If you've been following the Off Topic Forum lately, you may have noticed a post "What is the Problem with Jazz?" The idea was based on a sensible suggestion by Floyd, who conjectured that there would be a lot of response. He wasn't kidding.

The outpouring of collective wisdom hasn't stopped long enough to write up a compilation of the results, but Pat Marr made a suggestion that I've turned on its head in a way: Play some old tunes in a new style.

The tune here is certainly old (1924, ASCAP) and the style will be familiar to anyone (Mac for sure) who knows the name Milt Buckner and his "locked hands" approach (taken further by George Shearing). Milt was one of the first pianists to take up the Hammond B3 and I know that he played the "heal-toe" pedals because I saw him do it one New Year's Eve at an old club in the Boston area called "Lennie's On The Turnpike," along with tenor sax wildman Illinois Jacquet and the late, great Boston drummer Alan Dawson.

Incidentally, there is a lot of confusion about B3 players and the pedals. Straightening this out would take another discussion on the Off Topic Forum. But the truth should come out once and for all.

In any event, I titled this post PLAY CHORDS! because I have Milt Buckner's piano LP by the same name. It made a big impression on me. What may be "new" is my adaptation of Milt's style to the guitar. Take that "new" with a grain of salt, because there are just too may guitar players.

The point is that it's very hard to play lots and lots of incoherent chords at 120 mph than individual notes. And chords establish a built-in melodic orientation that single notes do not. I promise that you will hear not one single individual guitar note when you listen to

BYE BYE BLACKBIRD: https://soundcloud.com/aleckrand/bye-bye-blackbird

Aleck Rand on guitar and bass, RT artist Terry Clarke on drums.