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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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Tommy Wills - Funky Sax (45 single)


Saxophonist Tommy Wills had been recording in the Cincinnati area as far back as 1955. Think Ace Cannon and Boots Randolph and you'll have a pretty good idea of Wills's sound.

Wills always recorded on his own labels, beginning with Club Miami (the night spot in Hamilton, Ohio, where the sax man first gained notice), Big Bang and Terry in the 1950s. The records themselves were pressed by other companies, usually in Cincinnati. In the '60s and '70s Wills formed at least five other labels, including Airtown, which started around 1965 in Dayton, Ohio, and later moved to Richmond, Ind., still within easy driving distance of Cincinnati.

Funky Sax, a Wills original, graced the "B" side of a single that came out in 1967 or '68. The "A" side, billed as a tribute to Ray Charles, was a medley of Born to Lose and I Can't Stop Loving You, two songs that were on Charles's groundbreaking 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

For my money, however, Funky Sax is the tune to listen to.

Funky Sax



As late as 2010 Wills -- who was well into his 80s -- was still performing the occasional gig in the Indianapolis area.

Here's a sampling of the ballad style of Tommy Wills. I'm not certain of the date of this recording.




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