Blindfold Test: Bruce Forman

By Ted Panken I Nov. 26, 2024

“This guy had his own language,” Forman said of guitarist Grant Green. “Wes was the same way.”
(Photo: Courtesy bruceforman.com)

At this summer’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival, guitarist/racanteur extraordinaire Bruce Forman sat down for a live Blindfold Test following his one-man show called “The Red Guitar.” Extremely insightful and always entertaining, a number of his remarks parallel points he made during performance. This was Forman’s first Blindfold Test, which was published in the November 2024 issue of DownBeat and appears here with some additional cuts included.

Bobby Hutcherson
“Un Poco Loco” (Un Poco Loco, Columbia, 1979) Bobby Hutcherson, vibraphone and marimba; George Cables, piano; John Abercrombie, guitar; Chuck Domanico, bass; Peter Erskine, drums.

It sounds like Bobby Hutcherson, a person that I sat and listened to growing up my whole life. I’m lucky to have grown up in San Francisco. Actually, I would say San Francisco has as much to do with me being a jazz musician as any other thing. Being there when Bobby was there, Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw and the Keystone Korner and, of course, El Matador — but really, the Keystone Korner was my post-high school time. Hearing for six nights in a row people like Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Bobby, McCoy [Tyner], George Benson. It was my church. It was my school. It was my sanctuary. It was everything for me. I believe that’s great. Listen to Bobby. Is there anybody more free? I mean, beyond the craziness of the instruments he plays — marimba and vibes. As a human being, that’s what I was striving to be and I’m still striving to be. I am glad to say he was a great friend of mine and I miss him dearly.

Barney Kessel
“’Round Midnight” (Spontaneous Combustion, Contemporary, 1987) Monty Alexander, piano; Barney Kessel, guitar; John Clayton, bass; Jeff Hamilton, drums.

Barney Kessel, of course. I have a big story of this song within myself, and like I say, I have that guitar. And this is a really good time for Barney. This is when he was really on his chops. All his ideas were so clear. The epitome of thoughtful, motific playing, but still swinging and letting the magic happen, too. It’s weird ... sometimes when you’re thoughtful, you’re overthinking, and the jazz is in the letting-go part. But there’s still the musicality part of the motific extensions. My experience with him was, we used to play together and each of us would play a solo bass. I played this song for my solo, and after I played it, he loved it. He said, “Bruce, that was great ... but do you think if Thelonious Monk was a guitar player, he would have played this in E-flat minor?” — which is all the black keys. I said, “No.” He says, “What key would he have played it in?” I said, “Probably D-minor or E-minor. It’s a guitar.” He said, “Why don’t you play a chorus of it in E minor? Let’s see what you get.” It was in front of all these people. I must have been 20 years old. The first phrase I played, “boo boo boo, di-da,” all the harmonics just came to me. I still do that to this day.

Jimmy Raney
“Anthropology” (Live In Tokyo, Xanadu, 1976) Raney, guitar; Sam Jones, bass; Leroy Williams, drums.

I don’t know who it is. [afterwards] Amazing chops, great vocabulary. I wouldn’t say that this is the best representation of Jimmy Raney’s playing, in my opinion. He’s a great influence on me. I loved the way ... he got bebop about as good as any guitar player ever did, in my opinion. On this recording, he seems to be playing really close to the bridge, which shortens the length of the notes, so it makes them a little bit more staccato than legato. So like the bebop phrase we hear, it’s got a brokenness to it, which is why I couldn’t hear Jimmy in there mostly — it was just that.

Russell Malone/Ray Brown
“Little Darlin’” (Some Of My Best Friends Are ... Guitarists, Telarc, 2000) Malone, guitar; Brown, bass; Geoffrey Keezer, piano; Kareem Riggins, drums.

This is Russell Malone. This is so sweet. It’s so beautiful. First thing I noticed, though, was Ray Brown, even before Russell. What can you say about Ray? Just the tree of jazz. He’s one part of the trunk. The roots. I’m so grateful to have known him and played with him. Russell sounds great on this. This is a song we played a lot when I played with him. He was into arrangements, but he wasn’t into playing. We had to make them up on the spot. We’d get together before the gig. “Let’s do it this way, let’s do this.” On the record date that I’m on with him, it was that way: “At the beginning, let’s do this, let’s do that.” A man who had the swinging and the blowing down, so he had a lot of bandwidth left for the presentation of the music and how to properly frame it.

