Ed was loved by all who knew him, as a person and a musician. In my much younger years we sometimes on our lunch hour would pull up in front of his house and eat our lunch while listening to him practise.

I’m 81. Been an Ed Bickertt fan since forever but never could figure out his magic. Now suddenly I find you nailing it up for all to learn and enjoy. Thank you so much for this post. I have subscribed and look forward to seeing what other magic tricks you are offering. John Paiva aka Snugg Fitt

Being from Ed’s area I had the good fortune to listen to him play often. I remember hearing him play with an excellent pianist on a Steinway grand. For the first set it seemed like his modest six strings couldn’t match it’s harmonic bloom but when the second set started Ed’s music just became magic. At first I thought he’d increased the volume but I now think his system was just warming up. I found that it was always his second set when the harmonic bloom set in. Maybe it was my ears that warmed up? All I know how sure was that he made something beautiful happen every time I heard him play. He was as you said a quiet laid back gentleman and I feel his loss every time I see a guitar. Thank you Ed for sharing this gift.

I love Ed Bickert. Lot's of great footage out there of him too. The Bill Evans of jazz guitar.

A real treasure trove of Bickert's playing was released last year, the Paul Desmond 7-CD "Complete 1975 Live Recordings" on Mosaic. Ed's on 6 of the 7 CDs, and about half of the material has never been released (while the other half show up on the Telarc, A&M, and Artists House labels, but with boxy sounding mixes that the Mosaic set blows out of the water). It's a limited edition, so if you love Ed, don't wait around. The point about melody in the comping made here at 3:27 is perfectly illustrated throughout the Desmond set. It's similar to the way that Gerry Mulligan wove counter melodies under other horn players like Chet Baker and Paul Desmond on albums from the 1950s and 60s. Ed is also giving a masterclass in comping on the Frank Rosolino album "Thinking of You" (recorded, again, live in Toronto, just like the Desmond stuff, with the amazing Don Thompson on bass, and Terry Clarke on drums, with no piano to get in the way of Ed). I'll mention two more essential Bickert sessions that aren't well known, but have great comping (again, no piano--smart producers / promoters knew that with Ed, you never needed a piano as well), "Ruby Braff with the Ed Bickert Trio" and "The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate"--both, again featuring Toronto's finest (Don Thompson & Terry Clarke). One last one...Ed comping an amazing "orchestral" arrangement with the six strings of his Telecaster behind a singer who, while not bad, was frankly nowhere near Ed's level--"Angel Eyes", from the early 1980s, with a full guitar transcription: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/otd5pJSBna_To2g.html

Ed was an inspiring and truly one-of-a-kind musician. His beautiful, warm sound on guitar was not unlike Bill Evans' on piano. And Ed achieved that without finger-stretching chordal gymnastics as is evident in any videos of him playing. I think he discovered a polyrhythmic approach between chord and melody that elicited a strong overtone response on his guitar. So that a 2, 3, 4 or 5 single note melodic phrase is firstly picked. Then it has a reincarnation as an echo produced by an overtone of a sympathetically-vibrating chord that immediately proceeds and harmonically and rhythmically supports that phrase. This may explain how he gets such a big, rich, close-voicing sound with just easy 3 or 4 note jazz guitar chord fingerings. And his chords in turn enhance the tone of further single notes passages he undertakes and so forth. But returning to my previous, and some would say apples and oranges, comparison, I much preferred Ed's trio to Bill's. I could easily tap my foot and joyfully feel the groove listening to the Ed Bickert Trio. Whilst with the Bill Evans Trio, the groove is lost to over-complex, disjointed bass, drum and piano interplay. This I think just shows Ed Bickert's more balanced approach to music making. How wonderful that a 'mere' guitarist could have a jazz trio that is at the very least equal to the very best piano trios.

Great summary. There are many transcriptions of Ed's work done by Pedro Bellora (Agentina) and Francois Leduc (Canada) , but I am not aware of a consolidated book on his unique musical style and life. A beatup Telecaster and chewing gum added to his aura and low key personality "under the radar". Thank you for highlighting him. Best wishes from Canada.

Cool man, you are very humble. I appreciate that. It's not common these days.

Thanks for great lesson. Wasn’t hip to this Mt Olympus player until now

You'll likely enjoy the recording 'Thinking of You' by Frank Rosolino. Ed's playing is spectacular as usual.

This was super refreshing, it's advanced playing that isn't too hard! Plus a nice mix of common voicings and fancy ones. It's like a guy in a suit - playing a telecaster lol

Zakk, thanks a million for a crisp informative summary of Ed's genius. I watched the entire video now and "took notes". Very useful transcriptions from only a few passages, but months of practice lying ahead to get those voicings and melodic comping ideas/rhythms under my fingers. I am a chord diagram nut - using the fretboard grid as my internal GPS coordinate system. BTW - Aebersold is in process of publishing chord diagrams as a companion to the Barry Galbraith Comping Book (without TABs). Watch out for it in the new year (2022). It took two of us months of plotting 7,000 dots onto 1800 voicings, with careful cross-checking (not the hockey type). Barry and Ed are top of my hero list. Not flashy players but extremely musical.

My favorite player! I have a wonderful clone of his tele that Kraig Phillips made for me. I Wished on the Moon.

Another Canadian guitarist...Oliver Gannon. Love the unknown Canadian jazz musicians (also Fraser MacPherson tenor sax...not sure of the spelling of Fraser's last name.) Cheers for this posting.

