Barney Kessel
Intellectual Jazz Guitar
If you were to draw a caricature of a '50s or '60s jazz musician you would do well to use Barney Kessel as a model. If you wanted to select mood music to
go along with your drawing you would do well to use a Barney Kessel recording. Mr. Kessel looked, acted and spoke the part. He embodied jazz guitar. None
of this is meant to suggest that Barney Kessel was a "Me Too" artist. Not at all! Kessel was the right man, and he came along at the right time, a time
when small jazz groups were coming into their own.
Like many jazz guitarists, Barney Kessel fashioned his playing after Charlie Christian. He captured Christian's sound and feel well but never relinquished his own identity as a musician. He was a pioneer in the Guitar, Bass and Drums trio concept recording several albums with Ray Brown on Bass, Shelley Mann on Drums. In this environment a guitarist faces a significant challenge, that of expressing his part, be it comping or solo, in such a way as to play freely without allowing the music to lose texture. Kessel all but invented the art. Conversely, when a guitarist plays along with a piano player it takes a great deal of skill not to end up with harmonic conflicts. Kessel stood up well in this situation as well.
In the '70s Barney Kessel, fellow Oklahomen Herb Ellis teamed up with Charlie Byrd and billed themselves as "Great Guitars". Playing mostly Swing era music these three masters lived up to their name, especially considering that they avoided the many pitfalls inherent of having three guitarists in one ensemble. Having seen them in concert I count myself fortunate. Beyond the music, I got a glimpse into the minds and personalities of these three great players.
Mr. Kessel's great intellect and sense of humor was obvious in person. Speaking about chord scale relationships he explained why he felt that improvisation couldn't be reduced to a formula. He then defined improvisation as requiring spontaneity and told all of us privileged to be there listening that we should learn to play what we hear in our minds and not to worry so much about scales and modes. It's the most useful advice on improv that I've ever heard.
