Who is your Guitar Hero? Saturday night’s players share their favorites from rock, pop and jazz

Great guitarists take the spotlight this Saturday night in a show headlined by vocalist Whitney James and two incredible guitarists – Dan Heck and LaRue Nickelson. We’re calling the show: Guitar Hero!

 

LaRue is the go-to guitarist in our area who moves easily through various genres, while always sounding original. Dan Heck, who is making his Palladium debut, is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, Heck has been a professional musician for over 20 years in Boston, New York, Paris and Seattle. He can be heard on dozens of recordings as both a sideman and leader, and is a co-founder of the award winning Seattle jazz ensemble, Bebop and Destruction. The rhythm section, Mark Feinman and Alejandro Arenas, are also guitar fans.

 

While these artists come at the music from a jazz perspective the Guitar Hero show will embrace lots of styles, including rock, pop and jazz, based on the choices of our musicians. The show will offer the sounds of Hendrix, Prince, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino and more. The show is Saturday, Aug. 26 at 8. For tickets and information call our box office at 727 822-3590 or follow this link for online tickets and info.

 

There are great DISCOUNTS available for my blog readers. The discount code for this show is WHITNEY. You can use that on-line or mention WHITNEY when you call our box office.

 

I asked the players each to talk about their favorite guitar heroes. Read on for their favorite Guitar Gods:

Whitney James –

I am a jazz singer, but my influences and inspirations travel far across the music’s soundscape.  Some of my youngest memories are listening to blues and rock music.  So, as surprising as it may sound I was a bit of a rocker before I found my home in jazz.  I’m super excited about translating my Guitar Hero selections music through my jazz lens with two of my favorite guitarists LaRue Nickelson & Dan Heck.  They are both so insanely talented and Saturday’s show is going to be one to remember.  If you like jazz, blues and rock, this is a show NOT TO MISS.

 

I can never pick a favorite anything!  Being a singer, I don’t know how to play the guitar but I know what moves and resonates with me – so I’ll tell you why the gentlemen I’m paying tribute to are my Guitar Heroes!

 

Jimi Hendrix –  There is no one like him, his sound is primal, wild, deep, transformative.  He has effortless creativity and range.  He is one of my favorites and is someone’s whose music stands the test of time. Generations from now, Jimi will still be one of the best.

 

Prince – I love his versatility.  He can play anything – funk, rock, soul, groove, shredding, pop, he is FIERCE!  His songwriting and playing keep me coming back year after year.  He is so soulful and his playing hits me in the gut.  I’ve been a fan since his first album and he is giant and icon in my opinion.  I had the opportunity to see Prince live twice and he was otherworldly.

 

Eric Clapton – He is best described in his own words, “Powerful and economical”.  His sound is weighty and bluesy and his solos are soul filled.  I really feel his playing deeply.  His songwriting is great.  I’ve seen him live and it certainly was a concert to remember.

 

Jimmy Page – He is technically awesome, exotic and wide ranging in style!  His work with the Yardbirds, as a London studio session player and then in Led Zeppelin was all awesome.  His playing is sexy and I his phrasing totally unique.  I love Jimmy.

 

George Harrison – Simple, elegant and concise.  His musical ideas and songwriting are part of the fabric of musical culture.  He is, for me the quietest one of the bunch but beautifully so.

 

 

Dan Heck –

I do not have a “top” guitar hero per se, but I’d love to tell you about Wes Montgomery.  He is certainly an all-time great, a legend, was probably a musical genius, and one of my personal favorites and biggest influences.  You can read his bio and find out lots of stuff about him, but I’ll tell you what he looks like from my perspective.

 

Wes did not use a guitar pick.  He picked with his thumb and no one has really perfected that technique quite like him before or since.  This makes the level of difficulty for everything he played higher and also gave him a totally unique sound and attack (the way we strike a note).  He used bass amps instead of guitar amps which made this “softer tone” even softer still and added to the unique sound.

 

He died young (45 years old) and wasn’t really “discovered” until the late 50’s so his entire recording career was about 10 years and in that time he completely reinvented jazz guitar.  He had influences (like Charlie Christian) but he sounds like nobody else and was totally unique in terms of his sound, his style, his approach, etc.  He made playing solos in octaves cool (no one has done it as regularly or on his level before or since) and created a “building” approach to solos (single notes, then octaves, then chords) that was unique to him on guitar.  He was a “regular guy”, not a jazz snob or in any way above anyone in his mind, just a guy who played guitar and revolutionized the instrument in a way I’m not even sure he was aware of.

 

It came totally naturally to him and when you look at his face in a video of him playing, he looks so relaxed and at ease, he could be eating breakfast while watching a TV show and you’d never know it.  On top of all that, he swung as hard as anyone that ever lived, played super fun, exciting, great music and I’ve never heard one story ever about him ever doing anything in poor taste or having an attitude.

 

I’ve transcribed several Wes Montgomery solos, but my favorite of his (and it’s top 5 all-time from anyone for me) is his solo on No Blues on his live recording at the Half Note with the Wynton Kelly trio.  This solo explains everything you need to know about Wes.  It swings like crazy, contains one of the great octave solos ever played and contains a joy that you cannot describe using mere words.

 

LaRue Nickelson –

My top guitar hero is Bill Frisell. The main reason is that no matter the situation he always sounds like himself…instead of a tribute or copy of another musician. Also…no matter the style he keeps his personal integrity intact. I have heard him in various stylistic contexts—- Straight-Ahead Jazz, County or Bluegrass, Free-Jazz, ECM , Backing up Singer-Songwriters, Movie Soundtracks and World Music to name a few….and instead of mimicking a few stylistic forbearers and the homogenized licks and conventions of each style Frisell finds his own way through each situation. Which to me is the highest form of art… not just style or genre, Frisell’s music has unmistakable character.

 

Mark Feinman –

Guitar was actually my first instrument before the drums and I was always surround by live music, going to see my father’s band band play every weekend.  I grew up listening to a lot of “oldies” on the old U92 radio station. My parents also had a wonderful record collection including a lot Motown and funk. I never knew the names of any of the musicians, but the rhythms were strong enough to inspire me to want to play guitar.  When I was 8 years old, my father took me to see Slash do a clinic at Thoroughbred Music and a few months later I attended my first Green Day concert. I was bitten by the rock and punk bug. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day was my first guitar hero and that still stands today. His simplistic 3 or 4 chord songs and short rhythmic motives are still catchy to me.

 

Alejandro Arenas –

My guitar hero is Paco de Lucia. He was one of my earliest influences when I started playing music. He wrote some wonderful music that crossed over different genres but always retained his Flamenco soul. His technique was equally impressive, but didn’t overshadow his ability to be incredibly musical.