Earliest Telecasters in Jazz

HPhillipsmusic

Amazing thank you guys. @Strat54 great links thank you kindly. I dont know when that clip of Bob Bain is from but looks like he must have been one of the first to put a humbucker in a blackface - and a '53 to boot!

Would love to see some proof of Barney Kessel with a fender - guessing Gibson would have tried to squash any evidence of that! 

What do you guys think it is about the Telecaster over the Strat that makes it more Jazz-common? Can it be purely down to that neck pickup? I know Ed Bickert often put a humbucker in the neck so it can't solely be that? Strats are so versatile but I have found it hard to lose that strat spank, which I've never really heard before in Jazz. So to amend the first question, anyone able to enlighten me on any Jazz players who used Strats in the early days?

I must add for kudos to the man, the first I heard Jazz played on a Telecaster that really compelled me was Jim Campilongo, his sets on youtube from the 55 in New York - astounding stuff, and he really used the Tele's natural tone rather than altered it.

Love tapping into this wealth of knowledge on TF, we are all students.

Nitefly

I seem to remember Kenny Burrell playing a Jazzmaster with Jimmy Smith in the 60's.

Loobs

Ed Bickert ftw. 

koneguitarist

Jazz on a tele, everyone knows a tele is for country, ,, don't they? 

Strat54

@HPhillipsmusic The black and white clip  is Bain, the humbucker guitar is played by Mike Stern.

stratcat

Barney Kessle certainly played Teles on sessions there are a couple of pictures of him in the studio with Telecasters.
I can't bring to mind any people who played jazz on strats back in the day but Lorne Lofsky certainly does the biz with a strat now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7QgZnArijI

Roland

HPhillipsmusic said:

What do you guys think it is about the Telecaster over the Strat that makes it more Jazz-common? Can it be purely down to that neck pickup? I know Ed Bickert often put a humbucker in the neck so it can't solely be that? Strats are so versatile but I have found it hard to lose that strat spank, which I've never really heard before in Jazz. So to amend the first question, anyone able to enlighten me on any Jazz players who used Strats in the early days?

A Tele gives you the warm sound that a Strat can't reach. It also hangs and balances differently.

HPhillipsmusic

@Strat54 im certain that the blackguard Bain plays in that b&w video has a humbucker or gold foil neck pup, the first few shots of the video definitely have something behind his picking hand bigger than a lipstick!

Strat54

HPhillipsmusic said:

@Strat54 im certain that the blackguard Bain plays in that b&w video has a humbucker or gold foil neck pup, the first few shots of the video definitely have something behind his picking hand bigger than a lipstick!

Hey, it could well be. I can see his Bigsby is fitted but didn't realise he fitted the neck humbucker the guitar still has as far back as then. Thought it must have been a late 60's modification. The guy was prolific, must be not a grown person in the western world that hasn't heard his playing (without realising it). 

Strat54

Barney Kessel and a blackguard....http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hln-75PcDME/T-jGurxRiAI/AAAAAAAAAl8/m7lW-KkeDYU/s1600/Barney_Kessel.jpg

BigLicks67

HPhillipsmusic said:

Amazing thank you guys. @Strat54 great links thank you kindly. I dont know when that clip of Bob Bain is from but looks like he must have been one of the first to put a humbucker in a blackface - and a '53 to boot!

Would love to see some proof of Barney Kessel with a fender - guessing Gibson would have tried to squash any evidence of that! 

What do you guys think it is about the Telecaster over the Strat that makes it more Jazz-common? Can it be purely down to that neck pickup? I know Ed Bickert often put a humbucker in the neck so it can't solely be that? Strats are so versatile but I have found it hard to lose that strat spank, which I've never really heard before in Jazz. So to amend the first question, anyone able to enlighten me on any Jazz players who used Strats in the early days?

I must add for kudos to the man, the first I heard Jazz played on a Telecaster that really compelled me was Jim Campilongo, his sets on youtube from the 55 in New York - astounding stuff, and he really used the Tele's natural tone rather than altered it.

Love tapping into this wealth of knowledge on TF, we are all students.

The neck pickup is pretty dark, but I've seen John Scofield use the middle pickup setting. I'm sure you could get a usable jazz sound out of a strat, but it does tend to colour the sound more than a tele does. Here's Bill Frisell on a Strat.