Jazz Articles about Manu Codjia

Manu Codjia: Songlines

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
April 22, 2007

Electric guitarists in jazz sort themselves into two camps. Do you follow the magisterial Charlie Christian, and favor clean lines that a horn player might play, using electricity the way Billie Holiday used a microphone to make subtle nuances more easily heard? Or do you follow the arguably less gifted (but equally influential) Johnny Smith, embracing fuzz and sustain and all the wonderful things that pedals can do? After rock and roll had its way with the instrument, this second ...