Tal Farlow

[pubylakeg]

Does anyone like to share some tales of the legendary Tal Farlow.

Did anybody ever ask him specifically what gauge of strings he used? I know he says heavy in the Lorenzo DeStefano DVD and that the Standards Recital CD liner notes say D'addario but did anybody ever speak to him about it?

Regarding the prototype Tal Farlow model, I understand some contributors actually played it. Does anyone remember the neck shape? Would it be a 60's slim taper profile?

Also, does anybody know what became of the prototype after Tal died.

I know these questions are equipment related but I'd be really interested to hear about anybody's memories of gigs, lessons from Tal, other players opinions on him, anybody else's questions, basically anything related at all.

[wintermoon]

got to see him several times in the 80's and 90's.
very nice shy guy, who always seemed to start out his gigs a little slow/nervous and then would warm up and start to burn later. he had a wooden stool he made w/an amp built into the bottom. there was always a line of people after his sets that wanted to compare their hand to his huge mitts.

the last time I saw him he had replaced Barney Kessel in the 'Great Guitars' and was really slowing down-he couldn't play like he could in the past and sort of fumbled his was through the gig--it was very sad to see, the one exception being the ballad he played, I think it was 'Imagination' on which he sounded marvelous.

he always played his Gibson TF model after it came out unlike earlier on when he played a modified ES-250 and later an ES-350. the one thing I remember about seeing him in the clubs was he always dangerously left his guitar laying on top of the stool in between sets.

[ecj]

I'd be curious to hear what folks know about his technique. Was he an alternate picker? Did he use the rest-stroke stuff like earlier players?

[pierre richard]

great player....

did they also call him "octopus" because of his large hands..??

monster player...


time on the instrument..

[3625]

Hey Puby - I'm a big fan of Tal's playing too. IIRC in an interview Tal said he used 12 gauge flatwounds made by Phillip Petillo. I think his prototype was stolen, so he then switched to playing a Gibson Tal Farlow reissue in the last part of his career - I would assume the neck profile of the prototype would be similar or identical to the reissue. I heard somewhere that Tal used Fender medium 351's, but on an old Guitar Player Magazine poster (full of famous player's picks) Tal's pick was a Fender heavy 351 with a very worn rounded tip from lots of playing.

In terms of personal anecdotes, one of Tal's proteges - a guy called Dan Axelrod knew Tal very well, and if you search their names together on google you'll dig up some anecdotes there - or maybe contact him in person.

Me and a friend (from Australia) rang Tal at his home back in 94 - we were young (I was 18) and thought we'd ring and just say hi and pay our respects to the master - Tal was super cool and friendly, and pretty much everything you would hope to expect in terms of talking to one of your musical idols. As it happens, a couple of weeks before us ringing he had another Australian guitarist visit him in New Jersey and Tal was saying how great it was having a jam together and what a fine player he was - the player was Peter Zog, who has dropped off the scene but a seriously good bop/hard bop player with chops to burn.

[3625]

I'd be curious to hear what folks know about his technique. Was he an alternate picker? Did he use the rest-stroke stuff like earlier players?

I'm not sure either, but I think he used economy/sweep picking when ascending, and perhaps a combination of economy or alternate descending. In the instructional book on Tal by Steve Rochinski, he said that Tal would sometimes employ hammer-ons and pull-offs on faster tempos.

[Alder Statesman]

Perhaps you already saw this, but this an enjoyable video of the Hot Lick's VHS tape that came out in the 90's.

He is still playing the prototype TF. Check out the fingerboard! A lot of playing.

[jkurtz7]

Hi folks,

I'm a Tal Farlow fan, and I was wondering if anyone can tell me which guitars Tal played in the late 40's and early 50's (pre PAF humbucker).

[fws6]

i am not an expert but judging from the pics an ES 150 with cc pickup, and an ES 350 ?

[Patrick2]

i am not an expert but judging from the pics an ES 150 with cc pickup, and an ES 350 ?

