As a fan of fine jazz guitar, I've been very tempted by the Johnny Smith Box Set on Mosaic. Trouble is it's $150 with duty and postage and I've never heard him before. Anyone here know of a currently available CD of his I can try as a taster?

cheers

There's some of his material on Spotify, if you are able to listen there.

http://open.spotify.com/album/1zeJkPpy0WkLnTQo9TUEeh

and

http://open.spotify.com/album/7qRRW8VHzLTf7R65ePC7OQ

His style is very clean, with very fast alternated picked single line playing, and very close voiced chords which are changed so smoothly it almost sounds like pedal steel in places, as the joins are seamless. "Moonlight in Vermont" is probably his most famous tune.

His style is quite 'prissy' compared to a lot of bop/post-bop players, but it's definitely distinctive. I think there's always been some debate about how much he was an improviser and how much of his soloing was precomposed. Nevertheless, I like him.

Matt

Anyone here know of a currently available CD of his I can try as a taster?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sound-Johnny-Smith-Guitar/dp/B00005NU68/ref=pd_sim_m_h

Not sure if you fancy the above. I had'nt heard of JS and checked him out on Mosaic. Lots of five star feedback.