The canadian king of cool jazz guitar. We get to see that gorgeous telecaster up front a bit. It oozes cool too. And that gum! If I can sound any bit like Ed I'll chew away like mad on stage from now on. Dave Young & Terry Clarke
I grew up in Toronto and used to hear Ed play almost weekly at George's Spaghetti House - he was Canada's best kept "jazz secret". That old Tele with the added neck humbucker was the only guitar I saw him use - it was his signature piece. Back in the day, he was a chain smoker and always had a cigarette in his mouth when he played - I'm guessing he's chewing nicotine gum. Strangely, Ed simply stopped playing and retired not too many years after this video was shot - he decided he'd had enough and wanted to spend his senior years with his family in suburban Toronto. We lost him last Feb. - and the entire Canadian jazz world (and more) mourned. RIP Ed Bickert - you quietly inspired thousands of guitarists and jazz lovers (including me).
I spent some of the best years of my life in Toronto, 411 Duplex Ave, in the 70’s. But for some strange reason never heard of Ed until much later, even though I was a jazz guitar fan. Bought my Gibson 355 on Yonge Street and took lessons from the staff guitarist for The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who lived on Wilson Avenue, though I can no longer recall his name. Ed is a marvelous player, equally capable in a trio or a Big Band setting, I wish I had met him back then.
What people are forgetting is that solid bodies were made/invented to stop the feed back of arch tops. When solid bodies were made there wasn't Rock & Roll. In the late '40's & early '50's Jazz & Pop were still predominate. So what I'm saying is solid bodies are Jazz guitars.
New to Ed Bickert and am entranced. Granted, I come to jazz as a blues guitarist that also loves country, but this sounds like a perfect blend of Barney Kessel and Jimmy Raney with a splash of Buddy Emmons. For someone like Bickert to synthesize these lines of guitar to create a unique style is a mark of genius. And this performance is what mastery both look and sound like…and I’m including the amazing rhythm section in the mastery.
Ed did so many things well, but this video really illustrates how natural his swing was. He was so effective when he had a good mid-tempo groove to float over. Like Lester Young, every note seemed to be part of a long dance he was doing with the beat. He also seems so "at one" with the groove and changes, his motions all so economical. Nothing wrong with face grimaces and tension (Ed scrunches up his face every once in a while), but Ed just looks like the jazz guitar Buddha up there, not trying, only doing.
Bickert's playing is so tasteful; I've listened to all his stuff but I've never heard him overplay a tune or get too "note-y." He was a master of understatement. His melodic lines were so fluid. I find it really interesting that his right hand technique is very similar to Jim Hall's in the way he positions his hand and holds the pick. I also love that he played a Fender Telecaster (my fave electric guitar) instead of a big hollow jazz box. He proves that you can play any kind of music on a Telecaster. I read somewhere that he switched to the Telecaster because they are famously sturdy and tough; they'll stand up to the abuse of the road a lot better than a hollowbody. He was totally not a gearhead and except for the neck humbucker, which a luthier added at his request, the guitar looks stock. It's kind of endearing how he has the hex wrench for the intonation adjustment scotch taped to the pickguard and had a spare pick taped to the back of the guitar under the neckplate with masking tape...
@@danielstoddart His wife apparently bought him a nice padded gig bag for the Telecaster at some point, and he returned it to the guitar shop because he couldn't fold it up and tuck it into the back of his amp like he did with the crummy vinyl bag she was trying to upgrade. The man was a complete pragmatist! Ironically, 99% of his gigs were in the greater Toronto areas, and he only occasionally did tours involving airplanes and so forth, so he could have continued playing the ES-175 he used in the 1960s without too much hassle, but he did prize a guitar he could leave in the car trunk when it was cold, and haul around in a lightweight bag. I think at some level he must have also just fallen in love with the ease of play and sustain of the Telecaster, both of which he used to maximum advantage. He did gripe to an interviewer once that it didn't sound as lush as a traditional jazz box, but he used it on every single studio recording he released under his own name, so I assume he wasn't too serious about his complaint. You can read a couple of interviews with him talking about music and guitars in this .pdf: drive.google.com/file/d/1d1DnS18xqJet9rksNvRodIYrKLA43dL4/view
you might think about what Jim Hall said - whenever he was playing anywhere he was fine but the only guy that scared him when he walked into the room was Ed Bickert...food for thought...
I find Jim Hall and Ed Bickert's to be quite different. The tone, the time feel, the attack, the chord voicing are all different. I'd never mistake the two
What a wonderful video and one of the very few of Ed Bickert. It's a shame that significant portions of the video were spent on extreme closeups of his and the bass players face.
How much of that nuance is lost w/a magnetic pickup? Plenty. But most importantly, a hollow guitar doesn't have the sustain of a solid piece of wood. Sorry, I've never heard a jazzbox w/the singing, sustaining quality of a solid or semi-solid guitar, like Ed is getting here. (Metheny gets close, but he plays LOUD w/lots of mids.) I'll take a slab over a box any day.
Today I learned about Ed Bickert and his telecaster ..fluently, effortlesly, authentic sound ... what a naturally gifted musician. So it is never too late to get to know a master jazz guitarist!!
Ed has the kind of effortless coolness that reminds me of Lester Young. They just stand (or sit) there and spin out the most hummable, catchy, creative licks, and never sound indulgent.
Believe it or not I delivered paper to Ed's older brother in Vernon British Columbia in the mid seventies. I don't think I can nail down the year, but Ed came out to to visit for a few weeks and the summer.....every day I would hear him out on the sundeck playing !!!! and being a stupid kid hung up totally on learning to play the guitar so I could play the Beatles, I didn't realize the opportunity to watch and listen one of the greats. Even a year later I realized what I missed.......
