Playing Style

My solo playing is generally a mellow and melodic chord based approach to jazz standards, the great American songbook and many modern pieces that lend themselves to a guitar arrangement.

It’s summarised though very simply in a statement made by the great Joe Pass frustrated by aspiring guitarists directing their energies to trying to play breakneck speed solos and licks, without any real thought or feel for melody or harmony:

“Guys, learn to play songs”

So, a Joe Pass tribute act then ?

Not really.

I certainly pay tribute to Joe Pass in my playing, but I’m not regurgitating Joe’s catalogue. I will occasionally play a full Joe Pass arrangement of a piece, but very much in my own way.

I often use his arrangements and structures to create my own interpretations of jazz standards that he’s played so well. I have fun and “quote” him in places, borrow some of his trademark phrasing and style which is now embedded into my own playing. I’m really simply expressing my admiration for the greatest solo jazz guitar player that ever lived, but I wouldn’t pretend that I could ever match his abilities.

Other Influences?

Of course. Joe Pass wasn’t the only great player. In solo playing I also include elements (and quotations) of other great players such as Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Earl Klugh, Barney Kessel, & Herb Ellis in some of the pieces I play as well as those of modern era players like Martin Taylor, who's rhythmic discipline and control is to be admired.

This might be expressed in deliberate selection of chord voicings, a variation of stand-out phrases or arrangement structures those legendary players have used.

In ensemble playing I’ll borrow from all those guitarists and add in elements of Allan Holdsworth, Al di Meola, Corrado Rustici, Larry Carlton and many more. Playing jazz fusion is great fun and in my younger days was a massive inspiration as I discovered the likes of Weather Report, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra et al. I also can’t ignore that outside the wide world of Jazz styles I’ve been inspired and influenced by the likes of Zaradin, Bream, Williams and also players like Steve Howe, Steve Hackett and even Jimmy Page. Those all add flavour to the guitar mix.

We’re all influenced and directed by what we’ve heard and admired, and how we listen. But, in the end, I’m playing my own way.