The Jazz Guitar of Joe Puma

dhn...@sbcglobal.net

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Mar 25, 2012, 6:09:10 PM3/25/12

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I found this album on eMusic. I guess it is a compilation; 19 cuts.
Great stuff and not having any Joe Puma recordings, this was a great
find for me.

http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/joe-puma/the-jazz-guitar-of-joe-puma/12788216/:

TD

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Mar 25, 2012, 6:33:46 PM3/25/12

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> http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/joe-puma/the-jazz-guitar-of-joe-...

Puma was great. Quite a character, but great.

-TD

pmfan57

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Mar 25, 2012, 7:41:16 PM3/25/12

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On Mar 25, 6:09 pm, dhn...@sbcglobal.net wrote:

> http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/joe-puma/the-jazz-guitar-of-joe-...

Has Bill Evans. Joe and Bill enjoyed betting on the ponies together.

Gerry

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Mar 25, 2012, 7:56:22 PM3/25/12

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The first 8 cuts of "Jazz Guitar Of" is "East Coast Jazz #3" ('54) with
Barry Galbraith providing great comping. The middle of it is from
FourMost Guitars ('56); "I'm Old Fashioned", "Time Was", "Ain't
Misbehavin'", and "L'il Basses". The rest is from "Joe Puma Jazz: Trio
and Quartet" ('57). I don't know where "Unison Blues" comes from but
it might be a Vinnie Burke side.

Anyway, it's pretty much all the stuff he did in the 50's--that doesn't
include an accordion!
--
If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music
people don't talk. -- Oscar Wilde

van

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Mar 26, 2012, 5:36:35 PM3/26/12

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On Mar 25, 7:56 pm, Gerry <addr...@domain.com> wrote:
> On 2012-03-25 22:33:46 +0000, TD said:
>
> > On Mar 25, 6:09 pm, dhn...@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> >> I found this album on eMusic. I guess it is a compilation; 19 cuts.
> >> Great stuff and not having any Joe Puma recordings, this was a great
> >> find for me.
>
> >>http://www.emusic.com/listen/#/album/joe-puma/the-jazz-guitar-of-joe-...
>
> > Puma was great. Quite a character, but great.
>
> The first 8 cuts of "Jazz Guitar Of" is "East Coast Jazz #3" ('54) with
> Barry Galbraith providing great comping. The middle of it is from
> FourMost Guitars ('56); "I'm Old Fashioned", "Time Was", "Ain't

> Misbehavin'", and "L'il Basses". The rBill lose some drug est is from "Joe Puma Jazz: Trio

> and Quartet" ('57). I don't know where "Unison Blues" comes from but
> it might be a Vinnie Burke side.
>
> Anyway, it's pretty much all the stuff he did in the 50's--that doesn't
> include an accordion!
> --
> If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music
> people don't talk. -- Oscar Wilde

"Unison Blues" and a few other cuts are from the second "Vinnie Burke
All-Stars LP.
Yeah, this is a great compilation! I heard about it from Joe Puma's
son, Joe Jr.
I spent $50 on the JP Trio and Quartet vinyl, which featured Bill
Evans on one side, and Eddie Costa on the other side, with Oscar
Pettiford on bass.
Actually, I heard that BE used to play the horses with Eddie Costa,
but Puma probably helped Bill lose some drug money, too. ; - )
Like TD said, Puma was a character and a half, and I used to talk with
him every time I saw him. He'd always say some wild shit, much of
which I've posted here through the years.
Unfortunately, there was no memorial for him at St.Peter's- he burned
too many bridges...
The only other JP CD I'd recommend, is the live album his trio with
Frank Luther and Hod O'Brien made at Gregory's, "Little Joe's Waltz".

Gerry

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Mar 26, 2012, 9:12:14 PM3/26/12

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On 2012-03-26 21:36:35 +0000, van said:

> Yeah, this is a great compilation! I heard about it from Joe Puma's
> son, Joe Jr.
> I spent $50 on the JP Trio and Quartet vinyl, which featured Bill
> Evans on one side, and Eddie Costa on the other side, with Oscar
> Pettiford on bass.
> Actually, I heard that BE used to play the horses with Eddie Costa,
> but Puma probably helped Bill lose some drug money, too. ; - )
> Like TD said, Puma was a character and a half, and I used to talk with
> him every time I saw him. He'd always say some wild shit, much of
> which I've posted here through the years.
> Unfortunately, there was no memorial for him at St.Peter's- he burned
> too many bridges...
> The only other JP CD I'd recommend, is the live album his trio with
> Frank Luther and Hod O'Brien made at Gregory's, "Little Joe's Waltz".

