to think that in his playing one can discern the influences of so many great players yet immediately tell, from the very first note, that none other than he could be playing.

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