"A month ago, I had never heard any of Tal Farlow's music. My guitar teacher said Tal Farlow was the person who made him want to play guitar. I decided to go with my teacher's recommendation.
After a bit of research on Amazon, I came across "The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow" From listening to a few samples, I knew I HAD to have some of his music. I understood immediately why Tal had made such a huge impression on my teacher's life. If you are a fan of jazz guitar, I'm willing to bet hearing 30 seconds of Tal's playing will make a huge impression on you, too.
This music is absolutely gorgeous. It's hard to describe it in words, but if I had to compare it to something, I would say it's like combining the speed and inventiveness of Joe Pass with the soulful melodicism and uniqueness of Wes Montgomery. (That's not to imply Joe Pass isn't soulful or that Wes isn't inventive).
There are close to 100 tracks in this set. And Tal seems to pull from a bottomless well of creativity and talent. He plays slow, smoldering lines over lovely ballads and displays lightning speed on the fast numbers. Unique innovations include Lenny Breau-like use of harmonics and utilizing his extraordinarily long fingers to fret the same note on two different strings. At the heart of all this dexterity and flashy stylism, though, is an intuitiveness that knows the song comes first. His virtuosity is merely a tool through which he creates musicality as only the great players can.
100 songs might be a bit much for all but the most rabid fans. If you know you can be satisfied with just one Tal Farlow album, or you just want to learn a little bit of what all the fuss is about, I recommend buying "The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow." It's affordable (about $12 at the time of this writing)and accessible.
Whatever choice you make, I can't imagine being disappointed if you are a fan of jazz guitar and great music."
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1
