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John Jorgenson Biography
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The John Jorgenson Biography And Short Interview
By Dan Miller for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine
John Jorgenson (far left) with Emmy Lou Harris, Vern Gosdlin, and Chris Hillman at the American Music Shop in 1990
John Jorgenson is arguably the most versatile guitar
player on the planet. As such he is also one of the most highly sought
after musicians for both studio and road work. The list of artists that
he has performed and recorded with reads like a who's-who of rock, pop,
country, bluegrass, and folk music. Consider the following:
John has performed with Elton John, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, George
Michael, Sheryl Crow, Chris Hillman, k.d. lang, Bob Dylan, Buck Owens,
Earl Scruggs, Carl Perkins, Sting, Emmy Lou Harris, Dan Fogelberg, Hank
Williams Jr., Rodney Crowell, Roger McGuinn, Melissa Etheridge, Michael
Hedges, Don Henley, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Steve Earle, Tommy Emmanuel,
Bob Brozman, and Dwight Yoakum.
John has recorded with Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Ricky Nelson, The Byrds,
Bob Seger, Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand, Earl Scruggs, Hank Williams
Jr., Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carlene Carter, John Prine, Michael Nesmith,
Marty Stuart, Johnny Cash, Pam Tillis, Roger McGuinn, Mark O'Connor, Travis
Tritt, Tanya Tucker, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Jerry
Douglas, David Grisman, Darol Anger, Rose Maddox, Bobby Vinton, Juice
Newton, Beppe Gambetta, and Luciano Pavarotti (to just name a few)
John was a founding member of the Rhythm Brothers (a highly respected
Gypsy jazz band in Southern California).
With Chris Hillman, he co-founded the Desert Rose Band (the Grammy-nominated,
critically acclaimed band with five number one singles, four CDs, touring,
recording, TV appearances, etc.).
He was also co-founder of The Hellecasters (award-winning instrumental
guitar trio, with three CDs, touring, TV appearances, etc.).
From 1995 through 2000 he toured and recorded with Elton John playing
electric and acoustic guitars, saxophone, pedal steel guitar, bass, and
vocals.
John first received mention in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine in our Django
Reinhart issue (Volume 6, Number 3 March/April 2002) in Dave McCarty's
article "Django's Heirs." Many who follow Gypsy jazz guitar
list John as one of the true American masters of that style. However,
the amazing thing about John is that those who follow country guitar,
bluegrass guitar, and rock guitar will say the same thing about his playing
in those genres.
Bryan Sutton, who plays with John in the Hot Club of Nashville says, "The
thing that has most fascinated me about John is the number of different
styles he has mastered. He has conquered the nuances that make each style
what they are. Everything he does is very thorough and true to the style."
Brad Davis, who performs with John in Earl Scruggs' band says, "John
has mastered many styles down to the letter, but what blows me away is
the way he can honor the style and honor the tune, but still leaves his
thumbprint-you can tell it is him, it is identifiable. For me that is
the icing on the cake for any player. With Earl, John plays electric on
'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' and he will knock you a new one every time
he takes a solo. He is a fun cat to play with."
Earl Scruggs himself says, "To say that John is a superlative guitarist
is an understatement. He is simply great."
In addition to his incredible talent on guitar and his overall musicianship,
other musicians like to work with John because of his professionalism
and personality. Chris Hillman describes John as "the best musician
I have ever worked with." Roger McGuinn says, "I've had a lot
of great times with John, but my favorite memory is of the time he and
Stan Lynch were recording with me for the Byrds Boxed Set in Nashville.
John played bass that night. The groove we got was incredible! We all
just looked at each other and smiled.- John was truly a Byrd!"
Travis Tritt has said, "John is not only one of my favorite musicians
but also one of the nicest people in the industry. He has contributed
his musicianship to several of my albums as well as some of the most memorable
and important live performances I have ever done. He is one of very few
musicians who is capable of pulling off performances with the likes of
Earl Scruggs as well as Elton John. I appreciate him for his talent, positive
attitude, and professionalism."
