Legends of Jazz Guitar - Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop

gan his own struggle with its limits: “If your feeling is
strong enough,” he observes, “you can get your sound.”
Burrell’s sound was first heard in pianist Tommy
Flanagan’s trio in 1947. At age 19, Burrell was hired by
Dizzy Gillespie for a month and recorded for Gillespie’s
Dee Gee label. Despite many offers to tour, Burrell pursued
a Bachelor of Music degree in theory and composition
at Wayne State University. He studied classical guitar
in college, then spent six months subbing for an ailing
Herb Ellis in Oscar Peterson’s trio. In 1956, he moved
to New York, where his reading ability helped him establish
himself in the studios. “There weren’t many guitarists
who could play blues as well as read,” Burrell noted.
His first Blue Note album, Introducing Kenny Burrell (LT-
81523), was recorded in July 1956, and led to years of
New York-based sessions for Blue Note and Prestige along
with studio work accompanying everyone from James
Brown to Lena Horne.
“If you’re lucky,” says Burrell, “you should be able
to make a living at something you enjoy doing.” Burrell,
whose career has included teaching at UCLA as well as
touring and recording, is extremely lucky. We first encounter
him exchanging volleys with Barney Kessel and
Grant Green in the spectacular “Blue Mist.” Next he appears
at 1987’s San Remo Jazz Festival in the company
of bassist Dave Jackson and drummer Kenny Washington.
“Lover Man” is an exquisite interpretation of this standard
which showcases the qualities (“wonderful chord
conception and harmonic movement”) Tal Farlow admires
in Burrell. The Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin composition,
“My Ship,” sails on an acoustic steel-string and demonstrates
another side of this versatile guitar master.
“When someone turns on the radio and hears four bars
and recognizes that it’s your sound,” says Burrell, “that
is the thing that makes the difference, along with being
really musical and consistent.”
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