My favourite Canadian guitar jazz trio, and I suspect it will always be that. Ed is the coolest cat, chewing his gum filling tge air with notes you don’t ever expect. Thanks Ed, RIP.👍🏻😎🎶
Brilliant guitarist. If I can ever afford another guitar, I may get a Tele (because they're really cool and sound nice. Unfortunately, I don't think it will make me play any better, lol. Nor would chewing gum.)
Here's Ed at George's Spaghetti House (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-izlb1H_-D_o.html), about which I also have wonderful memories; took several date there.
Ah, a Tele with a humbucker in the neck position, the perfect jazz machine although I've heard a normal single coil Tele and struts doing the same thing.
Wow this is great stuff. Great playing and great tone - how does he get tone that out of a Tele? It looks like he's got a humbucker in the neck pickup - maybe that has something to do with it. Ed is so awesome.
I first knew of Ed when I bought a tape of Mel Torme'&Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass back in 1987.It featured Mel Torme'.You can hear Ed in the mix which used to be rare for guitarists in big bands....
I'm quite familiar with Ed Bickert and am a big fan of his. My point was that his Tele does not produce a sound like a normal Tele, since it has humbucker pick-ups. I love the sound, but in a blindfold test, no one would guess that this was a Fender guitar. His sound is more like Jim Hall's Gibson or d'Aquisto, don't you think?
It is not unusual to see a Tele in this configuration and there are Tele models that come stock with both pickups as humbuckers. I have seen a number of jazz players with Teles with standard single coil pickups. The Tele is very versatile. If set up correct it works well for jazz.
Hi, I think the bass player is playing a I-!V-bVII7-VI7 and Mr. Bickert is playing Cmaj7 with B on top and dropping the E to Eb making the voicing a F7#11 then moving to Bb9sus and Asus. He resolves into Amin9/D which is basically Dsus. Hope that helps. Very tasty!!
His repair guy may have. Ed himself supposedly had almost no interest in equipment. He did obviously decide to switch out the neck pickup on the Telecaster, and said in an interview he was no fan of Fender amps, but beyond that, his colleagues mostly tell stories like the one where he left an allen wrench taped to his pickguard for years because the repair shop stuck it there just for safekeeping and he thought it was part of the repair. He does constantly make small adjustments to his volume and tone knobs as he plays. I think for his style and attack, most of what he did didn't depend heavily on specific pickups, pots, or amp models. His tone differs a little over the years and in different studio environments, but only "at the margins". The main sound is always that same mellow mid-rangy thing.
Great sound, clean phrasing and good taste. This video shows how a Fender Telecaster can be used to play good music. I really enjoyed this video and of course Ed Bickert Trio.
Ed is just simply outstanding. His lines are so totally expressive and melodic. There are few who come close, but none who equal him. You're the greatest Ed! What kind of gum do you chew and where can I get some?
Pat Metheny had high praise for Terry Clarke, the drummer here, who was also the drummer on Jim Hall's famous "Live!" trio record. I think Clarke really knew how to lift both Hall and Bickert up a notch or two. He kept them both dancing. But Paul Desmond, when playing with Ed, preferred drummer Jerry Fuller (after initially hiring Ed's whole trio including Clarke). I guess Clarke was a little too interactive for Desmond.
Hands down the best jazz guitar tone I've ever heard! FANTASTIC playing. The sound is so smooth and warm but punchy and clear. None of the wooliness that most bigger jazz guitars usually have.
There is nothing I hate more while watching videos like this then the cameraman leaving the soloists fingers to zoom in on their faces or shoes… Or on audience members nodding…
neighbour? you, sir, are one of the luckiest people alive. ed bickert is the king of all cool jaz guitar anywhere. after bickert who is there ? i watched ed bickert on tv at 11-12 years old and wanted to play jazz guitar not the rock or pop guitar of the era. icon jazz guitarist who is unimagiably under rated.
Sorry, I do not agree...you need to focus on the nuances. i.e. even a Gibson ES-175 does not have the sound of a carved top jazz guitar like a Benedetto, Heritage, Eastman etc.... there is a distinction...solid body vs. laminated top, vs. carved top....each has its own sound characteristics. Ed does a great job with his settings.......
.I love his playing and have for a long time.But,I think the original PU, the stock neck one,makes a sound I like more.The Tele PU has a pinch of bite to it that I think is lost in the Humb.What the hell.Just interesting to compare the two sounds, and thanks for the post...Wonderful
Check this out! If you can get to Toronto, this will be a once in a lifetime event! Nov. 6th 2012 - Ed Bickert at 80 ~ A Jazz Celebration. Do a Google search for more info
That's how ol'skool melodic jazz used to sound before the advent of the now commonplace athletic jazz. And he's playing on a telecaster not on a 6000 $ archtop !!!
@jjemsnd7 lol... it really is jjem! Both are such giants. I can't think of a more lyrical player than Ed. His solos have a way of sticking in your head as entire melodies. Jim H. can do that for me too, but Ed has the edge on him for my ears. I'd love to see him resurface, if only for a one-off gig.
could watch this over and over ,ed's just amazing . The phrase at 1.46 is one of my all time favourites and his face says it all . Thanks so much for the post, is the rest of the gig available anywhere . Been trying to get more of ed's recording but they are few an far between (at least on cd).
@jjemsnd7, I believe he also was a little surprised when he was called to do a recording or a live date and when he said " call Barry Galbraith " they replied with " we already did"...
@StandardSam1 Yep I've heard that too said of Jim Hall. I read somewhere that Ed was the only guitarist that intimidated him. Think of that. That's saying a lot!
