Acoustic guitar jazz recommendations

[Kontrapunctus]

I play classical guitar, and since I've been getting into jazz a little lately, could someone recommend some good recordings with audiophile sound? Not solo guitar, but with a small ensemble.  Thank you.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I was going to recommend Joe Pass and Niels Hening Orsted Pedersen in Northsea Nights--one of the greatest recordings in history, but I re-listened to it just now, and realized that Pass is playing only electric guitar here. Still, I highly recommend you listen. The Pablo label nearly always has outstanding sound quality (the LPs at least! Some of the early Pablo CD reissues were pretty crappy).

Sometimes, I find it really difficult to unequivocally distinguish acoustic from electric in recordings. In any case, I highly recommend this (acoustic guitar and bass):

[Kontrapunctus]

I'll look into those two. Thanks.

[king ubu]

Not sure these are acoustic ... how do you define acoustic, isn't all music acoustic? 

Seriously, I think pure acoustic guitar (not plugged in, not hollow-body electric, no nothing, just a guitar and a microphone to record it in front) is very rare in ensembles - there's only one musician that comes to mind, and that's Django Reinhardt (fegh audiophile sound when you talk about jazz! there's some stuff where you get it, but it's just not the point).

Maybe there's some niche gypsy/flamenco jazz stuff in good/post-modern sound, but there I'm definitely to wrong guy to ask.

Other than that I thought of Derek Bailey, whose solo recordings I cherish, but I think he too, mostly played electric instruments.

(Off topic, but what do you think about Zsofia Boros? Bought one of her ECM discs rather by accident and enjoy it a lot!)

[king ubu]

Aha, and now that I mentioned ECM ... there's Ralph Towner and there's Bill Connors - not entirely sure about the later (but his recordings of interest are solo again anyway, "Theme to the Gaurdian", including funny typo with a story behind it: Connors was so convinced that was the correct spelling that he refused the designers to correct it).

Ralph Towner though is a member of the world/jazz group Oregon, he plays piano there (and elsewhere), too (and elsewhere, or also with Oregon, i wouldn't really know, other instruments as well), but he's got some stuff out with other groups or in duo settings. The album "Solstice" might be a good starting point, but I'm sure you can find plenty of samples on the internets.

[bwv 1080]

For nylon string players, there is Charlie Byrd and Ralph Towner

https://youtu.be/v/bueVMInlL2Y

https://youtu.be/v/GaGSuDkfiYY

[king ubu]

Right, Charlie Byrd, too ... but him I franky tend to find boring after a few minutes (except of course on the classic "Jazz Samba" with Stan Getz, of which I never tire)

[NikF]

Not sure these are acoustic ... how do you define acoustic, isn't all music acoustic? 

Seriously, I think pure acoustic guitar (not plugged in, not hollow-body electric, no nothing, just a guitar and a microphone to record it in front) is very rare in ensembles - there's only one musician that comes to mind, and that's Django Reinhardt (fegh audiophile sound when you talk about jazz! there's some stuff where you get it, but it's just not the point).

Maybe there's some niche gypsy/flamenco jazz stuff in good/post-modern sound, but there I'm definitely to wrong guy to ask.

Other than that I thought of Derek Bailey, whose solo recordings I cherish, but I think he too, mostly played electric instruments.

Yeah, I think you have summed it up.
Three that come to mind are 1960s recordings; Poema by Baden Powell and At The Village Vanguard by Charlie Byrd. The Byrd is a particular favourite.
The third is 'The Earl Klugh Trio' - I think that's what it's called. It's a trio in which he plays acoustic. It's also the only stuff of his that I own, simply because it's far more authentic (ah, I didn't want to describe it that way...) than his usual output.

e: maybe Simon can offer a few suggestions? He casts his net wide and so he might be aware of artists that haven't been mentioned.

[bwv 1080]

Also flamenco player Paco de Lucia did alot of crossover stuff

[NikF]

Also flamenco player Paco de Lucia did alot of crossover stuff

Yeah. I forgot about him.

And maybe Roland Dyens? I know he did some sort of Django tribute or something. But although he was an acoustic player I can't recall anything he did as part of a trio.

[king ubu]

Never liked de Lucia ... but on a thin basis  - those three wanking guitar players so successful in the late 90s have left lasting damage.

Got to check out that particular Byrd album then.

Klugh I've somehow booked under smooth/fusion/adultwhatever ... any particular recommendations?

And thanks for throwing in Baden Powell ... not jazz really, but brilliant. And he made albums for the German jazz label MPS - with rhythm section, which qualifies as "with ensemble" I would assume.

[NikF]

Never liked de Lucia ... but on a thin basis  - those three wanking guitar players so successful in the late 90s have left lasting damage.

Got to check out that particular Byrd album then.