John is also a talented composer, arranger, and engineer. Tommy Emmanuel
says, "JJ is not only a musician of vast experience and knowledge,
he is also a powerful composer and arranger. I love his music; it has
a depth and freshness that stands out in our world today. It was my great
honor, along with my brother Phil, to choose John's song 'Back on Terra
Firma' as the piece we wanted to perform in front of the entire world
at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Oh, by the way, did I mention he
is one of the greatest musicians I've ever played with? What a Groovehound!!!!"
While the long list of famous musicians with whom John has performed and/or
recorded with-as well as the words they use to describe his musicianship-is
quite impressive, it still does not truly portray the depth of his talent
or experience. We have yet to mention that John has played bass in jazz
ensembles, played bassoon and saxophne in classical symphonies, played
mandolin and guitar in a bluegrass band, played electric guitar in a new
wave band, played upright bass in a rockabilly band, and played clarinet
and soprano sax in a Dixieland jazz band. In order to add those details
to John's story, it is best that we go back and start at the beginning.
The Son of Musicians
John Jorgenson was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1956. His mother was
a piano teacher and his father an orchestra conductor and college music
professor. The Jorgenson family moved to Redlands, California, before
John's first birthday. His father took a job as a professor of music at
the University of Redlands. John's mother continued to teach piano lessons
in the Jorgenson home. John says, "Music was always around. A bunch
of kids would come over our house everyday and play the piano. So to me,
as a kid, it was nothing special. Everybody did it. Every kid that I saw
played the piano."
When John's older sister was in first grade, his mother began teaching
her piano. John, two and a half years younger, would listen to his sister's
lesson and then go up to the piano and begin trying to play the songs
that his mother had been teaching his sister. John recalls, "I just
wanted to 
copy
what she was doing. My mom, being a smart teacher, went ahead and started
my lessons, but in a different book so that I would also learn how to
read music. She said that it was obvious that I could already play by
ear."
When John was eight his sister began playing the flute in the band at
school and John said, "Wait a minute, if she is playing two instruments,
then I want to play two instruments." John's father began teaching
him how to play the clarinet. John said that he chose the clarinet because
he liked the sound of the instrument in "Peter and the Wolf."
John became interested in the guitar when he first saw the Beatles on
television in 1964, but it would be a few more years before he would begin
to learn the instrument. When he was ten, one of his classmates brought
a ukulele in to school for show-and-tell. The boy played "This Land
Is Your Land" for the class. John recalls, "At the time I either
played the piano, something you couldn't carry around, or I played the
clarinet in a band. I thought that what this kid did was pretty cool because
it was something you could do on your own. We had a ukulele laying around
the house, so I started fooling around with that and pretty quickly wanted
a guitar."
Learning to Play Guitar
John's parents were not quick to introduce their son to a new instrument.
They felt like a guitar would distract him from learning the piano and
clarinet. However, when John began borrowing guitars from some of his
neighbors, his parents realized that he was serious about the instrument
and bought him his first guitar as a Christmas present when he was 12.
His first guitar was a St. George electric, a Japanese copy of the Fender
Jaguar. John began learning guitar parts from the songs he heard on the
radio. He remembers being especially drawn to the music of the Byrds,
Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was self-taught
on the electric guitar, learning by ear off records.
John's first experience with an acoustic guitar occurred in the summer
of his 12th year. The local community college offered beginning and advanced
guitar courses and John signed up for the beginner's class. However, he
was very disappointed on the first day of class when the instructor told
him he could not have an electric guitar in class. John was crushed. Knowing
how excited John was to take the course, his parents bought him an acoustic
guitar as an early birthday present. His first acoustic was a Yamaha FG-180,
Yamaha's D-18 copy.
After classes began, John's instructor realized that John was more advanced
than anyone in the beginner's class, so he moved John up to the advanced
class. As luck would have it, no one else had showed up for the advanced
class, so John received private lessons. John recalls, "The guy who
was teaching was really into the blues, so he taught me the blues scale
and a little bit about improvisation. That was really helpful at that
point."
Almost immediately after learning how to play the guitar, John began getting
together with friends and playing in garage bands. Since age ten he had
also been playing in classical ensembles at his father's university and
in honors bands at his school. By the eighth grade, in addition to the
clarinet, he had begun studying the bassoon, and then a few years later
added the saxophone. John says, "I was studying all of those instruments,
and then playing the guitar on the side for fun." During his high
school years a typical weekend for John would consist of playing bassoon
with a university classical symphony during the day and then playing with
a rock band at a frat party at night.