My version of that ('84) is titled "Shining Hour" and is still available:

http://tinyurl.com/bs3fofa

As is his gtr/bs/drums trio, a favorite format, from 1999; It's a Blue World:

http://tinyurl.com/cgznhum

While the latter doesn't have the same chemistry, it's a great show of
his guitarist skills at 70, couple of years before his death.

Bg

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Mar 26, 2012, 11:19:00 PM3/26/12

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He's an interesting player, with a slightly different sound.
Sounds like Light high strings and Heavy bottoms, or did he tune down
a tone or something.
Anybody know anything about that and about his instruments.

Bg

Gerry

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Mar 27, 2012, 12:04:43 PM3/27/12

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On 2012-03-27 03:19:00 +0000, Bg said:

> He's an interesting player, with a slightly different sound.
> Sounds like Light high strings and Heavy bottoms, or did he tune down
> a tone or something.

I listened to all of "Blue World" and "Shining Hour" yesterday, and it
sounds like plays with high action and significant attack at this point
in his life.

> Anybody know anything about that and about his instruments.

Bg

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Mar 27, 2012, 9:09:38 PM3/27/12

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Yeah, sure sounds like high action to me, thanks.
Bg

van

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Mar 28, 2012, 3:50:59 PM3/28/12

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Puma built his own guitar at D'Aquisto's workshop. He had some type of
pain in his arms or shoulders, so it was a very small bodied axe. It
had a very pronounced attack when he picked, so it was a nice contrast
to Chuck Wayne's legato sound in their duo. Roger Borys told me that
Joe used to walk like "Igor", and make believe that he was D'Aquisto's
humch-backed stooge when people showed up at the shop, grunting and
acting like he was re- uh, mentally challenged- just to fuck with
people's heads. When he wasn't there, people would ask Jimmy, "Where
is your uh, helper?"

pmfan57

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Mar 28, 2012, 4:13:02 PM3/28/12

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> is your uh, helper?"- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I know he played that little box on his later stuff. Do you know what
guitar he played on the older recordings, like the one with Evans?

John Galich

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Mar 28, 2012, 10:57:06 PM3/28/12

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> > - Show quoted text -
>
> I know he played that little box on his later stuff. Do you know what
> guitar he played on the older recordings, like the one with Evans?

I recall seeing a photo of him on an album cover playing an ES-175; want to say it was one of the Dawn LPs with Mat Matthews.

John Galich

Johnny Asia

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Mar 29, 2012, 12:11:38 AM3/29/12

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On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:36:35 -0700 (PDT), van <sg...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>The only other JP CD I'd recommend, is the live album his trio with
>Frank Luther and Hod O'Brien made at Gregory's, "Little Joe's Waltz".

I know Frank. He used to own the Bluestone Cafe in Woodstock.
He mentioned playing with Puma, I didn't know he recorded with him.
I'll have to check it out. Franks is a very fine player, still playing
around Woodstock.

Johnny

Bg

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Mar 29, 2012, 4:02:12 AM3/29/12

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On Mar 28, 3:50 pm, van <sg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> is your uh, helper?"- Hide quoted text -
>

> - Show quoted text -

Heh,
"Walk this way ,please" , No this way :-)

Thanks for that!
Bg

simon...@cox.net

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Mar 29, 2012, 11:54:42 AM3/29/12

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I'd love to know the whereabouts of the "Puma" axe. Beautiful guitar
she is......
I recall when Joe lived in the Bronx. May the axe is the NYC area
somewhere?

van

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Mar 29, 2012, 3:14:04 PM3/29/12

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> somewhere?- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -

Probably Joe Jr. has it. I remember the day Puma died, I told a guy
who was at one time close friends with Joe that he had died. The guy
just said, ""I've gotta get my hands on that guitar."
SERIOUSLY burnt bridge...