Klugh I've somehow booked under smooth/fusion/adultwhatever ... any particular recommendations?

And thanks for throwing in Baden Powell ... not jazz really, but brilliant. And he made albums for the German jazz label MPS - with rhythm section, which qualifies as "with ensemble" I would assume.

Yeah, like I said, there's only one exception -

[asin]B000002LRI[/asin]

As for the Byrd set at the Village Vanguard, it's one of those things that even if it's not your bag it's probably still worth one listen on account of it being a kind of charming period piece.

Wow, I can't believe it's been so difficult to come up with a number of solid recommendations for this thread!

[bwv 1080]

Yeah. I forgot about him.

And maybe Roland Dyens? I know he did some sort of Django tribute or something. But although he was an acoustic player I can't recall anything he did as part of a trio.

To me Dyens was always part of the classical guitar scene, even though he did alot of improv

[NikF]

To me Dyens was always part of the classical guitar scene, even though he did alot of improv

You're right. I just keep thinking that there must be someone obvious I've overlooked.   

[king ubu]

Yeah, like I said, there's only one exception -

[asin]B000002LRI[/asin]

As for the Byrd set at the Village Vanguard, it's one of those things that even if it's not your bag it's probably still worth one listen on account of it being a kind of charming period piece.

Wow, I can't believe it's been so difficult to come up with a number of solid recommendations for this thread!

The Byrd goes onto the shopping list, I guess ... the Klugh I'm playing right now on youtube - good to get rid of office noise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omC0tZN6am0

There's a volume two linked there as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0JJ5hPeeaQ

And apologies, thought you were merely referring to a group, not an album (and was obviously too lazy to search myself )

[king ubu]

as for rarity, I guess it's really in solo (and free) improvisation where you'll find the most amazing acoustic guitar players in jazz ...

Uwe Kropinsky (he has a duo with guitarist Joe Sachse - who's usually on electric - if that qualifies as ensemble ... they expanded their duo to Doppelmoppel by adding the two 'bones of the Bauer brothers - sadly Hannes has left the building about a year ago, but I saw that group once and it was amazing)
- here's the guitar duo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_r2O2mZqRA

Olaf Rupp (saw him life once and thought he was wanking ... maybe a bad night, no idea, but didn't feel like exploring more)

Pascal Marzan (saw him life in duo with Urs Leimgruber on saxophones recently, and that was amazing - but his longest standing parter seems to be guitarist Russell Smith, again it seems on acoustic, whom I don't know yet ... a friend who was with me at that concert in June bought at least one of their EMANEM discs and likes it)

Ralph Towner and Derek Bailey were mentioned, though again I'm not so sure how much acoustic Bailey really played acoustic, but here he is solo, in a casual setting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-YPRq-t8A

Players like Kropinsky and Marzan and Bailey would use all kinds of objects and stuff to "prepare" their instruments ... this can become tiring, but also produce the most wonderful result ... anyway, Bailey was a genius in my book.

[NikF]

The Byrd goes onto the shopping list, I guess ... the Klugh I'm playing right now on youtube - good to get rid of office noise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omC0tZN6am0

There's a volume two linked there as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0JJ5hPeeaQ

And apologies, thought you were merely referring to a group, not an album (and was obviously too lazy to search myself )

No problem. I should have made it clearer. And I usually list stuff in in the manner -

Earl Klugh: The Earl Klugh Trio Volume One

- but for some reasom didn't in this case.
Thanks for the heads up about the volume two.

as for rarity, I guess it's really in solo (and free) improvisation where you'll find the most amazing acoustic guitar players in jazz ...

Uwe Kropinsky (he has a duo with guitarist Joe Sachse - who's usually on electric - if that qualifies as ensemble ... they expanded their duo to Doppelmoppel by adding the two 'bones of the Bauer brothers - sadly Hannes has left the building about a year ago, but I saw that group once and it was amazing)
- here's the guitar duo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_r2O2mZqRA

Olaf Rupp (saw him life once and thought he was wanking ... maybe a bad night, no idea, but didn't feel like exploring more)

Pascal Marzan (saw him life in duo with Urs Leimgruber on saxophones recently, and that was amazing - but his longest standing parter seems to be guitarist Russell Smith, again it seems on acoustic, whom I don't know yet ... a friend who was with me at that concert in June bought at least one of their EMANEM discs and likes it)

Ralph Towner and Derek Bailey were mentioned, though again I'm not so sure how much acoustic Bailey really played acoustic, but here he is solo, in a casual setting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-YPRq-t8A

Players like Kropinsky and Marzan and Bailey would use all kinds of objects and stuff to "prepare" their instruments ... this can become tiring, but also produce the most wonderful result ... anyway, Bailey was a genius in my book.

All very interesting.