Kenny Poole and Andy Brown - Jazz Guitar Duo - Spring 2002

The late Kenny Poole was my main influence and mentor. He was one of the greatest, most well-rounded jazz guitarists I've ever encountered. I was lucky to come of age musically in Cincinnati where Kenny was based and quickly fell under his spell.

He wasn't a teacher but a player. His famous quote was, "I teach every night when I play but the students don't show up." I was the exception to that rule and followed him from club to bar, restaurant to coffeehouse, every chance I had. The way I learned from him was listening to him, watching him, and the occasional kernel of valuable info he would blow out with a puff of smoke from the cigarette that dangled constantly from the corner of his mouth.

It took years of showing up to his gigs before he ever let me sit in. When I finally did the sparks flew and we never looked back. He morphed from guru to friend and jamming buddy, and the countless nights we played together did more for my playing than any university or jazz college could ever hope to duplicate.

He encouraged me at every phase, and his primary goal at all times when we played together was FUN! You can see the laughter and joy we shared together in this video, as well as the connection with the audience who was often made up of fellow pickers. One of them, Tom Downs, himself an excellent jazz guitarist, shot this video and I'm forever grateful to him for capturing one of these joyous evenings. The video was shot almost twenty years ago in early 2002, when Kenny was 54 and I was 26.

The setting for the video is a long-defunct Cincinnati restaurant called the Heritage where Kenny played solo on Wednesday and Thursday evenings for many years. I know I speak for all of us who were lucky to be there on those magical nights that they were some of the best nights of our lives.

Sorry that the audio and video isn't higher quality but it's the best I have...hope you enjoy it!

-Andy

P.S. For you guitar buffs out there I'm using a reissue Gibson Tal Farlow that I played before I got my old one from 1965. Kenny is playing a Gibson ES 335 that someone brought in that night for him to try out. He sounds so good and it's not even his guitar! We are both playing through Kenny's 1980's Peavey Bandit...super jazzy!!

1. Stardust (fragment) / Conversation
2. Little White Lies 1:34
3. Polkadots And Moonbeams 5:46
4. Crazy Rhythm 12:00
5. Salute To Charlie Christian 17:02
6. If I Had You 20:42
7. Wave 27:49
8. Dancing On The Ceiling 34:44

http://www.andybrownguitar.com