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Interview With Guitarist, Steve Cotter
Maybe Aimee Nolte is right.. but i've never heard of him. What do you think?
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12-04-2018 07:24 PM
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Aimee has some excellent free jazz instruction/ear training videos on YouTube.
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LA is a very big city, in which I’m sure there are hundreds of great jazz guitar players, many of whom are unknown outside of each one’s own circle of musicians/friends they play and hang with. It’s like that in every big city. It always bugs me when someone says, “____ is the best guitar player (or any other instrument) in town!” I think a better way to say it is, “____ is one of my favorite players in town.” Choosing who we like to play with is, in addition to his/her musical skill, a very personal and subjective thing.
Aimee likes playing with Steve Cotter, that’s obvious. And they’re obviously friends (maybe more than “just friends”?). Steve is obviously a good player, but after listening to his and Aimee’s “But Not for Me”, and then a couple of his solos on the Joey DeFrancesco album she mentioned, I’ll honestly confess I wasn’t totally blown away and I didn’t hear anything particularly unique in his solos. Lots of guitar players I know sound like that. But then again, I remind myself that certain players don’t do as well in studios or in front of cameras if they aren’t used to it, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Microphones and cameras freak me out, mainly because I haven’t logged hundreds of hours of recording in an improvisational setting. I’m much more comfortable playing live, as I have logged thousands and thousands of hours onstage. Perhaps this is the case with Steve. But I digress.
I’m sure if I lived in LA and knew Steve Cotter, played duo gigs with him, etc. we might “hit it off” and even become very close friends who share a love of jazz. I might even say he’s one of my favorite players in town. But to say he’s “the best”? Again, there are, most likely, many guitarists in many circles in a city like LA of whom many people say are the best, when in truth they’re just their favorites.Last edited by El Fundo; 12-05-2018 at 12:06 PM.
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Lots of pickers in LA, fo sho. But how many regularly gigging (playing out) - and playing jazz, jazz, jazz - in LA though?
Not zero, but not growing either.
True or false?
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Or, how many venues (besides wedding receptions, private parties, and steakhouses) are in LA for jazz musicians to play in front of a listening audience? I live in Dallas and on occasion play with a vibes player who teaches at UNT who could be counted as one of the best in the world. Yet he only plays 4 or 5 gigs a year. Not many people besides a few musicians and his students and fellow teachers even know who he is. He should, because of how great he really is, be very well known. My point is, there are probably, proportionally speaking, many more great jazz players in LA than there are places for them to play, players we’ll never hear of. And this comes from living in a country that holds less and less regard, as time moves forward, for the value of art in general.
Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt
Last edited by El Fundo; 12-05-2018 at 02:55 PM.
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I first saw Steve in a Laguna Beach bookstore around 25 years ago. We talked about jazz guitar. Back then the So Cal area had a lot more jazz, at various venues, then it does today. A lot more. Years later I was in my backyard doing yard work during the day on the Forth of July. The community center was having their annual picnic. I can hear bands from my home since I'm on a hill above the center. Typically I hear rock cover bands and tune them out, but this time I heard JAZZ. I when to the 2nd floor so I could hear better and, yea, it was jazz guitar. So I went to the center. Cotter was playing. He remembered me and we talked and exchanged info. He got some gigs in my area (the OC), and I went to those (saw him once with Joey DeFrancesco, but typically he played with another organ player, either way I love the trio format of Organ, guitar and drums).
IF I'm not mistaken I believe Cotter was a student of Ron Eschete (and that is how he meet Joey)????
Haven't seen Cotter in about 10 years. I find him to be lyrical and melodic.
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I think labeling someone as "the best" is doing them a disservice, because it means everyone else in that area is, by definition, "not the best." Really? He's better than Mike Miller, Larry Koonse, and Frank Gambale?
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Bruce Forman.
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I have to agree with you here as it relates to 'the best'. Instead I just like to discripe how someone plays and what the 'bring' to me when I listen to them. Originally Posted by guitarbuddy
E.g. I have seen Mike Miller, years ago, with the Max Bennett band. The music was jazz fusion and to this day I can't recall seeing another guitar player playing a solid body in that style that was so 'on fire'. I need to check out what Mike has been doing lately.
Larry Koonse I have seen many times and this playing is always interesting especially his use of chords. He typically plays original tunes and that requires me to really listen.
I own one Gambale record that I got 18 years ago. I'm not really into that style of playing\music, but I have never seen him live.
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I have seen him live several times, with Chick Corea and with Steve Smith's band. Obviously he's best known for the ridiculously fast sweeping stuff that he plays, but he's more versatile than you might think. Also, when I saw him a few years ago a mutual friend introduced us and we hung out in the green room between sets. He's a very cordial, delightful person, qualities which always helps towards enjoying someone's playing. I had the opposite experience with a player who shall remain nameless and I quit listening to him entirely. Originally Posted by jameslovestal
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I wondered if he was 'more versatile' and since I have never seen him live and the only album I have is that 'ridiculously fast sweeping stuff' this is why I hedged my bet (so to speak), as to how 'good' he was. So if he still plays gigs in the So Cal area, I'll check him out. Thanks Originally Posted by guitarbuddy
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Bruce is indeed a bad-ass player, but I don't think he's living in LA anymore unless he's moved back. The last time I talked to him - which admittedly was a couple of years ago - he wasn't. Originally Posted by takauya
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He lives in Carmel Valley. I assume he's in LA a lot as he teaches on USC's jazz course and records the GuitarWank podcast when he's in the city. Originally Posted by guitarbuddy
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I thought he sounded great. I especially liked his approach to comping behind the piano on But Not For Me.
Basic concept was 4 to the bar, but he broke it up in a really musical way, using chords, octaves, lines and silence, all very musically.
Not flashy, but right in the pocket.
He didn't waste a note on the solos, stayed true to the inside nature of the tune and had some nice juxtapostions of Arp A over Chord B.
I'd call him a master of the idiom. Best in LA? Maybe depends on who's in town that day.
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He's probably the best west coast player that Aimee personally knows.
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ya never heard of Steve but ill check him out....ya what about
Larry Koose
Bruce Forman
Ron Eschete
Frank Potensa
Doug MacDonald, in the desert now
ect, etc
then down in SD
Bob Boss
Peter sprague
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Do you know what desert Doug is at? I got to know Doug well and my wife and I saw him a lot over a decade ago. Solid "traditional" type player, and fine at all aspects of jazz guitar. So if he is still doing gigs I would like to see him. Originally Posted by jazzgtrl4
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Hi, Originally Posted by jameslovestal
Yup Palm Springs..He plays at AJs on the Green on Tuesdays with a really good band, then on Wednesdays hes running the jam there at AJ's, it in Cathedral city. As well as other stuff going on in the desert. I took lessons from him for a awhile, great player. way nice guy too.
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Sounds first rate to me.
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Wow, Aimee can't sing. Stick to the piano.
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Many jazz singers can't really sing. Wish it weren't so, but it is.
But you know what, I'll bet if a lot of pop and rock singers tried to sing some standards they wouldn't sound so wonderful either. A good standard, sung legit, will really expose poor technique and a mediocre vocal quality.
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Always good to see an anonymous Internet poster who's never posted any of their own music shitting on someone else's.
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A few more, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour... lot's of good ones in L.A.
As an aside Lee Ritenour's house burned down in the recent L.A. fires, including his studio and a bunch of gear.
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Aimee can sing, good lines, good pitch. I wish I was half the singer she is.
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OK. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Well the next time you get the squirts from a restaurant meal, make certain that you remain silent. After all, you're not a gourmet chef of international note, so your critical opinion matters not.
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