silentflute said:

[color=blue:c53c26b696]Prince isn't even in the same league as the guys we're speaking on. Ernie is one of my favorites, but Greg has him beat. [/color]

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

GOOD POST. I AGREE WITH U. BOBBY WOMACK DID SOME EXCELLENT WORK AND A GOOD SONGWRITER AND VOCALIST AS WELL. ONE OF MY ALLTIME FAVE CUTS BY ANYONE IS "HARRY HIPPY" AND "A WOMAN'S GOT TO HAVE IT" BY WOMACK. I HAVE A FEW OF HIS ALBUMS. HE WENT ALL THE WAY BACK WITH PLAYING WITH THE GREAT SAM COOKE. AND THE UNCREDITED STUFF HE DID WITH ONE OF SLY'S BEST ALBUMS"THERE'S A RIOT".

[color=blue:b1e18b10b8]I'm happy to hear that someone else feels Womack's musicianship as much as I do. Womack is a unique talent and music would be a lot less interesting without him. By the way, in my initial post I forgot to add Curtis Mayfield to the list. I often find that most people only focus on lead guitar work when talking about great guitarists, but rhythm guitar work is actually more important to the structure of the song. Mayfield was a great rhythm guitarists and his work on the Curtis Live, Roots, Curtis and Superfly albums is excellent. See Give Me Your Live, Don't Worry If There's A Hell Below , We're All Gonna Go, Freddie's Dead, and Move On Up.[/color]

does Foley count?

sinisterpentatonic said:

It's Not so Much separating them; it's a chance to discuss the guys that rarely get mentioned-- I think it's just that Black rock/funk guitarists , outside of Hendrix and Prince, rarely get discussed or even heard,-- and, outside of Blues guitarists like BB King and Buddy Guy, They are rarely, if ever, mentioned in The guitar magazines and polls--on the other hand, they are CERTAINLY never talked about in Black Music publications and definitely won't get on "Urban" Radio--they are stuck in a kind of No Man's Land --They've been historically unwelcome in the "White" Rock establishment, and at the same time largely ignored in the Black music community, where the guitar is usually seen as intrusive unless it's of the George Benson/Norman Brown, smoothed out Jazz style--no offense to George or Norm, by the way; It's just that anything louder than that gets historically shunned or ignored in Black Radio/Media(the exeptions on R&B stations seem to be Prince's records and Ernie Isley on "Voyage to Atlantis")--but it's that old stereotype: Too "Black" for the so -called "White" music world , too Rock for the so-called "Black" music world...instead of stradling both, they get accepted by neither...

I got a chance to talk to Jean Paul Bourelly, who's from Chicago , but usually records and tours throughout Europe and Japan, and asked him if he would ever do more shows here in the US. He said, laughing, "What Can I say, Man? A brother playin' this kinda guitar can't get no love in America..."

I hope that isn't always the case...


"Who says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?..." - Funkadelic

jimi hendrix had to move to the uk before anyone took notice of him and when he went back he was playing to what was a largely white audience he said in interveiws that it upset him that there were no "black faces" in the audience.
it seems now a lot of the old blues guitarists are worried about there style of music vanishing in to sampling and pop if this happened it would be tragic and a sad day for music

paligap said:

I'm right there with you man!!

Growing up black and being a fan of rock music, I've often been disappointed not to see more brothers get there recognition. Discrimination does exist in the industry. I've seen groups like Fishbone & 24-7 not get there props and have seen organizations created like the "Black Rock Coalition". I've also witnessed a lot of personal friends struggle who were playing rock/alternative music. So, yes I am aware of how things are when it comes to brothers getting their respect. I'm also well aware of the points you made about black rock being ignored by black people and unwelcomed by the "White" rock industry. TRUST ME I KNOW!!!

I guess, I'm just upset to see lists like this one started, like I am with anything that divides us. It seems to encourage it.

Yeah, I feel You. I mean, in a better world, the discussion SHOULD just be about great guitarists in general--and, by that criteria, Ernie, Greg H., Tony , Bobby W., Jean Paul , Nile, and Eddie should be in all the guitar discussions as much as Steve Vai, Satriani, Carlos , Clapton, Jeff Beck and all the others are...

