Guitarists Who Play On the Edge Between Jazz and the Blues

By JIM FUSILLI August 23, 2005

Nowhere is the line between jazz and blues so easily blurred as when guitar players go to work. Following the example of T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green and others, these guitarists dash off jazz riffs amid 12-bar blues or toss a rubbery blues run into a jazz standard, proving both genres spring from the same well. Here are a few current examples of guitarists playing jazz blues. Or is it blues jazz?

Calvin Newborn's album "New Born" (Yellow Dog) is grounded in Beale Street blues, Charlie Christian-style chording and a lifetime of working with greats including his brother, the late Phineas Newborn Jr. Six of the eight tracks are Calvin Newborn originals, and they display his love of the kind of small-combo jazz where unison playing gives way to compact improvisations steeped in the blues. Solos by the 70-something Mr. Newborn, such as on the leisurely "After Hours Blues" and his brother's slinky composition "Newborn Blues," are tasty and understated, with a dab of showmanship on the side. His delicate work on "Lush Life" is gorgeous, as his fluid playing on the Billy Strayhorn melody gives way to delicate chording under pianist Donald Brown's solo. Sonny Thompson on trumpet and Herman Green on flute and sax add a pleasing texture to the album.

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Recorded in 1998 but released in mid-July, Xino Tebar's "Goes Blue" (Sunnyside) overcomes a tendency toward coyness on the likes of "Days of Wine and Roses" and Cole Porter's "I Love You" and eventually explores the blues. The gravitas on "Goes Blue" comes from the presence of saxophonist and composer Lou Donaldson on three tracks, including his "Midnight Creeper," a blues tune he recorded some 37 years ago with George Benson on guitar. On Mr. Donaldson's "Blues Walk," Mr. Tebar and organist Lonnie Smith riff under the sax solo until Mr. Tebar steps out, offering flashy jazz runs and bent-string blues bits. A native of Valencia, Spain, Mr. Tebar shares with Mr. Benson a blend of power and subtlety that allows him to alternately knock back and flirt with his supporting cast, as he does with Mr. Smith on "Come to Me," a deft Tebar original. Both men shine on the title track, a Tebar-penned jump blues.

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You get the feeling Ronnie Earl and Duke Robillard can jump out of bed and make records like "The Duke Meets the Earl" (Stony Plain), which features songs by T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Magic Sam, among others. Both men are experts in the kind of rockin' blues found here, and since Mr. Earl followed Mr. Robillard as the front man in Roomful of Blues, they share a similar approach to the terrain. Familiarity doesn't breed ennui, though. The guitarists are in fine form, especially on Walker's "Two Bones & a Pick," which opens up into something like Western swing.

On a couple of down-tempo epics -- the nearly 16-minute reading of Big Walter Price's "My Tears" and the 13-minute take on Mr. Earl's "A Soul That's Been Abused" -- the guitarists don't battle so much as try to push each other to something deeper and agonizingly heartfelt. The jazz great Jimmy McGriff sits in on organ on two tracks.

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Les Paul was once synonymous with commercial jazz-pop guitar music, and almost two dozen of his 1950s classics with Mary Ford were recently re-released on "The Best of the Capitol Masters: 90th Birthday Edition" (Capitol). (Consumer alert: This is almost identical to the package that was issued in 1992 under the title "Selections from 'The Legend and the Legacy' Box Set.")

On "American Made World Played" (Capitol), to be released on Aug. 30, Mr. Paul is celebrated in a collection of performances by Mr. Paul and his guitar-playing friends. The 16-track disc has only a few moments of pure blues or jazz: ex-Journey and Santana guitarist Neal Schon and vocalist Beth Hart offer a blistering rendition of "I Wanna Know"; Aerosmith's Joe Perry performs "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" with singer Mick Hucknall; and bluesmen Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd are among the guests. Mr. Paul's funky reading of the Duke Ellington-Juan Tizol tune "Caravan" bubbles with the kind of synthesized, multitrack playing he invented.

The album is noteworthy for its performances by Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. They've each taken a Sam Cooke recording, wiped away most of the backing track and added their guitars. Mr. Beck chugs along like Scotty Moore under Cooke in the up-tempo "Good News," while Mr. Clapton solos under the legendary soul singer in the bluesy "(Somebody) Easy My Troublin' Mind." Mr. Paul certainly should be honored on his 90th birthday, but after listening to the Cooke-inspired cuts by Mr. Beck and especially Mr. Clapton, I found myself eager for less Paul and more Sam Cooke, who blended gospel, pop, blues and a smidgen of jazz unlike anyone else. Two of Cooke's masterpieces in which he sings the blues -- "Live at Harlem Square" and "Night Beat" -- will be reissued next month by RCA. Barney Kessel's the guitarist on three tunes on the latter, an exquisitely moody album that in many ways is a tribute to T-Bone Walker and pianist Charles Brown.

Mr. Fusilli, a novelist and critic, covers rock music for the Journal.