Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Monday, January 30, 2012

Kelso Herston & the Guitar Kings - Country & Western: The Great Hits of the 50s



What did all those great session players in Nashville in the 1950s and '60s do when they weren't playing on hit records? Some of them, like Florence, Ala., native Kelso Herston made records of their own.

Herston's reputation as a guitar player got him work backing over 200 different artists. He later became head of Capitol Records' Nashville operation and was music director for the TV show Hee Haw. You can read more about him here. He also has a Facebook page.

Herston recorded a number of albums for Time Records in the 1960s, including Country & Western: The Great Hits of the 50s, which was released in 1965. Listen to and/or download his version of Hank Williams's Your Cheating Heart from the link below.

Your Cheating Heart

Among the members of Herston's Guitar Kings was future country hitmaker Jerry Reed.

Herston was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

Some of Herston's Time recordings (not including the album pictured here) are available at downloard sites like eMusic.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Martin Denny - A Taste of Honey



Once Martin Denny had established his credentials as the "father of exotica" with the 1957 album Exotica and its hit Quiet Village, along with several other similar-themed albums like Exotica, Vol. 2 & 3, Forbidden Island and Primitiva, he began veering into easy listening territory.

A Taste of Honey, released in 1962, was once such example. The title track, which was a hit for Denny, is below for your listening and downloading pleasure. Denny is on piano, with the future leader of the Baja Marimba Band, Julius Wechter, on vibes.

A Taste of Honey

The A Taste of Honey LP turns up quite frequently at relatively cheap prices and the title track has turned up on several CD compilations including a 1996 release on the Pair label entitled Bachelor in Paradise.

Here's a YouTube version of Denny's A Taste of Honey.



Martin Denny died on March 2, 2005 in Honolulu at the age of 93.