Joe Pass plays a Fender Jaguar

January 20, 2012 11:56 AM

Joe Pass plays a Fender Jaguar
posted by Ardiril (17 comments total)

Joe Pass could make a cigar-box guitar sing.
posted by chimaera at 12:19 PM on January 20, 2012

That was lovely - nice close up camera work. I got to see Joe play with Ella once - lucky me.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 12:21 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

SRV plays a Squier Stratocaster
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:27 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

The piece is "A Song Is You" BTW.
posted by sourwookie at 12:35 PM on January 20, 2012

Thanks. I was wondering what it was.
posted by Ardiril at 1:00 PM on January 20, 2012

I saw Joe at a show in Windsor, Ontario in 1988 or thereabouts. At the interval I asked for his autograph and got a minute to chat. I asked him about his Stones Jazz LP. He said he had to pay the bills. Great to see this clip. Inspires me for some wind-down music this evening.
posted by sagwalla at 1:32 PM on January 20, 2012

Is a Jaguar a particularly bad guitar, or a poor choice for Jazz? Why is that?
posted by Sreiny at 2:57 PM on January 20, 2012

The Jaguar is a "thinner" and "clangier" sound than what you might consider using for Jazz. Even the Jazzmaster is not terribly suited to this purpose.

Oh, but it would make its mark in a different way.
posted by basicchannel at 3:48 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

i remember reading that a jazzmaster is "rarely used" by jazz guitarists, so it's interesting that one of the greats played its sibling. 24" is a very short scale btw, the only shorter would be a byrdland at 23.5". i suppose there isn't much difference between that and his es-175's 24.5". i have no idea what his d'aquisto was, but evidently mr. pass liked him some shorties
posted by camdan at 3:52 PM on January 20, 2012

i 2nd basicchannel, Sreiny, most jazz guitarists are known to play hollowbody guitars, not solidbody. though the 60's seemed to be a time for experimenting, i know there's a clip of a classical guitarist from that time playing a gretsch electric out there somewhere...
posted by camdan at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2012

i remember reading that a jazzmaster is "rarely used" by jazz guitarists...

Yes, and Joe Pass is the only classic jazz guitarist I can think of who played the surf Jazzmaster and the Jaguar. He was an understated rebel.
posted by ovvl at 4:27 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ed Bickert is a jazz player who always used what looked like a fender telecaster
posted by canoehead at 6:18 PM on January 20, 2012

whoops, it's Cal Collins on the Gretsch I was thinking of.
posted by camdan at 8:58 PM on January 20, 2012

And that Gretsch is fairly hollowed-out. :)

A Tele, now that's somethin'.
posted by basicchannel at 9:13 PM on January 20, 2012

basicchannel beat me to it. Solid bodies give you, well, lots of body which is good for rock music where you're competing against the other instruments for volume. As pointed out, the irony is that the Jaguar and Jazzmaster would come to define a lot of 90's rock from grunge (Nirvana) to indie rock in general (Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine).

With enough amplification and distortion you could blow the roof off of the mother.

Leo would have been pleasantly surprised, I think.

I'd think a Tele would be great for solos in a jazz setting, but not so much for rhythm playing.
posted by bardic at 12:00 AM on January 21, 2012

but not so much for rhythm playing.

See above, Ed Bickert. Teles can do more than you think.

No, it ain't jazz, but Prince gets a pretty decent rhythm sound on a Tele-a-like.
posted by Wolof at 3:59 AM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Cobaine put a humbucker in his Jaguar, so that doesn't count.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 5:45 PM on January 22, 2012