John's talent on guitar during high school caught the attention of some
college-age musicians who invited John to play in their band. John recalls,
"That was good because they were a lot better than me and I kind
of had to 'step up to the plate.' By that time we were playing material
by Cream, Hendrix, The Who, and Deep Purple. I also really liked the band
Yes at that time because they kind of bridged my classical music side
and my rock side."
John's involvement with various classical symphonies and rock bands continued
through his college years. John attended the University of Redlands and
earned a B.A. degree in woodwinds performance studying clarinet, bassoon,
and saxophone. During his college years John also took some part-time
gigs playing in bands at Disneyland. It wasn't until after graduating
from college that John discovered bluegrass music and flatpicking.
Discovering Bluegrass
The first summer after graduating from college John was offered a scholarship
to play bass in a jazz ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival. John accepted
the scholarship with the agreement that they would also allow him to study
bassoon. While in Aspen, John saw an ad in the local paper: "Wanted
for immediate gigs, acoustic jazz bass player." John said, "I
checked out a bass from the music festival and I went down and ended up
jamming with these guys. 
What
they were playing, basically, was the music from David Grisman's first
album and some other fiddle tunes and stuff. It was a female fiddle player
from the festival and a local mandolin player and local guitar player.
They were really good and I had never heard that kind of music before.
I had heard bluegrass once or twice, and I had liked it, but I didn't
know what it was and I didn't know anyone who was into it. I really liked
the music and so I played with them that summer and learned some of the
fiddle tunes and some of the Grisman things. When I got back to California
after that summer I was inspired to learn the mandolin."
When John got back home he borrowed a neighbor's mandolin and began learning
a few tunes. At the same time he also began playing electric guitar with
a new wave band in LA. Shortly thereafter, in the fall of 1979, a friend
who was putting together a band to play both bluegrass and Dixieland jazz
at Disneyland asked John if he knew anyone who could play fiddle and trumpet.
John said, "No, but I can play mandolin and clarinet." John
recalls, "I really couldn't play mandolin very well, but I was learning,
and I could play the clarinet, but didn't know anything about Dixieland.
But, this was a job."
The Disneyland Gig
John was hired for the job and the first time he got together with the
band he realized that the other members where not much further along with
bluegrass music than he was. "I bought a cheap Ibenez mandolin and
went to rehearse with these guys. The banjo player only knew a few songs
on five string banjo, but he could play them well. He was really good
on the plectrum banjo, so the Dixieland stuff was fine. The leader of
the band, who was really a drummer, could play the washboard for the Dixieland
stuff and he could play guitar well enough to accompany the banjo player
on 'Dueling Banjos,' 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown,' and 'Blackberry Blossom.'
The bass player could play tuba and string bass. It worked out pretty
good because we kind of all learned how to play bluegrass together. For
Dixieland, they were well ahead of me, but I could learn songs fast and
play the melodies. We learned enough for one set of each style of music."
The band began working at Disneyland playing one style of music in the
morning, then changing clothes and location and playing another style
of music in the afternoon. John says, "As we worked we started learning
more material so that we didn't have to play the same set 
over
and over. I really liked playing the mandolin so I started really getting
into it and practicing a lot. I was listening to Bill Monroe, Flatt and
Scruggs, and Jim and Jesse. I didn't know it at the time, but I was also
listening to Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Clarence White, and Doc
Watson."
In addition to learning about bluegrass, John was also obviously learning
more about Dixieland jazz. In fact, his introduction to Gypsy jazz and
Django Reinhardt came through the Dixieland band. John remembers, "The
banjo player that I was working with in the Dixieland band would talk
with reverence about Django Reinhardt. So I thought that I ought to check
it out and I bought an album that turned out to not be a very good introduction
to Django, so it put me off for a while. A while later I bought another
one and it was all of the classic Hot Club stuff. I loved it and just
went crazy for it."
