on Chet Atkins... how high do you guys rank him? What are the top albums?
Yesterday at the Campilongo workshop way out at the docks of Helsinki, I asked Jim about Chet Atkins. Why is like 10% of his record collection Chet Atkins.... Chet albums in three digits! It's not something that evidently would be heard in Jim's playing (besides some of course).
I have and thoroughly enjoy a few Chet albums, but many to me are sort of elevator music. Jim mentioned "Chet picks on Beatles" as record everybody should check. I did now. Some good tunes, yes, and I already tried learning She's a woman yesterday, sounds simple (for a Chet tune that is) and fun (Jim played it at the workshop). But the album is not really my fave in all.
Maybe it's music for learning the guitar, not for listening to. Jim at least listed things he had learned from Chet's records, and that the fact that Chet's clever arrangement are very guitar oriented is part of what made them good.
So how high do you guys rank him? I do understand that he was a genius, but still I don't really listen to his music. Besides the few records.
I have and love:
Chet & Merle
Chet & Doc Watson
Jazz from the hills (which I think Jim mentioned not really liking)
Chet & Tommy Emmanuel
Chet & Knopfler
...the logic behind this being pretty much that Chet with anybody is magic. Les and Chet is good too, as is the collaborations with Jerry Reed. But I don't actually own those myself.
I have and thoroughly enjoy a few Chet albums, but many to me are sort of elevator music. Jim mentioned "Chet picks on Beatles" as record everybody should check. I did now. Some good tunes, yes, and I already tried learning She's a woman yesterday, sounds simple (for a Chet tune that is) and fun (Jim played it at the workshop). But the album is not really my fave in all.
Maybe it's music for learning the guitar, not for listening to. Jim at least listed things he had learned from Chet's records, and that the fact that Chet's clever arrangement are very guitar oriented is part of what made them good.
So how high do you guys rank him? I do understand that he was a genius, but still I don't really listen to his music. Besides the few records.
I have and love:
Chet & Merle
Chet & Doc Watson
Jazz from the hills (which I think Jim mentioned not really liking)
Chet & Tommy Emmanuel
Chet & Knopfler
...the logic behind this being pretty much that Chet with anybody is magic. Les and Chet is good too, as is the collaborations with Jerry Reed. But I don't actually own those myself.
Comments
If I were you I would dl a compilation called classics on iTunes, I Remeber it being really cheap, like six bucks for thirty tracks. It's all his really early stuff. I dig Alice blue gown, mainstreet breakdown, jitterbug waltz, birth of the blues and black mountain rag. This material is the lens I view all his other stuff through and the stuff that really got me into him.
Also his album w Lenny breau is a favorite of mine. Sweet Georgia brown is so good. I really stick to those two albums when I listen to Chet.
I think the problem might the 2 disc collection. I should have bought the original albums on vinyl, with max 10 songs on them. Too,much choice, too many songs to listen to.
His music is part of the great American 20th-century sound. I own "Chet Atkins Les Paul Together!" (a gem - their banter is a real trip), and my parents had his records way back in the day. But few seem to know him as a producer. Here's a link to some of Chet's finest work, for sure:
p.s. - " ... way out at the docks of Helsinki ..." (Wow. There's a song in there somewhere.)
My favorite place to be a clod: on Jim's forum. Duh-oh!
~ Mz DeVille : > [
p.s. - Hi Jim. We miss you!
Whatabout another question:
Any suggestion on fun and easy tunes from Chet's repertoire?
I think I've got the She's a woman now. It look simple when Jim played it, so I took to learn in it. It may not be 100% perfect (I did find a tab for it but it was not accurate so I trashed it), but close enough for me.
Windy & warm is the eternal fave, I guess. I think Trambone might be the next one I'll try.