Tim Holmgren
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 10 Dec 2012 3:46 pm |
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Last night Hal Merrill showed up at the monthly Seattle Jazz Guitar Society Jam Session at El Norte Lounge (hosted by Doug Zandar) and made an amazing contribution to the event. The monthly SJGS get together is mostly a cordial meeting of old friends to play and improvise together songs from the Great American Songbook repertoire.
I brought my newly-relocated-from-Nashville 84 year old Mom to the jam session, because she loves this music. Neither she nor I were disappointed
Nearly a dozen local jazz guitarists showed up, as well as Hal with his beautiful red 30 year old MSA Classic. ( He told me he had all 9 floor pedals connected to the C6 neck, though resting foot position still was between 5 and 6.)
There were many soloists and many highlights last night, however, when Hal played the first triad of "Beautiful Love," a song most closely associated with Bill Evans, the mood and tone of the whole evening seemed to change magically. Hal went on to play a duet with Bruce Barnard on guitar of "Turn Out the Stars," wherein Bruce channeled Jim Hall beautifully. I could imagine realistically being at the original "Intermodulation" session only with Bill Evans on PSG . They were that good! Several other highlights included Hal and Bruce playing "Tenderly" and Chris Smith and Michael Biller leading everyone through "C Minor Blues" (Spider Man) and "Out of Nowhere" (Star Trek Theme).
I told Hal after the jam session that his contributions to the jam session were immeasurably great. I hope he shows up again next month and the month after that, etc.
If you live in Seattle, I would encourage you to join the Seattle Jazz Guitar Society, as I realize many of us play and/or appreciate both pedal steel and six string guitar. As a first step, check out the SJGS website and Hal Merrill's website, which is dedicated to PSG and jazz. And show up at the free monthly jam sessions!
For me the next step is to learn "Turn Out the Stars" on both guitar and PSG. |
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