I believe you are correct fws6. In fact, the Gibson Tal Farlow was designed by Tal and some at Gibson (Parsons Street Kalamazoo . . . now, why does that address ring a bell with me??) and the design was based upopn the ES350. (if I remember correctly). Tal hated the solid carved top guitars. He believed firmly on the virtues of a laminate top and back. I really liked Tal, the man, and I loved the music he made. But, I really didn't care much for his tone . . . . . or his precision in execution. (he was sloppy at times). It was always clear to me that Tal's one and only concern when he played was music and musicality. And he had a shit load of both within him. He didn't prefer the laminates for any reason other than he perceived the solid carved tops as a real PIA in a live combo setting. The jazz guitar world really misses him. So do I.

[hot ford coupe]

Tal played some really nice lines. You're right about his tone. It was a bit trebly and thin but he made it work really well. I've got one of his instructional books. There's some really nice info there. I refer back to it from time to time.

[kris]

I've transcribed few solos of Tal...He was great player.

[oldane]

In the 1940s and the early 1950s (for examp0le when he was in the Red Norvo trio) he was picured with an ES150 with a CC PU.

Later in the 1950s he used a two PU ES 350 which he tinkered with himself. He removed the fretboard, sawed off the first fret, so the second fret became the first fret and glued it back on to get a shorter scale and replaced the neck P90 with an original CC. This was the guitar used on the 1950s Verve recordings.

Still later, when he used the Gibson Tal Farlow model, on some photos it could be seen that he had placed what looked like a single coil PU just besides the neck humbucker. On other photos he was seen with the plain unmodded model - likely he had more than one sample.

Tal described himself as a perpetual tinkerer who always modded everything - also his guitars. Reportedly, he had a talent with tools. BTW, for quite a number of years, he made his livng as a sign painter which was his original profession.

[wintermoon]

in the early shots you see of Tal w/Norvo etc. he played an ES-250, not a 150. This was the guitar that he cut the neck/scale length down

He used the modified 350 for a while as Dane mentions, then his signature models for the rest of his career..

Great player, I don't find him to be 'sloppy'. He tried to pull off some really hard stuff and succeeded sometimes, other times didn't, much like Barney Kessel.

got to meet him a few times, there'd be line of people after his sets who approached him to compare hand sizes, he had those huge mitts.
really nice shy guy who made his own amps as well.

a few times when I saw him he had a stool w/ a built in amp he sat on.

[fws6]

>he played an ES-250, not a 150.

ouch ! Told you I was not the expert. So now we have to be on the lookout for a 250. Thats a hard one to find.

[jkurtz7]

I would say the Tal wasn't always precise in his playing, but he is still my favorite jazz player. I happen to like his brighter sound as well.
I guess I'm more concerned with the types of pickups he used before he started using his Sig model since I'm not an arch top guy.

[fws6]

well es 150 or 250 most of what you heard is a CC pickup. Many jazz/ swing players nowadays favor one of those in a solidbody, see for instance the Pete Biltoft, Jason Lollar websites or this ones from the UK CC Pickups - Pickups

[Section Player]

Somehow I missed it when Tal passed away. How long ago was that?

I caught him live at Yoshi's in Jack London Sq. in Oakland a few years ago. Always been a fan and he really stretched out in this jazz venue. Blew me away.

[Patrick2]

Somehow I missed it when Tal passed away. How long ago was that?

I caught him live at Yoshi's in Jack London Sq. in Oakland a few years ago. Always been a fan and he really stretched out in this jazz venue. Blew me away.

Tal passed way back in 1998. Just a wonderful man. Never met anyone who had a bad word to say about him.

[hot ford coupe]

>he played an ES-250, not a 150.

Thats a hard one to find.

You're right, Frank. That's a hard animal to coax out of the woods. In all my years of collecting, I think I only saw one for sale somewhere. There might have been others but I never saw them.