Grant Green
“I’m An Old Cowhand” (Talkin’ About, Blue Note, 1965) Green, guitar; Larry Young, Hammond B-3; Elvin Jones, drums.

This is Grant. You can hear how he’s closer to the bridge and how his notes are so defined. This motherfucker swings like nobody, in my opinion. That shorter note thing that you get from being close to the bridge is so perfect. The craziest thing is, he’s not playing those long words and phrases. This guy had his own language. Wes was the same way. This is just so rhythmic. Everything’s built on short notes — that’s what makes it so rhythmic. I know this cut. I’ve forgotten the sidemen. [afterwards] This is the weirdest thing. I’m here to embarrass myself. Of course, nobody ever saw these three guys. I was very aware of this record. I loved Way Out West, and I’m kind of a cowboy.

Jim Hall/Tom Harrell
“Dream Steps” (Dialogue, Telarc, 1995) Hall, guitar; Tom Harrell, trumpet; Scott Colley, bass; Andy Watson, drums.

Jim Hall. But there’s a thing to this. ... Of course, the treatment of the tune is so cool. This guy triggered a whole seismic shift in the way the guitar is played in jazz. Guys like Bill Frisell and Julian [Lage], you can trace their lineage straight back to Jim, and it’s kind of reverberated so much, the length of the phrases. I love this. I’m really into this kind of shit. Of course, Tom Harrell, who I knew, is an interesting human being. I haven’t talked to him in years. This is some really thoughtful, beautiful music. Vibey. And Jim brought that into the world. The records by him and Paul Desmond kind of defined another way to play this music. Like I say, there’s so much music, the direct lineage that came out of this. What a genius. And what a sweetheart he was. You can hear it in his playing. The music is a reflection of the human playing it. Barney and Ray were all about that, too. You are who you are and what you dig, your aesthetic, your experience. It’s your responsibility to do that, and why I’m doing what I’m doing now is a lot of their fault.

Julian Lage/Bill Frisell
“Chavez” (View With A Room, Blue Note, 2022) Lage, guitar, composer; Frisell, guitar; Jorge Roeder, bass; Dave King, drums.

I’m hearing Julian. I’m not putting it down by saying it’s cute. There’s a cuteness to this vibe and cuteness in this group. It reminds me of some of the surf music that I grew up listening to. You can hear again a lot of Jim’s influence on there, but you can also hear the back-by-the-bridge sound, too. Julian is a freak. I love that guy. I think he got a lesson from me when he was 7 or something. He was from here in Santa Rosa, and I was down in San Francisco, and we played a lot of gigs together when he was a pre-teen. He’s always been the most enthusiastic, studious, sweet spirit. Of course, I don’t think there’s a thing he couldn’t do. Here it sounds a second guitar is in there — but Julian does sound like two guitars. [afterwards] Julian was definitely the dominant force in there, as he often is when he’s playing. Bill Frisell is another person who created their own vocabulary for the music. He has a signature. It’s the biggest compliment I think you can give anybody, when someone has their own language and it works and it’s brilliant. Regardless of aesthetic. That’s the nature of jazz. That’s really what we all strive for. Bill, I’d say, is one of the major innovators, particularly for my instrument, in the last couple of decades.

Pat Metheny
“Giant Steps” (1999–2000, ECM, 2000) Metheny, guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass; Bill Stewart, drums.

It sounded like somebody who sounded like Pat Metheny — and then it was obviously Pat Metheny. There’s kind of a giveaway phrase, a pet phrase he likes. That one right there — a chromatic thing. I would say that he probably got that from a phrase Miles always used to play in the 1960s, and it lays really well on the guitar. It seems to be a trademark. I mean, it’s how I knew it wasn’t a Pat copyist and it was a Pat. The authenticity of the way he played that phrase gave it up to me. I’ve never talked to him about it, but I have a feeling that what inspired that was actually Miles. Of course, Pat Metheny has done more for jazz guitar than anybody. He’s a god. I just saw his solo tour. My “Red Guitar” show is really physical. I’m doing a lot of stuff, a lot of moving parts. What Pat did with that show is ... it’s a hero show. He’s a hero. He’s 70. I was thinking about his hands the whole time, because he’s playing acoustic guitars and different kinds of guitars. He’s got integrity and genius. Now, as a student of John Coltrane’s [original] version of “Giant Steps,” I can’t say that I would ever play this again. I would probably dread doing it. But you notice he’s not talking while he’s playing it.

