Mo' Barney rockin':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ug2PTRE0Jk
Barney Kessel at his best
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Jussi Huhtakangas
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From Barney's interview with Arnie Berle that appeared in Guitar Player (couldn't find the whole thing on the web):
AB: "What goes through your mind when you’re improvising?
BK: First of all, I think that any kind of introspection is a complete waste of time, and can be harmful-asking yourself why you did that, or what should you do next. You don’t have to explain anything, You just are. Let me tell you what doesn’t go through my mind: scales, the names of chords, arpeggios, licks, devices, formulas, what could possibly work as a superimposition, what John Coltrane would do at that point, what I could do now that will make people think I’m hip, what my jazz lessons through the mail tell me I could do here, what finger shapes I could use on the fingerboard that will sound real weird and eerie and will impress people. Those are some of the things I don’t think about. I don’t think about the notes in the chord, and I don’t think about the fretboard. Well, that leaves me with very little.
Okay, you asked me what I do think about. To me, it’s like this:Let’s say we’re playing a song and all of a sudden we were to freeze at a certain point-just as if we were taking a picture. Say we stopped at a point where I just struck a Cm7 chord. At that moment, to me, it’s just like somebody came in with an atomizer and sprayed with a Cm7. But I don’t think about what I’ve just said. All I hear is how the chord sounds, not its name.
It’s very much like if I was blindfolded and somebody said they wanted me to taste a piece of cake and tell them what flavor it is. Chocolate, cherry, pumpkin? Well, I’m tasting that chord, and the next thing that wells up in me-is, what’s my musical comment? Not a lick, or a run, but a statement. That’s what I think about. If I have to think about what George Russell said in his Lydian Chromatic Concept book, or that John Coltrane would do, then I’d be filled with too much data, filled with intimidation and need to comment in a way that what I’m playing would be nothing more than status-buying. Everyone would know I’m buying all these other licks and devices, The only way that you get good at improvising is to improvise on what’s in you.
AB: It’s well know that John Coltrane was constantly working on and practicing all kinds of scales. It that the reverse of what you’re saying
BK: Well, I’ve mentioned Coltrane a number of times, but I don’t care for him, See what I mean? I like Sonny Rollins"
AB: "What goes through your mind when you’re improvising?
BK: First of all, I think that any kind of introspection is a complete waste of time, and can be harmful-asking yourself why you did that, or what should you do next. You don’t have to explain anything, You just are. Let me tell you what doesn’t go through my mind: scales, the names of chords, arpeggios, licks, devices, formulas, what could possibly work as a superimposition, what John Coltrane would do at that point, what I could do now that will make people think I’m hip, what my jazz lessons through the mail tell me I could do here, what finger shapes I could use on the fingerboard that will sound real weird and eerie and will impress people. Those are some of the things I don’t think about. I don’t think about the notes in the chord, and I don’t think about the fretboard. Well, that leaves me with very little.
Okay, you asked me what I do think about. To me, it’s like this:Let’s say we’re playing a song and all of a sudden we were to freeze at a certain point-just as if we were taking a picture. Say we stopped at a point where I just struck a Cm7 chord. At that moment, to me, it’s just like somebody came in with an atomizer and sprayed with a Cm7. But I don’t think about what I’ve just said. All I hear is how the chord sounds, not its name.
It’s very much like if I was blindfolded and somebody said they wanted me to taste a piece of cake and tell them what flavor it is. Chocolate, cherry, pumpkin? Well, I’m tasting that chord, and the next thing that wells up in me-is, what’s my musical comment? Not a lick, or a run, but a statement. That’s what I think about. If I have to think about what George Russell said in his Lydian Chromatic Concept book, or that John Coltrane would do, then I’d be filled with too much data, filled with intimidation and need to comment in a way that what I’m playing would be nothing more than status-buying. Everyone would know I’m buying all these other licks and devices, The only way that you get good at improvising is to improvise on what’s in you.
AB: It’s well know that John Coltrane was constantly working on and practicing all kinds of scales. It that the reverse of what you’re saying
BK: Well, I’ve mentioned Coltrane a number of times, but I don’t care for him, See what I mean? I like Sonny Rollins"