[Flat5]

Anybody know what's up with the little (DeArmand?) pickup slapped up against his neck humbucker?
What's it's purpose? How is it activated?

[3625]

Anybody know what's up with the little (DeArmand?) pickup slapped up against his neck humbucker?
What's it's purpose? How is it activated?

I think it might be to do with an octave divider (just like an octave pedal) that Tal invented himself, and that pickup is engaged whenever Tal used it.

[paynow]

Tal is in my top three, the other two being Joe Pass and Wes. I was listening to "The Tal Farlow Album" on my iPod yesterday, 25 years after first being introduced to it by my guitar teacher. I went to the village and bought a copy on vinyl, and yes, vinyl wasn't some retro thing at that point.

This is what has always struck me:

1. The phrasing and the lines. They're so unmistakable and don't sound like anyone else.

2. The speed. He said he became fast by playing with Red Norvo, because it was either play fast or be embarrassed. Norvo used to like to play really fast tempos. I think both Tal and Mingus became much faster as a result of playing with him.

3. The fact that he grew up in Greensboro, NC, not exactly a hot bed of jazz, yet was able to develop this amazing and influential style from what I read was sort of sub-par equipment in the early days. He's such an organic, homegrown type of player.

4. He didn't really start playing jazz until he was 21.

I listened to "Stompin' At The Savoy" from the aforementioned record several times yesterday, just because I like the lines and the phrasing so much. It has great energy.

In an interview with "Guitar World" magazine, Ray Davies of "The Kinks" mentions Tal:

GW: How would you describe the influence of country music on the Kinks in general and on you in particular?

Davies: Immense. I can't deny it. Although, again, its like music hall. It's not cool to say it, but the influence of country pickers like Chet Atkins was a big one on me. I'm not sure about Dave. One of the great thrills for me was when the Kinks played the new Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and Roy Acuff was at the side of the stage. To me, that was it. That was making it. [laughs] All the early records I owned were basically instrumentals. People like Tal Farlow. He was more of a jazz player, but if you listen to his style, it's got a lot of country in it. When I do my solo shows, we have a little Chet Atkins playing as people are walking out, as well as some Hank Williams at the beginning. To me, Hank is still one of the greatest. When Dave and I were growing up, just rehearsing at home, we used to do all the Hank Williams stuff--in harmony. That would be a party piece for us, to do a Hank Williams song.

I've also read an interview with him in "Rolling Stone" where he mentions Tal as an influence. If I recall correctly his original aspiration was to play that way, and he realized how difficult it was. And he's right; Tal's playing does have a lot of country in it.

[AndyV]

Jazz guitarist George Barnes named Tal the octopus.

I saw Tal live in Boston around 1982 or '83. He had the wooden stool mentioned above and his signature Gibson. Tal had a roaring head cold and probably should have been home in bed. What I recall most from that night is he played about six fairly uptempo choruses on Body and Soul all in harmonics. It was an astounding performance.

Wes Montgomery named Tal as one of his favorite players in an interview he did with Ralph Gleason. Wes noted that he was considered "sloppy" by some but Wes dug the drive and excitement in his playing.

Here's a link to an interesting concert featuring Tal with Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell, John Scofield and John Abercrombie. Strange "string fellows" in many ways. Tal plays a very different style here than his early fire breathing days.

[Patrick2]

Here's my last time together with Tal. I'm very impressed with *paynow's* comments on some of Tal's history. First and foremost . . . what a wonderful person. His passion was his guitar and the music he was able to make with it. A testament to the kind of selfless person he was, was his willingness to give it all up and go back to a more lucrative profession of sign painting in Spring Lake, NJ.

Some called him octopus because of his huge hands. I called him Spiderman. I did play one of his Tal Farlow signature guitars . . . but, I don't think it was the proto type. I was unimpressed with the guitar. But, then again . . I'm not Tal Farlow . . . no one is.