There’s one guy that (if he had lived) might’ve given Jimmy Raney a run for his money as top 50’s bebop guitarist. His name was Ronnie Singer and my father would often talk about him. Ronnie Songer’s death was an apparent double suicide. What a horrible thing. My father got wind of these recordings (shown below) when I was staying with him around 1985. A friend had them and asked Dad about them (thinking Dad was the guitarist) and Dad exclaimed, “No that’s Ronnie Singer!!” We both listened to them. They were not officially released until after Jimmy Gourley (the original possessor of the tapes) died according to available information.…
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Is There a Cure for Herniated Disc?
In short, probably not. But in reality there are few very serious illnesses that are truly eradicated as much as controlled. And every case is different. Everyone reacts differently to different treatments. In my case I was fortunate. My problem turned around Read More…
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The pRoBLeM With a romantic
The pRoBLeM With a romantic A romantic is movedbut is a bit removed a romantic is lovingbut is often longinga romantic pursuesbut often peruses A romantic likes happy endingsbut doesn’t like them, depending…a romantic like things close at handbut becomes distant at the wave of a wand Cynicism, (the romantic’s alterego)may take the thronebut then is soon overthrownthe romantic blooms againbut a bit overblownand shrinks back to earthand is once again alone The seeds are always thereand the cycle continueswith blindness to the pastand unrestrained hopefulnessabout a future much less hopeless
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To Hell and Back
With 2009 being a bust musically because of my disc problem, I was determined to get back into gigging again in 2010. I took a job at Sofia’s after New Year’s with Eliot Zigmund and Ed Fuqua and it went really well. I felt very little, if any pain. But by the middle of February, my situation went from bad to worse… Read More
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C6-C7: Not Just Chord Symbols
I found out recently that a pianist friend has the same C6-C7 herniated disc issue as me and is considering surgery… Read More
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When Do-It-Yourself Does Yourself In
I’m a DIY person. And as my friends will confirm, I’m also sort of obsessive compulsive. When I read Claire Davies’ The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, I was excited to find an alternative to the gloomy surgical track offered by conventional medicine in the treatment of herniated disc… Read More
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Good old fashioned swing
The days of going to local haunts and hearing a set of free jazz are sort of few and far between. Sofia’s restaurant is a place in midtown that maintains that NY jazz piano bar tradition. On any night of the week you can listen to some of the top flight pianists in NY looking to keep their fingers warm. Aaron Goldberg, Danela Schacter, Mike Kanan and Cecilia Coleman just to name a few of the recent ones. In addition to pianists,saxophonists often gig or sit in there as well. A local favorite is 86 year old Red Horndstrom whom I’ve mentioned in the past. Red’s pedigree is from the…
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Jimmy Raney vs. Tal Farlow
In this video Dad answers the question “Why are Tal Farlow and Jimmy Raney so often compared?” Click this link to go to the youtube video Interesting conversation. It settles any question in reference to influence and formation of styles of the two guitar giants. Enjoy! feed://www.jonraney.com/feed/
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The other blog…
For those of you interested in my non-musical doings and thoughts, there’s two other recent posts on my other blog. The subject is herniated disc. Check out here Other Raney Day Thoughts Or click the link to the right Enjoy!
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Doug Raney vs. Jimmy Raney on Billie’s Bounce
For those of you who like to compare Doug to Jimmy, here’s your chance to compare them directly on the same tune with these two videos posted on YouTube. Interestingly, for those who say that Doug plays like Jimmy you would have to admit their approaches – although very similar- have some very noticeable differences in terms of tone and attack, time feel, melodic content and general phrasing style as evidenced by these videos. You’ll note along with his signature complex bebop groupings, a Charlie Christian lick creeping into Jimmy’s playing, while with Doug you have Parker’s original counter line on the head as well as some modern chord comps…
