Sneaky Pete Kleinow
The Shiloh Records Anthology | Sundazed Music
True West | Hollywood Holiday Revisited
Euphoria! Jazz | Sundazed Music
Various Artists | Boston Underground 1979–1982
Live at Town Hall Party 1958 | Sundazed Music
ROLL BACK | Review by Peter Aaron
Not so the vinyl-only reissue of virtuoso Nashville country sideman Buddie Emmons’s 1963 LP, Steel Guitar Jazz. Although the steel guitar had been used in jazz earlier, most visibly by big band leader Alvino Rey, Emmons’s move of adapting it to modern styles—in effect translating the techniques of Charlie Christian and other bebop guitarists to his chosen instrument—was certainly novel for the time, and remains so even today. It would seem that despite the efforts of Emmons and too few others, the steel guitar will forever be associated first with country music. But on hearing Emmons zip and lilt his way through jagged bop classics by Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver and swinging standards like “Cherokee” and “Witchcraft,” one can only wonder why: Under the fingers of such a master, the seemingly unwieldy instrument sounds like it was positively made for jazz. Too cool. Continue...
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