Jazz on a burst

RickC · Jan 10, 2005

Over the holidays, I discovered some great classic jazz footage put out by Rhapsody Films (merry christmas to me!) on DVD. One of these was "Sonny Rollins Live at Laren", recorded in the Netherlands in 1973. At the time Rollins, like many of the old guard jazz giants from the 50's and 60's, was experimenting with young players and electric instruments in his band. But rather than exploring new sonic territory, like Miles Davis for example, Sonny was pretty much just playing louder versions of what he always had.

So what's interesting here is that the guitarist on this date is playing what looks like a gorgeous, original '59 burst. Lots of nice shots of the guitar, including some great reflections where you can clearly see the top carve dish. Straight, dense, subtle flame. This is a straight jazz date, played through a silverface Twin Reverb; it's played mostly clean, with just a little bite evident. Guitar sounds fantastic, and it's interesting to see/hear it used in this manner. Makes a strong case imo for the notion that the Les Paul was in fact designed to be a jazz guitar.

The guitarist in question was a young Yoshiaki Masuo, an outstanding player with a long, impressive resume:

http://www.ymasuo.com/eng/

I found a couple of shots of what I'm pretty sure is the same guitar as in the Rollins video. It had the Grovers already in '73:

http://translate.google.com/transla...search?q=%2Bmasuo+%2B%22les+paul%22&hl=en&lr=

/rick

burstone · Jan 10, 2005

RickC said:
Makes a strong case imo for the notion that the Les Paul was in fact designed to be a jazz guitar.

I believe that to be true.

plaintop · Jan 10, 2005

The fact is that Gibson only started building the Les Paul to compete with Fender. The musical environment at the time was secondary.

The PAF was only designed to deal with humming pickups....and the 'burst was a creative venture that nobody even really cared about.

roycaster · Jan 10, 2005

The Lester was a Signature model, and Les Paul was playing jazz and pop music at the time. Leo liked both kinds of music, country and western. The guitar players he took it to in the early stages were playing those forms of music. But the marketing people saw a Telecaster as a lost ES or LP sale and vice versa.

WheelchairBandit · Jan 12, 2005

I've always thought the Gibson Les Paul Standard as well as the Custom make exellent jazz guitars,and thats what I use them for.Whether or not Gibson intended this really makes no difference to me-it's a great jazz guitar to my ear,and that's all that matters.The right one can do anything from mellow Kenney Burrell/Joe Pass tones to doing Al DiMeola and John McLaughlin tones (not that I consider those two "jazz").

BTW,I checked out the DVD in question-looks interesting.I would buy it,exsept that it's only 36 minutes long,and at $20,doesn't seem worth it to me.If I ever run across a used copy for $10,I'll snatch it up.

WB.

RickC · Jan 12, 2005

well, if it's any consolation, you can get it on a 2-fer DVD with "Ben Webster in Europe" for $20; that's how I got mine. A little bit more for your money...

/rick

RickC · Jan 12, 2005

I posted on Masuo's message board, asking about the burst; here's some of the reply:

"Yes, the Les Paul you saw in Live at Laren is a '59 model. Masuo still owns it..."

"The Les Paul Masuo first got was a black custom model. He sold the black one and bought the cherry sun burst '59 model. The cherry sun burst model survived a water accident that flooded Masuo's recording studio at basement level into a pool in 1994..." :bug

"You can listen to Masuo play this Les Paul in his recent albums "Are You Happy Now" and "Just Like Old Times". Although the cover art of Are You Happy Now shows Masuo playing Gibson ES-175 (hollow archtop), he recorded the album using the Les Paul. Because of the cover jacket and not knowing the fact, most people who listen to Are You Happy Now do not doubt that the ES-175 is played on the album."

