A great rendition of the classic song The Days of Wine and Roses is introduced in the clip below by Jazz Guitarist Herb Ellis where he talks about his early days in Jazz. Born in 1921, Ellis started out his musical life as a double bass player. As he refers to in the video clip, due to a lack of funds he dropped from college where he was studying the double bass, going onto to play guitar in a college band. Bit of a similarity to myself here in that I originally played the Bass in the Glasgow Youth Band, a Jazz Orchestra, before switching onto guitar. After a number of bands and a gaining reputation he played in Tommy Dorseys band 1946 through to 1947. Another highlight of his career would have to be replacing Barney Kessel in the Oscar Peterson Trio. While many of the guitarists who came up in the 1940’s where influenced by Charlie Christian it’s perhaps in Herb Ellis’s playing where we can always here echoes of the lineage. Go to my Days of Wine and Roses Guitar Song Lesson for some background of the song and recommended lsitening and also my Days of Wine and Roses and adding a bass line blog for further reading.
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