Jazz Padd
Roadie
- Messages
- 223
Benny Golson's Hard Bop classic "Killer Joe" has always been one of my favorite songs to play. It's got a cool groove, and a singable melody, plus interesting harmonic structure. I play it often in various ways, with a combo and as a solo. The first take below is with a quartet at a street jazz festival and the second take is a solo performance at a local venue.
I first heard "Killer Joe" in the mid-1980s from the vocalese version by the Manhattan Transfer. It was quite enthralling musically, more so when I later discovered that they learned the solos from the original Benny Golson record and put lyrics to the notes, telling a kind of story. I found my old Real Book from that era, and noticed some penciled in notes, suggesting that I played it then when I was in a jazz big band in college, but I have little recollection of that. The next time the tune came on my radar, 20 years later, was from the film "The Terminal," which featured a performance of "Killer Joe" that was worked into the plot of the film. More recently, I found inspiration from Joe Beck's version on his album "The Journey," which really opened up the tune for me. After moving to Japan and discovering a jazz jam session scene, I started calling it to play with others. At one jam session venue, we had the opportunity to put together a band for a performance and each member suggested a couple of tunes to do; my suggestion was "Killer Joe," as seen above.
In addition to the jam sessions and occasional combo sets, I also enjoy putting together a solo set when the opportunity arises. One such opportunity arose involving a community event at a local multi-genre venue featuring four 40 minute sets by four different acts and I was invited by the organizer to do one. Although I had worked up other tunes for other solo performances and could make use of those for this event, I thought it would be fun to try working up "Killer Joe" in this context, which led to the second take above, providing me with an opportunity to bring it to a different audience.
Besides the different audiences and events, I used different gear for each take. For the combo set, I played my 1970s Gibson Johnny Smith archtop straight into a Henriksen Blu Six, while for the solo set I used a 1970s Gretsch Atkins "Super Axe" with a pedal board. As an "amateur" guitarist (in the sense of Merrifield "the pleasures of doing what you love"), my skills are limited in both contexts. But the nice thing about a combo is you can lean on others, even "rescue" one another (to use Bill Frisell's concept) if things go awry. It's a mutual group effort, all for one and one for all so to speak. But doing a solo set is a little more daunting, since I don't have the skills to work up complex arrangements (of which I am in awe by those who can do that so well) nor can I rely on others as I can do in a group. So, for a solo set I have learned to rely on pedals, including for sonic variety but also by using a looper for backdrop to do a bit of ad-lib.
Since I don't do these combo or solo sets very often, usually just a couple of times a year for fun, I also use them as an opportunity to try out different gear. That might mean using a different guitar, or putting together a different pedalboard. For straight ahead jazz, I like using an archtop and for a live gig where we have to bring our own gear, the Blu Six is light but punches beyond its weight. For the solo sets, where I can use the venue backline amp (as in the above case where it's a Roland JC-120), in addition to using a different guitar (usually a solid body) I also like to try out various pedals in a practical setting. For the live set involving the above solo take on "Killer Joe," I put together a mostly Electro-Harmonix board, plus a DOD Rubberneck (what a wonderful pedal!). The solo set involved other tunes, and I used different pedals for different tunes. And since the Gretsch has on-board effectors (a compressor and a phaser) I didn't need those on the board, which is pictured below. For "Killer Joe," I used the POG2 to fatten up my tone for an ad-lib section over a loop. The Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai was always on, mostly for something like a reverby sound (although I do plan to explore the other features of that amazing pedal for future sets). The Rubberneck provided an ambient vibe for the more or less rubato intro and outro, and of course the 720 was for live looping. In any case, thank you very much for listening!
I first heard "Killer Joe" in the mid-1980s from the vocalese version by the Manhattan Transfer. It was quite enthralling musically, more so when I later discovered that they learned the solos from the original Benny Golson record and put lyrics to the notes, telling a kind of story. I found my old Real Book from that era, and noticed some penciled in notes, suggesting that I played it then when I was in a jazz big band in college, but I have little recollection of that. The next time the tune came on my radar, 20 years later, was from the film "The Terminal," which featured a performance of "Killer Joe" that was worked into the plot of the film. More recently, I found inspiration from Joe Beck's version on his album "The Journey," which really opened up the tune for me. After moving to Japan and discovering a jazz jam session scene, I started calling it to play with others. At one jam session venue, we had the opportunity to put together a band for a performance and each member suggested a couple of tunes to do; my suggestion was "Killer Joe," as seen above.
In addition to the jam sessions and occasional combo sets, I also enjoy putting together a solo set when the opportunity arises. One such opportunity arose involving a community event at a local multi-genre venue featuring four 40 minute sets by four different acts and I was invited by the organizer to do one. Although I had worked up other tunes for other solo performances and could make use of those for this event, I thought it would be fun to try working up "Killer Joe" in this context, which led to the second take above, providing me with an opportunity to bring it to a different audience.
Besides the different audiences and events, I used different gear for each take. For the combo set, I played my 1970s Gibson Johnny Smith archtop straight into a Henriksen Blu Six, while for the solo set I used a 1970s Gretsch Atkins "Super Axe" with a pedal board. As an "amateur" guitarist (in the sense of Merrifield "the pleasures of doing what you love"), my skills are limited in both contexts. But the nice thing about a combo is you can lean on others, even "rescue" one another (to use Bill Frisell's concept) if things go awry. It's a mutual group effort, all for one and one for all so to speak. But doing a solo set is a little more daunting, since I don't have the skills to work up complex arrangements (of which I am in awe by those who can do that so well) nor can I rely on others as I can do in a group. So, for a solo set I have learned to rely on pedals, including for sonic variety but also by using a looper for backdrop to do a bit of ad-lib.
Since I don't do these combo or solo sets very often, usually just a couple of times a year for fun, I also use them as an opportunity to try out different gear. That might mean using a different guitar, or putting together a different pedalboard. For straight ahead jazz, I like using an archtop and for a live gig where we have to bring our own gear, the Blu Six is light but punches beyond its weight. For the solo sets, where I can use the venue backline amp (as in the above case where it's a Roland JC-120), in addition to using a different guitar (usually a solid body) I also like to try out various pedals in a practical setting. For the live set involving the above solo take on "Killer Joe," I put together a mostly Electro-Harmonix board, plus a DOD Rubberneck (what a wonderful pedal!). The solo set involved other tunes, and I used different pedals for different tunes. And since the Gretsch has on-board effectors (a compressor and a phaser) I didn't need those on the board, which is pictured below. For "Killer Joe," I used the POG2 to fatten up my tone for an ad-lib section over a loop. The Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai was always on, mostly for something like a reverby sound (although I do plan to explore the other features of that amazing pedal for future sets). The Rubberneck provided an ambient vibe for the more or less rubato intro and outro, and of course the 720 was for live looping. In any case, thank you very much for listening!