55Custom · Jan 12, 2005

www.restart-ny.com/plainriver/e_photos03.html

Litcrit · Jan 13, 2005

Sure, you can play jazz on an LP, a Tele, a Strat, any guitar. Lots of guys do. However, the MAJORITY of jazz guitarists are still looking for a tone that is best achieved with a hollow guitar, and that's why the majority of jazz guys still bring out their big boxes to play. The envelope of the note is different, the swell, the decay. When I've played club dates with Les Pauls, the guitar sustains TOO MUCH for me, I WANT a shorter note with a quicker decay. Complex chords seem to have too many overtones. I want the harmonic series that's best produced by hollow bodies. The solid body tone is too direct, too cutting. That's what my "jazz ear" hears as "correct". For rock, the reverse applies.

WheelchairBandit · Jan 13, 2005

I've found that with the right amp,I can get a good jazz sound with a Les Paul,and not have it sustain too much if I have it set right.

One of the best jazz guitarists I've ever heard used a Yamaha SG-2000 through a 50 watt Mesa Boogie 1x12.And we're not talking jazz fusion or anything here,but mainly Joe Pass stuff-he also used that combo for years playing in big band jazz bands.

WB.

Stevedenver · Jan 13, 2005

I think litcrits point is indeed the main factor that affected Fender. I dont think Leo cared who played the guitar so long as he could sell them. I'm unaware of any info that Leo had any musical interest, no less C and W. He was all tubes and manufacturing and utility.

It just so happens that the C and W guys were open to playing the lowly slab bodied guitars. Perhaps a little less "high brow". Along with Nudie suits, a slick thin solid body is the flash apporach in the early fifties.

Perhaps too, with the Merle Travis guitar, country players had already been exposed to 'one of thier own' using a solid body, and were 'early adapters' regarding embracing new technology.

Jazzers were probably put off by the appearance and non-traditional approach.

Etosser · Jan 13, 2005

Didn't Gibson introduce the burst finish in order to boost slow sales by appealing specifically to the jazz and trad market?

Litcrit · Jan 13, 2005

WheelchairBandit said:
I've found that with the right amp,I can get a good jazz sound with a Les Paul,and not have it sustain too much if I have it set right.

One of the best jazz guitarists I've ever heard used a Yamaha SG-2000 through a 50 watt Mesa Boogie 1x12.And we're not talking jazz fusion or anything here,but mainly Joe Pass stuff-he also used that combo for years playing in big band jazz bands.

WB.

Yes, you can approximate it, get close to it, but really: there's no solid body that REALLY sounds like a big jazz box (for better or worse). Take John McLaughlin: he's played every type of guitar under the sun, right? Played solid bodies during his fusion days for years and years. Now that's he's playing more straight ahead, he brings out the Johnny Smiths. Same with Martino, Coryell, almost all of the guys who moved from fusion to more straight ahead.

RickC · Jan 13, 2005

Etosser said:
Didn't Gibson introduce the burst finish in order to boost slow sales by appealing specifically to the jazz and trad market?

Hadn't heard that, but I had heard (and this from Les himself) that the all black Custom was introduced so it would look cool when played while wearing a tuxedo; i.e., black guitar against a black tux, the guitar would blend and the players hands would stand out, sorta "dancing in space".

/rick

RickC · Jan 13, 2005

I do in fact recall reading that Leo liked C&W, as a listener. So it seems natural that he would think about that market for his product.

Similarly Les, was a big-city jazzer (sorta).

In retrospect, we can say that archtops generally still work best for jazz (although I do find examples such as Masuo's work with Rollins quite compelling). But in any event, back then electrics and amplification were new, hip, the future, etc and no-one was quite sure where it all would go. Think anyone at the time, even the boldest visionaries in the field, foresaw Hendrix? Or Beck? Les Paul was a jazzer, and Gibson was one of the top jazzer manufacturers. It seems quite natural that they expected the solidbody LP to be the new wave in jazz guitars.

/rick

zorglub! · Oct 7, 2009

(talk about resurrecting an old thread...)

Check Yoshiaki Masuo playing his Burst in this video, there is a small solo (30sec) around 4:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCDv5NK54u0

Jazz on a burst

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Burst Detective!