[color=blue:fd2a982cb6]Agreed. You know how they do "us" though. Somebody had to say it; may as well be me.
We do "us" the same way, though. The only time you hear guitar in "black" music today is in the form of acoustic subtlties ala Babyface, etc. or from major crossover artists like Prince, MJ and Janet. I remember hearing the guitar solo from "Object of my Desire" and saying to myself, I HAVE to know this! I used this song as an example because unlike the aforementioned artists, S.O.S. Band weren't "huge" artists. R&B radio had guitar in it and you could absorb from regular radio songs without the "rock" stigma. Now the industry has compartmentalized music to such a point that its listeners have willing accepted calling any song with a distorted guitar in it rock. Musicians have to sneak a solo in a song l(see: Usher & Monica's songs) and even then its so low in the background its almost unnoticable. All the musicianship has been sucked out of top 40 R&B music. You hear choice licks here and there, but that's about it. Too much guitar and it gets cast into the unmarketable realm and won't get played much. And they say there's no conspiracy? hrmph! Suurree![/color]

BlaqueKnight said:

Sad, But True

It's almost as if Black folks are being condditioned to be SCARED of the Guitar:
"What's that Noise? Turn that shit Off!"

http://www.comedycentral....ncing.html

sinisterpentatonic said:

Yeah, I feel You. I mean, in a better world, the discussion SHOULD just be about great guitarists in general--and, by that criteria, Ernie, Greg H., Tony , Bobby W., Jean Paul , Nile, and Eddie should be in all the guitar discussions as much as Steve Vai, Satriani, Carlos , Clapton, Jeff Beck and all the others are...

blackguitaristz said:

[color=blue:b1e18b10b8]I'm happy to hear that someone else feels Womack's musicianship as much as I do. Womack is a unique talent and music would be a lot less interesting without him. By the way, in my initial post I forgot to add Curtis Mayfield to the list. I often find that most people only focus on lead guitar work when talking about great guitarists, but rhythm guitar work is actually more important to the structure of the song. Mayfield was a great rhythm guitarists and his work on the Curtis Live, Roots, Curtis and Superfly albums is excellent. See Give Me Your Live, Don't Worry If There's A Hell Below , We're All Gonna Go, Freddie's Dead, and Move On Up.[/color]

After reading through all the post in this thread, I see that there is a pretty good cross section
of "black rock guitarist. I'm familiar with the work of the cat's listed and out side of my personal" favorites I think that they are ALL great.

The one thing I find questionable is the focus on the issue of who's the best.
What constitutes being the best? Tone, technique, phrasing...what?


I witnessed some seriously scary live playing by guitarist that are largely unknown, stuff that's
just as good as any of the other guitarist listed.


Have any of you out there heard of Larry Mitchell, Michael Hill, or the late great and sorely
missed Gordon Gaines?

After reading through all the post in this thread, I see that there is a pretty good cross section
of "black rock guitarist. I'm familiar with the work of the cat's listed and out side of my personal" favorites I think that they are ALL great.

The one thing I find questionable is the focus on the issue of who's the best.
What constitutes being the best? Tone, technique, phrasing...what?


I witnessed some seriously scary live playing by guitarist that are largely unknown, stuff that's
just as good as any of the other guitarist listed.


Have any of you out there heard of Larry Mitchell, Michael Hill, or the late great and sorely
missed Gordon Gaines?

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Man, please don't get me started talking about Curtis. The man was CRUCIAL as hell. "If there is a hell, we're all going to go". Listen to the beginning of the track and then listen to "1999".

kstrat said:

I have a TM Stevens live tape called "The Crunch live" (from about '90) that features Larry Mitchell(along with cameos from Eddie Hazel, Bourelly, and Ricky Skopelitis) Larry stayed on lead for most of the show: He was tearin' it up! I heard a lot about Gordon Gaines, but unfortunately never got to check him out before he passed...Haven't heard Michael Hill yet...

After reading through all the post in this thread, I see that there is a pretty good cross section
of "black rock guitarist. I'm familiar with the work of the cat's listed and out side of my personal" favorites I think that they are ALL great.

The one thing I find questionable is the focus on the issue of who's the best.
What constitutes being the best? Tone, technique, phrasing...what?

I'd like to learn more about Gus Isidore's work, Can you point me towards some recordings to check out?

Thanks for that.
I've steered clear of this thread for that very reason.
Since ALL the cats mentioned can play, it ends up being who you LIKE best.

One good thing about the thread is that it may have brought up some names folks haven't heard of before.

After reading through all the post in this thread, I see that there is a pretty good cross section
of "black rock guitarist. I'm familiar with the work of the cat's listed and out side of my personal" favorites I think that they are ALL great.

The one thing I find questionable is the focus on the issue of who's the best.
What constitutes being the best? Tone, technique, phrasing...what?


I witnessed some seriously scary live playing by guitarist that are largely unknown, stuff that's
just as good as any of the other guitarist listed.


Have any of you out there heard of Larry Mitchell, Michael Hill, or the late great and sorely
missed Gordon Gaines?

kstrat said:

I'M HIP 2 LARRY MITCHELL AND GORDON GAINES. OH, AND BY THE WAY, I'M ONE OF THOSE CATS! AND AS FAR AS WHO IS THE BEST, IT'S ALL ABOUT PERSONAL TASTE. ALL THE CATS MENTIONED WERE AND ARE GREAT. IT'S JUST TASTE, WHO U FEEL MORE THAN OTHERS.