John became so involved in Gypsy jazz music that in about 1982 he convinced
the members of the Disneyland band to form a third entity of the band
and perform that music. Right around that same time the original leader
of the band left to join another show as a comic. His replacement was
Raul Reynoso. Raul was a talented flatpicker who had played with Larry
McNeely and also loved Gypsy jazz. The third version of the Disneyland
band was called the Rhythm Brothers. When asked about Disney's reaction
to the new band, John said, "Management really liked the band because
we were good musically and we were entertaining. They were happy with
us, so they allowed us to do it to just humor us. But also it gave them
another area. We had the 30s kind of clothes so that we could play in
the New Orleans location. We did a combination of Hot Club instrumentals
with vocals from the Boswell Sisters, Nat King Cole Trio and stuff like
that." After adding the third entity, the band had to now change
clothes and locations two times and began playing eight sets at Disneyland
every day.
When John first started learning how to play Gypsy jazz he was learning
on an Epiphone archtop. John recalls, "It was really brutal. It had
no sustain and it was really hard. When Raul joined the band, he already
had a Selmer. He brought it in and I said, 'Wow, I want to play that!'
" John eventually got a 1942 Selmer to play with the Rhythm Brothers.
The interesting story behind his acquisition of this guitar is told in
the sidebar on page 12.
After Raul joined the band at Disneyland, John also started playing more
flatpicking style guitar. Raul enjoyed playing the mandolin, so when the
band performed bluegrass John and Raul would swap off on mandolin and
guitar. John continued to play the gig at Disneyland for about six more
years. While still working at Disney, in 1986, John recorded his album
After You've Gone. On the first side John played Django-style Gypsy jazz
guitar, with David Grisman on mandolin and Darol Anger on violin. On the
other side he played Benny Goodman-style music on electric guitar and
clarinet. The album was released in 1988. Regarding the recording, John
said, "I did that album just as the Desert Rose Band was starting
to go. I could tell that I probably wasn't going to be playing that kind
of music steadily again in the near future. I felt like I had achieved
a level of chops on both clarinet and guitar that I wanted to do a record
at that time."
The Desert Rose Band
As if eight sets a day with the band at Disneyland was not enough, John
continued to play music at night with a variety of different bands during
the years he worked at Disney. John left the new wave band after a few
years because he became tired of the LA club scene. He said, "I quit
playing the electric guitar for a while because I wanted to concentrate
on mandolin, Gypsy jazz, and flatpicking." In 1983 he joined a rockabilly
trio playing upright bass with his friend Jeff Ross on guitar. A short
time later, in 1984, he also started a country band called the Cheatin'
Hearts. Bill Bryson was in the band and, at the time, Bill was also playing
with Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon, and Al Perkins in an acoustic gospel
quartet. When Bernie left the band John joined them. The band played together
as the Chris Hillman Band for about six months. 
Eventually,
in 1985, Herb Pedersen came in to replace Al Perkins and John brought
in the rhythm section from the Cheatin' Hearts to form a new group called
the Desert Rose Band. The Grammy-nominated Desert Rose Band went on to
record five number one singles. John stayed with the Desert Rose Band
until 1991.
Work with the Desert Rose Band brought John national recognition and would
lead to numerous future opportunities. Up-and-coming country artists like
Lyle Lovett and Mary Chapin Carpenter opened shows for the Desert Rose
Band and would later use John on their recordings. John's work with the
Desert Rose Band also caught the attention of rock legend Elton John.
John explains, "Chris Hillman's wife, Connie, worked for Elton's
management company for a long time, so Elton knows Chris. Elton knows
everything about music history. He is really into it. So obviously he
knew Chris. Connie gave Elton a copy of the Desert Rose Band's first album
and he loved it. We were doing a gig at the Roxy in 1988 to promote our
second album. Lyle Lovett was the opening act and in the audience was
Bruce Hornsby, Dave Edmunds, Nicolette Larson, Stephen Stills, Bernie
Taupin, Rose Maddox, and Elton John. I had met Elton just briefly before
the show, but I didn't have anything to say to him because he was a star
and I was just a guitar player. We did the show and it went really well.
After the show we were in the dressing room and I was standing by the
door. Elton burst into the dressing room grabbed my hand and said, "Brilliant
guitar, f***ing brilliant!" I was shocked. After that, I went to
see him a couple of times when he played LA. Because of Connie Hillman
we would get nice tickets and a back stage pass. The first time I went
back stage at a show, there were all of these celebrities, Sylvester Stallone
was there with Brigitte Nielsen, and when Elton came out he said, 'How
are you doing John? How's the music?' I was kind of impressed that he
remembered my name and I thought, 'OK, I've entered into his long term
memory.' I'd become friends with Elton's guitar player Davey Johnstone
and at the time I was starting to do a lot of session work. I'd played
on Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time and I had worked with producer Don Was.
