Ed Bickert, CM
Lyric Poet of Jazz Guitar
Biography
Discography
Hear Ed Play
First Memories of Ed Bickert
Of all the artists featured here at my Secret Weapons site,
Ed Bickert is probably the closest to being well-known -- most likely
through his sessions with
Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass,
Rosemary Clooney, or his quartets with the late lamented
Paul Desmond. Still, Ed is not the household name that, say,
Oscar Peterson might be, and the Bickert name often doesn't ring any
bells outside the jazz hardcore. (Despite his being
awarded national honours in early 1997!)
For me, Ed has always been The Textbook, Archetypal Definition of what jazz
guitar should sound like. (And a number of younger, mostly Canadian guitarists
have felt the same at some point in their development,
Lorne Lofsky and
Sean Bray among them.)
He's one of those few artists who I could literally listen to all day, and
sometimes do.
His warm legato tone, his lyricism, his economy of phrasing, and his uncanny,
Monk-like ability to evoke complex harmonies with two or three
well-chosen notes, have been a revelation for anyone I've ever shared him with.
Hopefully new visitors to this page will feel the same when they're done.
