5 Players who Deserve More Recognition

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 15 May 2001 8:13 am

I was musing today on some great players - living & not-so-living who are deserving of more recognition, CD reissues, articles, etc. In no particular order, here's my list:

1)Dick McIntire (lap steel)
Dick had exquisite tone, phrasing and a way of playing a simple, pure melodic phrase that perfectly complemented a song. His vibrato was warm and natural and his intonation was spot-on. It's a shame that none of his outstanding work from the 30's is in print. Forumite Bob Stone was working on a project that apparently died due to copyright issues.

2)Gabor Szabo (guitar)
Gabor was probably the most under-appreciated jazz guitarist of the 1960's and the most original. He was fusing jazz with world music 25 years before it became fashionable. He used feedback for tonal color in a very subtle way. The modal, Gypsy-influenced style - played on a Martin Dreadnought with a pickup - could set a unique hypnotic mood that was his alone. His best record, SPELLBINDER, is available as an import from Japan. His original composition, "Mizrab" is my all-time favorite of his work.

3) Bola Sete (guitar)
This great Brazilian acoustic musician radiated an incredible joy in every thing he played. There is some existing footage of him playing with the late, Jazz pianist Vince Guarldi, that's really eye opening. This guy played the nylon string guitar with astounding technical control, soul and power. Improvising chorus after chorus of astounding chord melody and single note solos, sweat pouring down his face, grinning from ear-to-ear ... he was something to see and hear. A lot of his best work is out of print but there are some nice re-releases of his work with Guaraldi. Carlos Santana calls him the "Afro-Brazilian Segovia".

4) Bud Issacs (steel)
Until recently, I had only heard Bud's recording of "Slowly". I've recently had a chance to hear a lot of his 50's solo work. He was an outstanding soloist whose playing swings with a subtle bounce on uptempo tunes and ballads and waltzes. There's much more to his playing than just his seminal role in popularizing the pedal steel.
Reissues on an obscure German CD label of some of his best 50's work recently surfaced on ebay.

5) Amos Garret (guitar)
This guy must be Canada's best kept secret. He's best know for his sublime solo on Maria Muldauer's '70's hit "Midnight at the Oasis" - a tricky, unclassifiable piece of guitar magic that seemed to reference jazz, blues and lap steel all at once. A very small bottleneck helped him go in and out of slide technique for that one. But all his records have great guitar playing and singing in a warm, bass voice. He's truly one of the most subtle and melodic Tele players of all time.

Everybody has their own list. But these are the names that came up from my subconscious today.

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 15 May 2001 at 04:34 PM.]

Mark Tomeo · Post by **Mark Tomeo** » 15 May 2001 1:22 pm

I really dig Amos Garret, too. His playing is elegant. You should e-mail our fellow Forumite John Lacey: they're neighbors and Garret has backed John on some of his steel recordings. Maybe he'd share some tapes and/or stories with you. They know each other pretty well.
My list would include Tommy Bolin and Lowell George for a lot of the same reasons you're going for. I love Lowell's singing every bit as much as his slide work.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 16 May 2001 4:45 am

Bob Brozman, Dave Appollon are 2 that come right to mind.

Joel Glassman · Post by **Joel Glassman** » 17 May 2001 9:38 am

JR Chatwell -Western Swing Fiddler
Leon Rhodes - Guitarist
Peter Green-Blues Guitarist w/the original Fleetwood Mac
Joel Glassman-eclectic violin player from Boston :^)
Leon McAuliffe -more reissues needed!
vocalist Tracy Nelson (Willie's daughter)
a great gospel blues shouter-should have had a much more visible career. Has been sick recently.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 17 May 2001 12:50 pm

I agree with you about Tracy Nelson. she's great on the trio CD "Sing It!" with Marcia Ball & Irma Thomas. All three of these women have pipes!
[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 94-3022258]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 94-3022258[/UR L]

A big yes on Dave Apollon too. Bob Brozman's a great musician and has done a lot for the steel guitar. I think his CD with Cyril Pahinui is the best of his 3 Dancing Cat duet releases. [This message was edited by Andy Volk on 17 May 2001 at 01:52 PM.]

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 18 May 2001 4:59 am

I also love Tracy Nelson. One of my favorite recordings of Tracy featured Pete Drake and Johnny Gimble.She did a remake of Boz Skaggs' "But Now You're Gone," featuring Ben Keith (?) on Dobro. I think the record came out in the early l970s after she left Mother Earth. Does anyone out there know the name of the record and how to get a reissue on CD? I also put in a vote for Peter Green, especially some of the stuff from the early l980s. Amos Garrett is also a favorite. He recorded on an early Joe Goldmark album; Joe mentioned that Amos did a lot of local recording in San Francisco.
Chuck

nick allen · Post by **nick allen** » 18 May 2001 5:59 am

1) Inessential trivia, but I don't think Tracy Nelson is Willie's daughter (unless this is some kind of Thom Bresh-like deal...?)
2) Amos Garrett has a track on a slide compilation album called "Everybody Slides Vol. II", on which you would swear he was playing steel (very Hawaiian-like), which is all done with string-bending on a Telecaster.
Title is "Sharks Ate My Wahine"...

Nick

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 18 May 2001 6:51 am

Why not go straight to the horses mouth?
agarrett@cadvision.com

[This message was edited by John Lacey on 18 May 2001 at 07:52 AM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 18 May 2001 8:38 am

Red Rhodes... not one CD reissue.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 18 May 2001 11:04 am

Red deserves more credit as both a player and a pioneer of the Calif. country rock scene.

Other players on my radar scope today ...

Buddy DeFranco (Clarinet)
A king without a country. He's still active and making great records but had the misfortune to shine on Bebop clarinet right when the instrument became passe'. Except for Polka bands, the Clarinet's been on the outskirts for about 50 years.

Tom Morrell
Sure, lots of folks in this forum know and practically worship Tom's incredible facility on lap steel and killer arranging skills but who out there in the general listening public & music press knows about him?

[This message was edited by Andy Volk on 18 May 2001 at 12:05 PM.]