Tal Farlow - The Most Unique Jazz Music Guitar Player Ever! - Part 1
View PDF | Print View
by: davidwalker
Total views: 21
Word Count: 461
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2011 Time: 2:33 PM
Talmadge Holt Farlow, now recognised as among the best jazz guitarists of all time, initially set out to be a commercial sign painter and artist. He did not commence playing the guitar professionally until he was twenty two years old.
Tal Farlow played the mandolin and the guitar as a hobby from the age of eight. His father played guitar, banjo, ukulele and violin while Tal taught himself to master hillbilly music on one of his dad's instruments. In the late 1930s Farlow noticed Charlie Christian playing on some Benny Goodman recordings. He was instantly attracted to Christian's jazz guitar style. He listened to the records over and over again till he could play Christian's guitar solos note-for-note from memory.
Right up until 1943 Farlow worked as a sign painter and played the guitar as a hobby. With the establishment of a large US Air Force training base at Greensboro, there was a sudden demand for groups to play at USO dances. Farlow was hired to play at some of these. One of the many musicians he played with was jazz pianist Jimmy Lyons. Right after the end of the war Farlow joined a band led by the well-known pianist Dardanelle. He played with her band in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and afterwards for 6 at the "Copacabana" nightclub in New York city. It was in the jazz clubs of New York's 52nd Street area that Farlow had the chance to listen to quite a few foremost modern jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, Erroll Garner and Dizzy Gillespie.
Immediately after leaving Dardanelle, Tal Farlow came back for a while to North Carolina but after that came back to New York city where he played with clarinetist Buddy De Franco. Tal was then hired in 1949 by vibraphonist Red Norvo to take Mundell Lowe's place in his trio. Lowe had recommended Farlow for the job. The new trio was made up by bassist Red Kelly. It is this time period with Norvo's trio that Farlow partially attributes to his mastery of the phenomenal technical ability he had. Red Norvo's trio, after Charles Mingus replaced Kelly on bass, became one of the most popular jazz combos of the 1950s. Their record albums were continuously amongst the very best selling jazz record albums. Farlow appeared with the Red Norvo trio on the first ever USA color tv show. Through night club and live performance appearances as well as record albums with the trio, Farlow obtained an international status for his extraordinary guitar technique, brilliant improvisational ability and quite a few original musical concepts. Performing on an instrument of his own design with a fretboard over an inch shorter than the regular length, Farlow attained a most unique sound.
About the Author
Peabody Conservatory trained guitarist Steven Herron helps guitar players become better guitarists. His company ChordMelody.com features an enormous selection of jazz guitar sheet music
as well as instructional material by Tal Farlow himself. Find out more and claim Steven's popular free monthly guitar lesson e-course available at: =>
Tal Farlow guitar tablatures
Rating: Not yet rated
