tal farlow guitar...

[ThorK]

Just wondering what kind of guitar is on the cover of one of my favorite jazz albums, errr, cd's

I know they started making the Tal Farlow signature model in 62, but I've always wondered which guitar is on the cover of The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow. The album is from 1957 so... at least 1957 ES-something?...

Pardon my ignorance if it's been discussed before, I'm just starting to get into jazz guitar, playing my way out of a rut, and this album is kind of consuming me!

Thanks

 

[ThorK]

May have answered my own question, per this thread!

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122171&highlight=farlow

1950s ES-175?

 

[R.A.O.]

ES-350 with a Charlie Christian pickup but for some reason I wanna say Tal's guitar was originally an L-7 that was modified. Don't quote me on that though.

 

[ThorK]

ES-350 with a Charlie Christian pickup but for some reason I wanna say Tal's guitar was originally an L-7 that was modified. Don't quote me on that though.

Ahhhh, nice. I have never seen that model from the front before. Very cool.

Hmm, modified L-7 would be different that the guitar on this cover?

Thanks for the insight though, been great help!

(sorry, I ended up quoting you anyways :salude )

 

[R.A.O.]

An L-7 is basically an acoustic ES-350 with a spruce top. I could be wrong about Tal's being an L-7 that was modified. Probably an ES-350.

 

[E-Rock]

I've read it was a modded ES-350 as well. Mods included swapping the original P90 in the neck position with a Charlie Christian pickup, and adding a pickup selector switch (which replaced the original "blend" control knob). Though I believe the later full-body ES-350's already had the pickup selector switch stock (beginning around '52 or '53), so Tal's guitar may have just had the pickup swap....

I believe Tal got the idea to mod an ES-350 like this from Barney Kessel, who used an early single-pickup ES-350 with a CC pickup in place of the original P90 as well.

Great, great tone from these guys! :salude

 

[ThorK]

I've read it was a modded ES-350 as well. Mods included....

Great, great tone from these guys! :salude

Yes indeed!

Thanks for the information guys, it's really helpful.

I've loved listening to jazz/swing/bebop guitar for a while but I'm just now starting to get into playing it.

It's completely different than my rock/blues upbringing but I'm determined to stick with it! :foghorn

Tal has always been my favorite guitarist out of the three or four I have regularly listened to.

 

[ES335TD]

Good choice - in my opinion, that's his best album (check out Eddie Costa on piano too!), but there's a retrospective of Tal that has a lot of great stuff.

 

[E-Rock]

Tal has always been my favorite guitarist out of the three or four I have regularly listened to.

If you're really into Tal, try to find the out-of-print Mosaic Records box-set #224 "The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions" (7 CDs). It's basically everything he recorded for Verve in the '50's (including the "Swinging Guitar..." album). Unfortunately, much of his Verve stuff isn't available on CD in the US (though some titles can be found as Japanese imports), so the limited-edition Mosaic set is really the way to go if you love this stuff! Expensive, but worth it! :salude

 

[ThorK]

If you're really into Tal, try to find the out-of-print Mosaic Records box-set #224 "The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions" (7 CDs). It's basically everything he recorded for Verve in the '50's (including the "Swinging Guitar..." album). Unfortunately, much of his Verve stuff isn't available on CD in the US (though some titles can be found as Japanese imports), so the limited-edition Mosaic set is really the way to go if you love this stuff! Expensive, but worth it! :salude

Alright good deal, thanks!

I'm trying to break down the tunes by heard but some of the fast lines and most of the chords are hard to figure out!

I dont like learning solos/runs exactly how the original artist played them BUT, I am afraid I'm going to NEED some help from a book for these funky jazz chords.

Any help? i've heard of this thing called a Real Book, with jazz standards and chords?

:hmm

 

[ES335TD]

There's a Real Book which will help a lot, and then There's this book about Tal, written as a true labor of love to get you on a fast track!

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Style-Ta...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268327708&sr=8-1

 

[ThorK]

There's a Real Book which will help a lot, and then There's this book about Tal, written as a true labor of love to get you on a fast track!

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Style-Ta...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268327708&sr=8-1

Woah! Thanks for that.

Still, after reading some reviews on it, I think the Real Book would help. Not trying to be a Farlow copy, experimenting with jazz in general too! :applaude

Thanks for that again though, I've got some material to start with now.

 

[abalonevintage]

Here is a photo of Tal Farlow with what I believe Tal told me was the FIRST Gibson Tal Farlow model guitar ever made.

I got a chance to hank out with Tal Farlow and Hank Garland back in the 90's before a jazz festival. If I remember correctly this was the first time Hank had seen many of his jazz colleagues in decades.

This photo was taken in Tal's hotel room with Russell Malone and Bucky Pizzarelli in attendance also .

 

[tuberide]

Great shot eric....thanks for that.

 

[ThorK]

Hey I've seen that picture before, didn't know it was you who took it. That's too cool!

I'm sure you can personally confirm it, but it's incredible that he could still play amazingly well in his later years. No offense at all, but I can't imagine my gramps when he was in his 70s playing guitar like that!

this is a favorite clip of mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIaseicCzFk

edit- also never noticed that extra neck pickup on Tal's "original" signature guitar in that pic above!

 

[Litcrit]

Tal played his signature model, Barney Kessel didn't. I've seen Barney w/ pics of his "go-to" guitar, also a 350 with CC pickup (if memory serves). That can't be just a coincidence....Was it Tal's old guitar?

 

[SuperReal]

Woah! Thanks for that.

Still, after reading some reviews on it, I think the Real Book would help. Not trying to be a Farlow copy, experimenting with jazz in general too! :applaude

Real books are great for giving you a starting point in learning a tune, though they are usually just outlines of the songs. I have a CD rom that a friend gave me that has the complete texts of 5 different fake books. So all you have to do is find the tune you want and print it out.

I wish I could tell you where to get this disc, or even what it's called.

Anybody know?

 

[ES335TD]

thork,
Your attitude is great, you're sure to learn a lot. The Real book is a great way to go, and I twnd to use these in depth analyses like the Tal book to get inside a certain player's approach and style. This book is a reverent study of Tal and is a super resource. Good luck in your quest.

 

[ThorK]

thork,
Your attitude is great, you're sure to learn a lot. The Real book is a great way to go, and I twnd to use these in depth analyses like the Tal book to get inside a certain player's approach and style. This book is a reverent study of Tal and is a super resource. Good luck in your quest.

Thanks for that!

Ok, looks like I'm hitting the book-store this weekend. Or amazon, they are pretty quick in shipping.

Gotta be careful with their "one-click shopping"! :spabout

 

[markwayne]

It's always nice to see Tal getting some attention. He was such an innovator and does not, in my opinion, get nearly enough credit.

I was in Paris between 1989 and 1991 and he used to play on a regular basis at a little restaurant/club not far from my flat. He would usually be accompanied by a "student" of his. He was always mind-boggling. And it was wonderful to see him in such a small, intimate environment where he was so clearly at ease.