Don was producing a couple of Elton's cuts on a box set and so I thought
maybe I'd get a chance to work on one of Elton's recordings. I even got
a call about it, but it never happened." Eventually something would
happen with Elton, but before that was to happen John, Jerry Donahue,
and Will Ray formed a band called the Hellecasters.
The Hellecasters
John and guitar player Jerry Donahue had been introduced to each other
through a mutual friend and had become "guitar buddies." Will
Ray, the third member of the Hellecasters, was producing a compilation
album of southern California country artists called Hollywood Roundup
and thought that it would be interesting to have an instrumental number
on the recording featuring some of the local LA guitar players. Will brought
in John Jorgenson, Jerry Donahue, Billy Gremner, and Jeff Ross to play
on the cut. The recording came out so well that Will and Jerry had the
idea that they should try and do a live show at the Palomino Club's Tuesday
night Barndance. They thought five guitar players would be too many for
a live show, so they asked John to come in to do some tunes with them
as a guitar trio. John said, "The idea was to play songs, not to
just get up there and chicken pick and jam the blues and stuff."
John came up with the name "Hellecasters" and the plan was to
only do that one show for fun and that would be it.
The show went over so well that people continually asked John, Jerry,
and Will "when are you going to do that again." Because they
were all busy with other bands, they did not get together to perform again
for about six months. They did a few more sporadic performances and it
was at one of these gigs that Michael Nesmith, of Monkees fame, showed
up.
Michael really liked the show and asked the Hellecasters to record an
album for his label. The band ended up recording three CDs and a music
video. John continued to perform with the band off and on until 2001.
After leaving the Desert Rose Band in 1991, John had a lot of offers to
play with other bands, fielding calls from Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter,
Patty Loveless, and Wynonna Judd (to name a few). He had also received
calls, at separate times, from producer Howie Epstein to audition for
Bruce Springstein and Bob Dylan. John says, "I had left the Desert
Rose Band because I wasn't happy with the music anymore and I wanted to
go more progressive and I wanted to write and sing more. So, to me, going
to be a sideman for somebody else was a step backwards artistically."
After leaving Desert Rose, John had performed a few times with the Hellecasters,
but mostly he was working on his own material in preparation for a solo
recording.
Elton Calls
Although he had turned down many offers to be a sideman, and he was determined
to start out on his own, John received a call that was almost impossible
to turn down. He explains, "I was talking to my wife on the phone
and I got a call waiting call on the other line. She hates call waiting,
but I said, 'I better see who this is.' I answered the other line and
the voice said, 'Hello John, it's Elton.' I thought 'What!' It sounded
like a skyphone, like he was calling from a plane, it was really noisy.
I said, 'Elton, where are you? Are you in a plane?' He said, "No
dear, I'm in a car coming from the studio. Davey and I were talking and
we want to add a guitarist to the band who could do lots of harmony vocals
and you were the first person we thought of.' I said, 'I'm really flattered.
What is it you want me to do.' Elton said, 'An eighteen-month world tour.'
I said, 'Eighteen months! That's a really long time. I'm really honored
and really flattered, but can we have a meeting and talk about this.'
He said, 'Yes dear, come to the Four Seasons Sunday at one for lunch and
you'll have to ask for Binky Poodleclip.' "
John continues, "I went and had a meeting with them and I told his
production manager, 'I don't know. The second Hellecasters album is about
to come out and I'm about to do my own album too. What is the time going
to be like. Am I going to be able to keep doing these other things.' He
said, 'Oh, no. You won't be able to do anything else.' I said, 'This is
a great opportunity, but I don't know if I want to drop everything I am
doing. It is such a big left turn for me.' Elton said, 'Well, it sounds
like you might be too busy to take this gig, but let me play you my new
album.' So of course he has a killer sound system in this luxurious hotel
suite and he puts on this album, which was Made In England. The first
song is a song called 'Believe.' This was back to really classic British
pop music. It was really a return to form for Elton John and it was the
type of Elton John music that I like. There was a lot more guitar, it
wasn't so synth-oriented and as each song went along I thought, 'That
one's good. I like that.' We had lunch and by the end of the day I was
thinking, 'I really do like this music.' But still after that I thought
about it for a week. Every couple of days they were calling and saying,
'We really need to know.' The last call was, 'I appreciate that you need
to think about this, but I really need to know because if you aren't going
to do this I need to call some other people.' I thought, 'No one else
is getting this gig. This is my gig.' So I called them and told them I
wanted to do it." The eighteen-month world tour turned into six years
with Elton John. John received the first call from Elton in September
of 1994. He stayed as a member of Elton John's band through 2001.
