In this rare piece of video…..ImaSportsphile features three incredible jazz musicians…..Guitarist Tal Farlow…..Pianist Keith Jarrett…..and Bassist Red Mitchell…..as we are “absolutely tickled pink” to have this piece in our vintage music library.
Tal Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist….who was nicknamed “Octopus” because of how his large and quick his hands spread over the fret-board…..as Steve Rochinski notes, “Of all the guitarists to emerge in the first generation after Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, more than any other, has been able to move beyond the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary associated with the early electric guitar master. Tal’s incredible speed, long, weaving lines, rhythmic excitement, highly developed harmonic sense, and enormous reach (both physical and musical) have enabled him to create a style that clearly stands apart from the rest.”
Where guitarists of his day combined rhythmic chords with linear melodies….Farlow placed single notes together in clusters….while varying between harmonically enriched tones. As music critic Stuart Nicholson put it, “In terms of guitar prowess, it was the equivalent of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile.”
Dave Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader…. who has been performing and recording for five decades…..while having lived in the United States for 40 of those years. His work ranges from pieces for solo performance to big band…..as Holland runs his own independent record label, Dare2, which he launched in 2005. He has explained his musical philosophy by quoting fellow jazz artist Sam Rivers….”Sam said, ‘Don’t leave anything out – play all of it.'” Holland has played with some of the greatest names in jazz….as he has done in this video herewith….where he teams up with Tal Farlow and Keith Jarrett….plus he has participated in several classic recording sessions.
Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer….who started his career with Art Blakey….while moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970’s he has enjoyed a great deal of success as a group leader and a solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres….especially Western classical music, gospel, blues and ethnic folk music.
In 2003, Jarrett received the Polar Music Prize….and was the first recipient of both the contemporary and classical musician prizes….and in 2004 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. His album The Köln Concert (1975) became the best-selling piano recording in history. In 2008, he was inducted into the Down Beat Hall of Fame in the magazine’s 73rd Annual Readers’ Poll.
