Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Thank you so much 李jiayang!
It's a new album to me. Sounds so nice this morning. I will listen repeatedly :-)
Jim Hall is amazing.

Kurt

Recorded at Penny Lane Studios, New York, May 1989.

00:00 Beija-Flor
06:31 Bemsha Swing
11:44 Prelude To A Kiss
16:35 Young One (For Debra)
21:04 R.E.M. State
26:37 Jane
31:36 All Across The City
37:09 Drop Shot
42:41 How Deep Is The Ocean?
46:11 Something Tells Me
51:11 Big Blues

Bass – Steve La Spina
Drums – Terry Clarke
Guitar – Jim Hall
Keyboards – Gil Goldstein
Art Direction – Kent Judkins
Liner Notes – Nat Hentoff
Engineer [Assistant Recording] – Jeff Tobie
Engineer [Recording] – Ed Trabanco
Engineer [Remix] – Phil Edwards
Mastered By – George Horn
Photography By [Cover] – David Lubarsky
Producer – Carl E. Jefferson

Hi Kurt , Very thank you too !
I found this album from a Jazz 30 years Commemorative album series , I have this to help with listening & listen Jazz language :)
There are some treasures inside , Thanks a album collector sale this for me , all new & champ price .

~~~~~ Yeah !

Man - that Ron Carter bass work. I might have to put Autumn Leaves next on my Real Book list.

Thank you Tomo ! I find this one in my album box !

Another great song! Yes! You can practice R 3 7 / R 7 3 swing groove with really slow tempo!
Make sure your up stroke & left hand muting technique.

Tomo

My pleasure Jiayang!

This album & Under Current... so important!

Tomo

Under Current !

You're very welcome Jeff!

I also love this solo!

Rhythm guitar part on this song. A lot of R 3 7 swing groove!

Tomo

Concierto album is new to me! What a great day!
Thanks, Tomo!
Kurt

Yes - nice R 3 7 swing groove towards end. But holy cow - that syncopated interplay between piano and guitar! I'm always amazed that anyone can keep time in pieces like this.

Beautiful album!

Tomo

Great catch Clay!

Tomo

Cool Clay! Yeah I think it was a world wide success! Yabba Dabba Doo! 😄🌞

Hah! Good to know!

So good! No never heard this version. Amazing dynamics he uses too

I think it is cool that the solo starts mostly on single strings and then by the end he is practically R37 strumming!
Love it!
Kurt

Such tone. I will do a deeper dive on this album. Thanks for this, Tomo.

The early Beatles did this sounding like Barbershop quartet!
Kurt

You're very welcome Jiayang!

Tomo

Clay, I am a huge Vince Guaraldi fan! I love all his music, even the stuff outside of Peanuts. Plus, his band so compliments his playing. Thanks for posting this. I will have this entire album on repeat today.

Wow! I love this kind of music.
That is so sweet! Love Jack McDuff too.
Was lucky to live next to "Jazz Alley" for years and would see all kinds of Jazz masters when they came to Seattle.
Thanks for sharing this Linda!
Kurt

It's good to get this vibe in your head then go practice R-3-7 swing groove.

You read my mind again Linda!
That's what I was thinking when I started practicing after listening to this!
Thank you for the inspirational nudges :-)
Kurt

Like that one Linda! I don't know when that was recorded, but the mix is really good. Everything sounds great together, but it's also super easy to hear each instrument, with organ dynamically going from the foreground to background.

Wow good stuff Linda. Happy gator week everybody

Dude, that IS wild! That'll get to ya!

Gator week is better than shark week!

Totally agree Linda!

So good, Kurt. Yes, already a great day.

Hah! I didn't get the reference until I started listening. What a cool song to do a jazz cover.

Yes Clay! I learned more from that series than the "Intro to Jazz" class I took at the community college :-)
Kurt

Good call, Clay. Likewise, saw it many moons ago. Need to re-watch. SO much great history and listening.

Jazz 101! I would still sign up for that class!

I couldn't resist taking a Jazz class. I was so happy it was a choice. I took piano too.
Talking those classes is just one of the reasons it took me three years to get a 2-year business degree.

Kurt

This is helpful Kim! Lots of new music for me.
I am learning Blue Bossa and only know Tomo's versions.
I learned about Julian Lage here. It's like remembering where you bought an album :-)
I've been listening to Rose Room by Charlie Christian and all the versions of Kyoto and Just Funky I can find :-)
Kurt

Same here Kurt! Trying to get this music inside as much as possible. Rose Room and Kyoto have some miles on. In through the ears and out through the fingers! Love listening first then practice right after.

Rose Room and Kyoto are also on my playlist!

Ah man.. Charlie Christian's solo in Rose Room is such a benchmark of jazz guitar. truly stands the test of time as a flower of jazz guitar. It feels like Orsen Welles in that way-- defining the language for his successors... unornamented lines that push you along with rhythmic interest and quick turns of phrases that are repeated and explored.. fast energetic bursts followed by a sweet lullaby, slides like questions and bops to make ya slide... just the whole jazz guitar canon in 30 seconds!

Kyoto sounds like jazz-funk.. i really have the funk face on when I'm listening haha :D i can't help myself, its just too fun. I love how cool it feels... like shade in a summer waterpark. I swear the song materializes sunglasses on my face... Mr. Fujita's touch on the electric is genuinely second to none (maybe after great B.B king).. the tones he can bring out on the guitar are as varied as they are precise. every dynamic, every slight bend in intonation is so intuitive and yet executed with percision. especially when he is going down in a line... he has so much control that is so rarely heard i feel.. can clearly hear in Mr. Fujita's sound that he did not neglect any of the fundamentals so it is clean all the way through.. no unwanted overtones, and every attack is independent to the previous one. Listening to the studio track makes me feel Mr. Fujita is secretly a perfectionist hahah ;) but in the live recordings, I can feel he is just speaking what is in his heart, and also showing what he was feeling that day hahah.. Mr. Fujita is a very transparent improvisational artist I think! I feel I can hear it in his solo if his lunch was too salty!

this improvised performance of "Day and Age" by Lage completely captivated me when I first saw it 3 years or so ago. It is imbued with that feeling of "remembering where you bought an album" as you so poetically put it. have you had a chance to see it?

That's nice Sun Ho - great example of dynamics on an acoustic.

Thank you Kurt and Jeffrey! It is great that we can learn from each other through this forum and share our favourite tunes :D

Here are some links of the tunes mentioned above, but I think all of them should be searchable on youtube by the name and artist as well :)

Camilo --

So great. Thanks Kim! Very helpful.
I learned about "Night Lights" from Jiayang here on the Forum. (Morning of the Carnival) I've been going back to it regularly.
That is such an interesting jazz interpretation of Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in Em!
He came along right after my ancestor Franz Schubert. True Romantics!
Kurt

I second what Jeff said! It's great to hear from each other more. Thank you, Kim Sun Ho!