Swing Guitar

Dedicated to pre-bebop jazz guitar.

Monday, May 18, 2009

So finally I update something!

Now that I'm out of law school and passed the California bar, I'm planning a major overhaul of this site, and I've been spending a lot of time working on a rhythm guitar instructional book. For now this post will have to do.

So, last night my band, Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, played at the Cicada Club in Downtown Los Angeles. The entire show was webcast, and the show is achieved on youtube. So here are the videos.

Why am I posting the videos on the swing guitar blog? Because you can really hear the rhythm section. I hope that anyone who has been struggling to hear rhythm guitar because of the relatively poor recording mediums of the swing-era will be able to hear that 4-beat feel loud and clear.

For the guitar gear geeks: I'm playing my Eastman AR805 for most of the rhythm work. Additionally, I've got my LeVoi for the Django-stuff, and my Franken-ES-150. You can also hear and see my 1939 EH-185.

The band is: Jonathan Stout (duh), Hilary Alexander (vocals), Albert Alva (tenor/clarinet), Jim Ziegler (trumpet/vocals), Richard Geere (piano), Wally Hersom (bass), and Hal Smith (drums).

Here's part 1 (-45 mins)


Here's part 2 (~35 mins)


Here's part 3 (~35 mins)

9 Comments:

  • At 11:12 PM, Blogger Jonathan Stout said…

    Oh, and the guitar is not intentionally that loud. The sound a feed of the mixing board, and so the balance is primarily for those in the room.

     
  • At 9:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi! I'm a Russian jazz guitarist, and I frequently watch your blog. Godd luck, hoping for updates and a copy of the book!
    Nice to see fellow swingers out there)

     
  • At 3:36 AM, Anonymous Steveb said…

    Hi, any chance of fixing the links to the learning resources while you work on the book? I'm guessing the update to your Campus Five website has broken the links...
    As a lindy hop dancer from the UK I'm a long-time fan (I saw you guys at the London Balboa Festival a few years back) and ex-rock/blues guitar player who's now taken the plunge into swing rhythm guitar. I've learnt loads of tips from this blog already - would love to hear the samples & see the charts etc.....
    many thanks, & keep up the good work.

     
  • At 8:02 AM, Blogger Erik Swanson said…

    What's the story on your instructional book? Is there a target date for publication? Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I play rhythm guitar in a Western Swing band: www.shootlowsheriff.com

     
  • At 6:05 AM, Blogger Bill Williams said…

    Jonathan, thanks for the instructional stuff and the gear info. Great to see all this in action in the webcast.
    Bill, Barreiro, Portugal

     
  • At 3:53 PM, Blogger Alan Cugnoni said…

    Hi
    Looking forward to purchasing a copy of your book,will we have to wait long? I love that style of guitar & I am a bit of an archtop freek, look each day on archtop.com (love those Epi`s)

    Alan www.hotjazz.co.uk

     
  • At 2:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Good quality info. Lucky to me I came to your website not on purpose, but now I have bookmarked it. Moon Jams

     
  • At 2:40 AM, Blogger Unknown said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     
  • At 5:49 AM, Blogger Swing Set Pros said…


    Very informative and useful historical post. I see you have a lot of other cool stuff available at your website, simply bookmarking it to check in spare time. Thanks and keep the good work up.

    Swing set Assembly

     

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