Jazz guitar trio proves three's company
A new album prompts Robin Lynam to reflect on the challenges and rewards of jazz guitar trios
Groups comprising three guitarists are not unheard of in jazz, but they are fairly unusual.
Guitar duos are relatively common, partly because of the ease with which two players can switch back and forth between playing chord parts and single note solos. Trios open up a wider range of harmonic possibilities - but they can be fraught with complications.
Trios require arrangements and some disciplined preparatory work if the players are to avoid getting in one another's way
While two good guitarists can often improvise effectively together with little or no rehearsal, trios require arrangements and some disciplined preparatory work if the players are to avoid getting in one another's way.
There are successful examples. Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel collaborated to critical and popular acclaim as The Great Guitars from the mid-1970s on, with Tal Farlow, Bucky Pizzarelli and Mundell Lowe, among other top players, standing in for Kessel after he became too ill to continue. Of those musicians only Pizzarelli, 88, and Lowe, 91, are still with us.
Following suit in 1979 were John McLaughlin with Paco De Lucia and Larry Coryell, who was replaced by Al Di Meola for the recording in 1980 of , which by jazz standards was a bestseller and often to be heard on the sound systems of wine bars for the rest of that decade.
A studio sequel, , was a better set and also sold well.
