Home » Jazz News » Recording

Backgrounder: Barney Kessel - Kessel's Kit, 1969

Source:

View read count
Barney Kessel
In the spring and early summer of 1969, guitarist Barney Kessel was on an extensive solo European tour. In each country, he picked up local players for his performances. In two of those countries—France and Italy, he recorded albums. In Rome, two albums were cut for Italian RCA—Reflections in Rome and Kessel's Kit, later known as Guitarra, on RCA's Camden budget line.

Kessel's Kit is particularly interesting. For that album, recorded on May 7, 8 and 9 of 1969, Kessel put together a sextet and recorded most tracks with a light samba feel. Backing him on the sessions were Antonello Vannucchi (org), Kessel and Carlo Pes (g), Giovanni Tommaso (e-b), Ciro Cirro (d,tymp), and Vincenzo “Enzo" Restuccia (perc).

What I love most about the recording is that it has a beautiful, Italian pop-cafe sound, with Kessel riding on top. Copies of the LP are available at eBay and Discogs.com, and the Japanese release on CD is at Amazon.

Here's the full Kessel's Kit without ad interruptions...

Continue Reading...

This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved.

Track Listing

B.J.'s Samba; Meu Irmao; Malibu; On the Riviera; Lisonv Freeway; From My Heart; Swing Samba; Amelia.

Personnel

Barney Kessel
guitar, electric
Antonello Vannucchi
organ, Hammond B3
Carlo Pes
guitar
Giovanni Tommaso
bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Kessel's Kit | Year Released: 1970 | Record Label: RCA Legacy

Tags



Comments

News

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.