Pat Martino
“Oleo” (Live At Yoshi’s, Blue Note, 2001) Martino, guitar; Joey DeFrancesco, Hammond B-3; Billy Hart, drums.

What I love about this recording is I can hear Grant in there. I mean, it’s obviously Pat Martino. I’m sure he loved Grant. We hung out a lot. I seem to remember talking about that. This guy is a machine, the way he could just pump out legato phrases, which is really more about the straight-eighth-note beat. This is how it swings. But he’s not really out of Bird. You’re not hearing that flowing-over-the-barlines use of triplets. It’s eighth notes. And it’s so eloquent. That’s like his classic lick. I can’t even sing it. He was really motivic in a different way than Barney was. You know, if you hear something from that, you’re going to hear it again. He was different in the way he used motivic devices. He brought that to himself. He was a great friend. I remember the first time I played in Philadelphia, I was playing with Richie Cole. For some reason, the piano player wasn’t on the gig, so we were just a quartet. So along with my first responsibility of playing all the lines with Richie, I was comping, and then, when I went to solo, I didn’t have anybody comping for me. I was 20 at that time, and I wasn’t seriously comfortable in that way. I’m playing, and I’m kind of trying to do two jobs at once. I felt like a one-armed wallpaper hanger kind of dude. I look up, and sitting as close to me as you are, at the bar, is Pat Martino. I wanted to die. Pat was so gracious. We became really good friends. (Now you see how he’s playing the repeating ideas.) The drummer is playing great. The organist isn’t Joey, is it? I wonder who the drummer is. [You’ve recorded with him.] That whittles it down to about 80 people. Oh, Billy Hart. You can hear Billy because of his snare drum. He likes a real high-pitched snare drum, but he’s not really playing the snare much. He’s swinging his ass off. He sounds so good. [drum solo] Now I probably would recognize him. There! But he sounds so good. Jabali has always been the biggest inspiration, back to the Keystone days when he came to town with various bands. I never stop loving him.

Kurt Rosenwinkel
“Punjab” (Angels Abound, Heartcore, 2020) Rosenwinkel, guitar; Dario Deidda, bass guitar; Greg Hutchinson, drums.

That’s so pretty. This person has the ability to blow into the guitar. That way you get a sustain. Because the thing about the guitar is it decays. For those of us who emulate Charlie Parker and Trane and Lester Young — they could play a long note. Everything we play falls off the table. So the best way to try and do that on the guitar, if you’re playing an acoustic guitar and not a synth, is to play lighter, or let Thomas Edison help a little bit — the electricity. If you hit a note hard on the guitar, it decays quickly, but if you kind of hit it in the mid-range, it will last longer. That means you have to really have a lot of dynamic control with your right hand. Of course, the notes that are supporting that have to be softer. It’s a real dance with physics. Because of the sheer mastery of what’s going on, I’d say it’s Kurt Rosenwinkel. But it’s coming, to me, out of John Abercrombie. Did you ever hear that timeless record John did for ECM, with Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette? Obviously, Kurt plays more stuff and has a lot more control of the instrument than John did, in my opinion. A brilliant cat. Another one of those guys that has his own language. But the vibe of this really is bringing me back to those days in my bedroom listening to John Abercrombie’s Timeless record. I suggest you revisit it, because it’s an amazing record. I loved John. Winky. Again, the Winky virus. To me, it’s the highest compliment you could give to anybody, is that you just have that effect on the language and the evolution of the music. DB

The “Blindfold Test” is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to discuss and identify the music and musicians who performed on selected recordings. The artist is then asked to rate each tune using a 5-star system. No information is given to the artist prior to the test.