Home » Jazz Articles » Take Five With... » Take Five With Chris Bell

Take Five With Chris Bell

View Slideshow

By AAJ Staff
December 5, 2010
View read count

Meet Chris Bell:

Guitarist, performer, educator, based in Austin, Texas.

Instrument(s):

Guitar.

Teachers and/or influences?

Richie Hart

" data-original-title="" title="">Richie Hart,

Grant Green

guitar
1935 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Grant Green,

Wes Montgomery

guitar
1923 - 1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Wes Montgomery,

" data-original-title="" title="">B.B. King.

Your sound and approach to music: I'm far more interested in playing jazz on the guitar than I am in playing jazz guitar.

Your teaching approach: I'm really trying to help my students hear what they play. To my ears, there are just too many players out there playing finger music.

Your dream band:

Wow.. that's a tough one. Let's see... how about

Idris Muhammad

drums
1939 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Idris Muhammad on drums and

Dr. Lonnie Smith

organ, Hammond B3
1942 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Dr. Lonnie Smith on B3. That would be a pretty steady rhythm section.

The first Jazz album I bought was:

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis, Kind of Blue.

CDs you are listening to now:

Allen Toussaint

piano and vocals
1938 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Allen Toussaint, The Bright Mississippi;

Horace Parlan

piano
1931 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Parlan, Up and Down;

Group 15, Plays Monk;

Don Wilkerson

saxophone, tenor
1932 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Don Wilkerson, The Complete Blue Note Sessions;

Doctor John

b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Doctor John, Afterglow

Desert Island picks:

Oscar Peterson, We Get Requests;

Hank Mobley, Soul Station;

Herbie Hancock, Takin' Off;

Grant Green, The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark;

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz-Gilberto.

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Tango Jazz: Live at Lincoln Center
< Previous

To Walk In The Past
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.