I'm really saddened to have, somehow, not gotten the message that Herb Ellis passed away on March 28th.

What a crusty old soul! And what a historic player. I knew him when he was playing with Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson.

Ran into him in the early 60's as a 17 year old "wet behind the ears" player. He asked me what I was doing. I told him I was practicing (for a TV show). He looked at me with a disgusted frown and said, "what for"?

Kept in touch a couple of times a year for the next 40 plus years. Last time I heard from him, when I picked up the phone, I heard, "I'll bet you one damn thing. You probably haven't even learned to tune that damn guitar of yours yet". No hello, how are you doing, introduction....nothing.

I'll really miss him.


Russ

Great remembrance of one of the greats, Russ.

Brought a smile to my face.


--Mac

That is sad. You are such a lucky fellow Russ. You've met most of the people I idolize. Seems like more and more of the people in my favorite music collections are dying out. That goes for country music too.
I love the technology of today; computers and the net, modern appliances, and just countless things that make my life much easier, but musically speaking I wish I'd been born about haf a century before i was actually born.

But, Rory, if you were born a half century earlier, you and I would be almost the same age (LOL)! Not quite, but I've been around long enough to know that you'd have not only fit right in, but excelled.

Russ

That's so sad I remember when I was quite young listening to recordings of Herb Ellis playing with Barney Kessel. An incredible musician who I will sorely miss.

But thank you so much Herb for all the wonderful music you provided for us and will stay with us forever.

I have sent links to Rory's Youtube videos to friends and my bandmates. Without an exception everyone was totally knocked out. Rory .... you really scare us guitar players into running off to practice a whole lot more lol. But that is always a very good thing More practice even at my age always helps. I just LOVE to play the guitar it is my passion ... always has been since I was a kid .... always will be till the day I die.




[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 04-22-2010).]

Me, too, Nigel...LOVE the guitar. It's just that, right now, I'm having a really hard time
getting over injuries that may mean I have to quit playing. I'm trying like hell to overcome, but not having much luck.

R.


[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 04-22-2010).]