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The Guitars Inc: Invitation

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Last week, when I posted on Tommy Tedesco's 1965 album, The Guitars of Tom Tedesco, I included a print ad I had found for Magnatone amps from 1958. The ad featured five guitarists in a recording studio—Al Hendrickson, Howard Roberts, Bill Pitman, Bob Gibbons and Tommy Tedesco. All five appear on the Four Freshmen and Five Guitars album for Capitol. Except the date in the ad copy is October 1958 while the album with the Four Freshmen wasn't recorded until in June 1959. Was the photo in the ad taken during a rehearsal for that session? So far in advance? And did these cats really need that much rehearsal? Or could this have been another date that simply doesn't appear in Lord's Jazz Discography?

I reached out to Denny Tedesco, who checked his late father's session book and sent along a scan of the page. There on Saturday, October 1 at 1pm was the entry: “5 guitar, Annex." As Denny noted, the “Annex" was Radio Recorders. So what was the session for? Denny reached out to one of his sources, who came back with the answer: The Guitars Inc: Invitation for Warner Bros. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a listing for the rest of the combo.

I wasn't familiar with the album but did some digging. The jazz-pop release showcased the five guitarists the way other albums featured five trombones, five saxophones or five of any instrument. But with five guitars, the emphasis was on the fugue-like counterpoint of the various guitar lines. The result was a George Shearing Quintet-like approach to the instrument, with a core guitar running a swinging melody and the others buzzing around like Bach-ish bees. A joy to hear.

JazzWax tracks: I found a mislabeled download at Amazon of Guitars Inc.: Invitation here.

JazWax clip: Here's the entire album at YouTube...

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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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