Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Guitar Lesson - Danny Gatton Live 9/9/94

Danny Gatton In Concert 9/9/94

Danny Gatton is pretty much considered to be one of the absolute best guitarists ever -- he's almost always rated in the top 20 by the critics -- unfortunately he was not very well known beyond the Washington D.C. area. This is a real treat.

Recorded a month before his tragic suicide, this new trio of Danny's plays mostly jazz at this date (with some rockabilly thrown in; Danny was never far away from bluegrass). He opens with a fast blues, as usual, and plays numbers that he has played many times before. One difference is that he is playing on a new guitar: with two necks, one a regular Tele, and the other a six string bass. The music is superb. "Secret Love" is achingly beautiful. "Blues Newburg" done very slow. Of course, the "Surf Medley" is worth the price of admission alone. "Caravan", another standard, is given a rousing treatment. And "Orange Blossom Special Medley", Danny's usual ending number is a wonderful romp through bluegrass, funk, and jazz. I also like that it was mixed and produced by his band, so what you get is what they what they intended you to hear. It's sad that he's gone but this is what it was like when he was alive.

1. Intro/Sunnymoon for Two 2. Land of Make Believe 3. Blues Newburg 4. 88 Elmira 5. Secret Love 6. Apache/Surf Medley 7. Caravan 8. Linus and Lucy 9. Orange Blossom Medley

dg1

dg2

5 comments:

zillagord said...

OK, I'm mainly into surf, but I hafta say, this absolutely smokes! A-freaking-mazing stuff on this. DG's albums "88 Elmira St" & "Unfinished Business" have long been faves of mine, so I had to check this out, and boy am I glad I did! The performances are top-notch and the sound quality is excellent, too.
Question: This is only the first set; is there another? If there is, I'd love to hear it!
I'm EXTREMELY happy, however, with what we have here. If you like instro guitar, at least give this a shot-- you need to here this guy.
Needless to say-- but saying it anyway 'cause I'm so dang grateful for this-- thanks for the post!

andaloudog said...

Thanks so much for posting this. Those of us "old" DC players remember him fondly, and all agree it's great to hear other folks [like zillagord here] get into him too.

For those that got this far and might be interested, Danny was also a master mechanic -- he often said he'd "rather fix your car than play guitar." Needless to say, his engines always sounded smooth.

Thanks again for the post and take care.

1Surfrider said...

Danny played down here, Ocean City, on New Years eve and New Years day, the year he dies.

I figured NY eve would be chaos, so I bought about 10 friends tickets to the NY day show, actually NY night Jan 1, for Christmas...confused, me too.

Anyway Danny and band were excellent as always playing for me and my 10 friends and maybe half a dozen other folks!

I talked with Danny between sets, we both have hot rods, like jazz and play guitar...when I explained I just mess around playing surf stuff he said "It doesn't make any difference3 if you're playing Rumble or Milestones as long as you're having fun..."

I have to admit I shed a tear the night I heard Danny took himself out of the game.

Thanks for this.

DaBoss said...

Hi all:
This is the only set from this date I have. There might be more --will see. It's a real shame that Danny started getting the recognition he deserved so late in his career -- he was soooooo good a musician and a great person. I knew him from his early days when I was a DJ in the DC area. he was the nicest guy you ever would want to meet. Yea, he felt even an audience of 1 should get all he had -- he was that kind of guy. I, too, miss him a lot. Glad to have folks like zillagord get into it more and andaloudog and surfrider1 add their memories. This is what makes blogging worth it.
Best
GeorgeW

Camarillo Brillo said...

thanks for the comments on Camarillo Brillo and the links to your blog. Danny Gatton! What can you say! Rediculousy awesome! Don't know if you looked back or not but I posted a couple of Johnny Seaton albums and a Leslie "Bird" Anderson album that Danny played on.
You prolly already have them but if not here they are.

http://incaroads-wvkayaker.blogspot.com/2007/08/danny-gatton-featured-on-these-vinyl.html#links

Great blog and thanks again!

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