John Jorgenson and Friends
Currently, in addition to session work in Nashville, John performs with
his own band, John Jorgenson and Friends. He also plays electric guitar
and mandolin in Earl Scruggs' band. Once a month he also plays at the
Station Inn with the Hot Club of Nashville. The Hot Club band grew out
of a series of parties that photographer Jim McGuire had held at his studio.
The Hot Club of Nashville consists of John Jorgenson, Bryan Sutton, Stuart
Duncan, Richard Smith, and Charlie Chadwick. When asked if this band is
going to record, John said, "It is supposed to be just a fun thing
for us to get together once a month and play live, but usually those things
end up turning into something else. My view on recording is that it is
a little bit premature right now to make a record because we don't have
an album's worth of material that is either original arrangement or original
composition. There is some incredible playing and some brilliant moments
in our live shows, but to me, with the guys in Europe putting out killer
albums of this style music, I don't see any point of doing something that
is going to be less than killer. To me, material is the big deal. We have
heard everyone from Django onwards do 'Nuages' and 'Minor Swing' and all
of those. Why do we want to hear a bunch of Americans doing that? With
some originality in the composition recording with that band would be
great and I have a feeling that it will naturally happen somewhere down
the road."
With his own band, John's show includes a little bit of all the music
that has influenced him. He says, "I usually carry four guitars with
me. I have a Tele-style, a Strat-style, a six-string flattop and a 12-string
acoustic. 
Ideally
I would have a Selmer too, but my signature Takamine has a preamp where
you can store different settings and EQ. I have messed with it so that
it has a character more like a Selmer. I start my set with an instrumental
that is going to rock Hellecaster-like. Then I will do a rock song that
I sing, then a Desert Rose Band song, a Byrds song, and then I might break
it down and do two or three Gypsy style things and then a bluegrass flatpicking
song or two. Then I might do an instrumental with the twelve-string and
a fretless bass and then I'll go back to the Strat. It is great for me
to be able to do all of that stuff in one show."
John's next project is going to be a Gypsy jazz style recording. He has
written most of the material and will play both guitar and clarinet. He
has also been recording some new material with his band. Fans of bluegrass
music and Gypsy jazz can rest assured that the music they love is in good
hands with John Jorgenson. For someone of his stature, experience, and
reputation to be out performing acoustic flatpicking and Gypsy jazz songs
to audiences who have been drawn to his show because of his work with
famous country and rock performers is a great thing for the music. As
John said, "A lot of times people don't know that they like a certain
style of music until they hear it." With "groovehound"John
Jorgenson performing the music, I can't see how the audience cannot help
but like it.
The following is a short interview FGM conducted with John regarding the
technical aspects of his guitar playing.
How do you play so many different styles and remain true to
those styles?
The guitars themselves are different. To me, with a classic bluegrass
guitar, I like the strings to be stiff and not have a lot of give to them.
I don't bend too much in that style. It needs to be a really full-bodied
sound with a good bottom end for the rhythm. For playing Gypsy style,
to me, you need a more fluid guitar with strings that have more give to
them. I'll use a lighter gauge string because of the way it acts and the
way that it responds. On a regular flattop I will use phosphor bronze
medium gauge strings, for Gypsy style I will use Argentine silver-plated
copper-wound strings that are really flexible. They almost feel like silk
and steel. For me, the Gypsy guitar has more midrange voice to it. It
doesn't have a really big bottom end or really bright top end. So, for
me, when I pick up a certain type of guitar what I want to play on it
is the style of music which best suits it. Bluegrass licks don't sound
good on a Gypsy style guitar.
So when you get that guitar in your hands, whether it be a Martin, a Selmer,
a Tele, or a Strat, your mind goes to the feel and style that the guitar
is best suited for?
Yes, there is an identity that goes along with the guitars themselves.
When you have been playing rock and roll for a while and then go back
to Gypsy or bluegrass, do you have to spend some time getting your chops
back?
Going from the electric to the acoustic it is mostly in the right hand.
There is much more power required in the right hand on the acoustic. And
with both Gypsy and bluegrass it is also speed and accuracy. You really
need to have the coordination between the right and left hands when playing
those styles.
Were you flatpicking bluegrass on the guitar before you started playing
the Gypsy style?
I was playing mandolin in bluegrass before I became interested in the
Hot Club stuff. But it was about the same time that I started learning
to play Gypsy style guitar that I also started flatpicking the guitar.
Did you learn the Gypsy style from records?
Yes, and I tried to learn it with two fingers too. It puts you into positions
a lot of times where you wouldn't normally be. I don't always stay with
the two fingers, but a lot of times I do because it keeps me in that style.
Not that I think a hybrid style is not a good thing, but when I am playing
a style of music I like to play it as close to that style as possible
so it doesn't sound like a "rock guy playing bluegrass" or a
"bluegrass guy playing swing." Sometimes when songs get really
fast, you may have to jump into stock licks, but I try not to unless it
is an emergency.
You know, I really like it all. I like Jimi Hendrix. When you are playing
him, you've got to get all of his characteristic stuff. If you are playing
Doc Watson, you get his stuff. And I like it all.
How do you think that Django's music has influenced
bluegrass players and flatpicking?
I kind of look at David Grisman as the "Godfather" of the more
progressive acoustic music. Obviously, he was heavily influenced by the
Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Out of that comes everybody-Tony Rice,
Mark O'Connor, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Rob Wasserman-then they branch
out and it goes on and on.
When you started playing bluegrass guitar did you import things from the
mandolin, or did you start listening to bluegrass guitar players to get
ideas?
I listened to the guitar players too. If you are listening to Sam Bush
and Tony Rice is right next to him on the guitar, you will hear it. I
listened to Clarence White the most. But I also listened to Tony Rice
and Doc Watson.
A lot of times I would try to play what I was playing on the mandolin
on the guitar. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The good part
of that was that I would actually learn the melodies to the fiddle tunes
on the mandolin and then put them on the guitar as opposed to copying
someone else's arrangement or playing a "guitared out" version
of something.
Were you influenced by Clarence White's electric guitar playing?
You know, strangely enough, not really. It is strange being in the lineage
of the Byrds and Burrito Brothers and that whole thing and then really
liking his acoustic playing, but I never got into the whole bender thing
very much. There is great stuff you can do with a bender and obviously
I heard him, but it wasn't a big influence. On the electric guitar, in
terms of straight country playing, I was influenced more by Albert Lee
and James Burton and the rockabilly guys like Scotty Moore and Eddie Cochran.
I think I came to country more as a combination of rock and bluegrass.
I started out as a rock player, then became a bluegrass musician and then
went to country after that.
The Desert Rose Band was more like a rock and bluegrass combination wasn't
it?
Yes, that was my vision in starting the band: half Pretenders, half Bill
Monroe. It was not like country rock was a new phenomenon at all, but
as opposed to a rock band liking country and playing that, it was different.John's
Acoustic Guitars
In addition to his Selmer (see sidebar on page 12), John Jorgenson has
three main acoustic guitars. Two of these, the Selmer copy by Maurice
Dupont and the Takamine, are signature models. Regarding the Dupont, John
says, "I had played one of Maurice Dupont's guitars in France one
year. It was a tenor guitar with a sound chamber and I thought that it
sounded really good. I never liked twelve-fret guitars too much, so I
asked him to build me a sound chamber D-hole with a fourteen fret neck.
He used some bear claw spruce and all the wood is really figured."
John's signature model Takamine (see side photo) is a mahogany cutaway
that he uses when he plugs in. When Takamine approached John, and asked
about a signature model, he had already
been playing one of their guitars. He asked them to basically build the
same guitar, however, he asked that they scallop the braces and use a
thinner finish. The guitar also includes a digital preamp with a built-in
tuner and reverb as well as an antifeedback device and the ability to
store EQ presets. It has an ivoroid pickguard and white tuners. It is
available in both 6 and 12-string models. John's initials "JJ"
are inlayed in the fretboard.
When John plays bluegrass gigs he uses a guitar that he bought from Raul
Reynoso during the days at Disney. Raul had bought this guitar, a Tokai
Tony Rice model, in Japan in 1983. John said, "I don't know that
it is officially called a Tony Rice model, but in the store in Japan there
is a plaque next to the guitar that has Kanji writing on it and it says
'Tony Rice' so obviously it is a copy of that guitar. It has all the exact
same appointments: the big soundhole, no fret markings, everything. This
was before Santa Cruz came out with theirs. Raul had bought two of them
and I kept after him to sell me this one until, in a moment of weakness,
he did."
To find out more about John Jorgenson, visit
www.johnjorgenson.com
John Jorgenson's Selmer Guitar: Was it Django's?
By Dan Miller John had his first opportunity to play a Selmer in 1982
when Raul Reynoso joined the band at Disneyland. After spending time learning
to play Gypsy jazz on an Epiphone archtop, he was anxious to play a guitar
like Raul's. A friend, John Reynolds, was in a band called Mood Indigo
and occasionally John would get hired to play with the group. John said,
"Sometimes Mood Indigo would hire a full big band to back them up
and they liked the Hot Club thing with extra rhythm guitar players. So
I was playing with them and had borrowed a 12 fret D-hole Selmer from
Brad Roth and took that guitar to the rehearsal. John Reynolds told me
that he knew where there was one of those guitars for sale. He said that
it was at Westwood Music, a well-known music store in LA, and told me
that the guitar was not out on display; you had to ask for it."
John called Westwood Music on a Friday and asked the store if they could
stay open late. Then he went to the credit union during his lunch break
and took out a loan. After their last set at Disneyland, John and Raul
drove to the music store and asked about the guitar. The guitar was brought
out from the back.
John remembers his initial reaction, "The only Selmers I had ever
seen were Raul's and the 12-fret. This one wasn't quite like Raul's, so
I was a little hesitant. They were asking $2500 for it. It had a few splices
in the top and the frets were horrible. But, when the case was first opened
I notice that Raul was kind of taken aback, but being subtle he didn't
say anything. I tried the guitar and went back and forth. They came down
to $2100 and I figured I might as well get it because I had never seen
another one for sale."
When John and Raul left the store with the guitar, John asked Raul about
the reaction he had when the case was first opened. John said, "I
thought that he was looking at the cracks or something like that. He said,
'Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but the pick wear on it looks exactly
like every one of Django's guitars that I've seen in pictures.' Raul is
the type that notices the really small details like that. I didn't think
much of it at the time except that the guys that sold the guitar to us
were not the owners of the store and they had told us that the owner was
going to be back at the store on Tuesday and wanted me to call him because
there was some kind of story behind the guitar."
The next Tuesday, John called Fred Wallecki, the store owner. Fred told
him that the guitar had been at the store for 12 years. About 1970 a guy
with a French accent, whose name was Moustache, had called him and said
that he had a guitar that Django Reinhardt had given to him. Moustache
wanted $1200 for the guitar so that he could buy a camera. Fred, who thought
the caller may have been one of his friends playing a joke on him, told
the caller to bring the guitar in. The next day this French guy with a
big black bushy mustache came into the store with this guitar. He said
that he was a jazz drummer in France and had hung out with Django the
last couple of years of his life. Moustache said Django had given him
this guitar in lieu of some money Django had owed him. Fred bought the
guitar for $1200 and never heard from the Frenchman again. After hearing
the story, John thought, "Well, that is a nice story, but who knows?
There are a lot of Strats out there that people say Hendrix owned, so
it is hard to say."
Years later, John had an interview with a French magazine and they asked
him about the guitar. John told the interviewer the story. A short time
later, the interviewer in France wrote to John and told him that he had
done some research into John's guitar story. The interviewer told John
that in addition to being a drummer Moustache was a film personality as
well and had been friendly with Django Reinhardt. The interviewer told
John that it is very likely that his guitar might have been one of Django's
guitars. John says, "There is no way to verify that, but it is just
a cool story."
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