Excellent lesson and lovely playing to demo the examples. Let's you see how great Bickert was.

yo Zakk! So glad KZfaq suggested this video and grateful for your passion/transcription of the great, Ed!

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing all your hard work.

Beautiful sounds !!! Great lesson.Thanks.

Great lesson and very solid information. No one sounds like him. One of the influences that really touched me the most. Thanks

Very niice👍👍 Ed Bickert one of the best jazz player!!

Awesome presentation and easy to follow.

Awesome harmony lessons and chord melody I was searching Ed Bickert and Lorne Lofsky and then I found you. Never found a video on Ed so detailed I want to take lessons from you and get new ideas. Thank you so much and happy Christmas

Awesome lesson!!

Really superb lesson, Zakk!

This is way over my head, but I really love your teaching style, passion and playing. Thank you, Zakk!

That is just fabulous.... Beyond my ability but always good to have something to reach for! Well done and thank you so much!

That was a fantastic tribute to Ed. I’ll definitely be digging into the examples you provided. That’s one of my favorite recordings, too. Thank you! 🙏

What a fantastic video lesson! Ed really was the man. Thank you!!

great video man, realy enjoyed!

Thanks for making these videos man. I learned a bunch and can't wait to try it out!

Best demo of Eastman T184 (or 5) I’ve seen!! Great playing.

Wow. Thanks!

Really good stuff Zakk!

Wonderful! Thank you ❤🙏🙌

Good tutorial on Ed Bickert’s style. Learn a lot 👌 Thanks!

Another fantastic lesson, Sir. Thank you.

Very nice lesson! Pleased to meet you! Subscribed!

Thanks so much for this video, very informative! Ed Bickert is one of my favourite guitarists 🙂 I'm taking lessons from Matt Warnocks course site (he also loves Bickert and introduced me to Ed, he can get close to Ed's comping which always amazes me, Matt would be an interesting guest to have on your podcast as well 😁), thanks for your videos!

Great lesson. Learned a lot from your analysis. Thanks!

Beautiful lesson thank you? Ed Bickert, what a master.

Really excellent lesson man - thank you.

well this is one of the best videos on the internet! thanks man!

This is fantastic channel! Thank you!

This is a fantastic lesson

Great lesson! You just got a new subscriber. Thanks.

Nice!

superb lesson! thank you! btw you have such a beautiful guitar sound! :-)

thank you so much!! can u do more videos about comping! so mind-blowing!

Great ears and analysis!!!

Great lesson, thank you! I just discovered Ed and love him. Where can I get the full pdf? It's not online anymore...

nice!

Ed was the Bill Evans of guitar. So easy to get lost in the musicality and beauty of his phrasing, the complexity and density of his harmonic approach becomes mind boggling (to me) when dissecting. Great job in this video. Your method of teaching helped me get a better grasp on some of Ed’s devices and thinking.

Thank you.

Outstanding. If & when you take a notion a similar look at Jim Hall comping, esp behind P Desmond, would be marvelous

Love the harmony ! When EB comps 4 note voicings did he use RH pinky ?

How did Ed get that full round electric glow on his strings?

Lets see ya rip Woodchoppers ball...Alvin lee tore it up.

Yeah, but what I am missing here is how did he come up with this stuff? It's like the theory of physics we know how it was done but we don't if there was an overall template to structure these things?

Zakk - do you have/sell the transcribed material on staff or chord diagrams?

Love the lesson. have to ask, did you have hayfever or a cold?

When I first heard Bickert I thought it was a fender Rhodes and I said no this is a guitar player! And then I said to myself, my must have studied with a pianist, or he must've played piano somehow because guitarists don't play that stuff. And it's funny because when Miles came to Canada, he didn't want to play with a guitar player apparently according to an interview I saw. Herbie Hancock and those guys had nothing on him.

I mean he invented the technique de novo. When I grew up in the 60s and 70s the chords we had were from people like Mel Bay and in those books did not even play on the A string sometimes.

Is that a Victor Baker guitar? Sounds good. How do you like it?

Ed’s 1965 Tele is for sale at his favourite guitar repair shop in Toronto. USD 32,500

Dude, your abilities are solid .. I'm stuck at Salieri level but maybe osmosis will provide some insight. I have the feel and emotion but my ability to utilize music theory and logic have been stunted since birth. "All I ever wanted was to sing to God. He gave me that longing… and then made me mute. Why? Tell me that. If He didn’t want me to praise Him with music, why implant the desire? Like a lust in my body! And then deny me the talent?” ~ Salieri

Yeah, like I said, just presenting this information begs the question of how in the world did he do that?

awesome video!

Great job on this, zakk. More bickert analysis please. Gonna email you with a question.

Ed Bickert’s comping is beyond compare, his rapid fire yet subtle chord voicings are always ear grabbing. These are indeed great examples of his always innovative playing, it’s amazing he was able to keep those sophisticated voicings coming measure after measure. Thanks for the great analysis!

Much emphasis , justifiably, on his voicing. Less credit is given to his- right hand. Magical musician- sadly stopped to soon. Happy he followed his heart. The sound- also helps to have an -old dried out tele. Nice- well done

Increíble sonido el de Ed. Muy buen sonido el tuyo y se nota que has estudiado mucho. Flor de guitarra tenés 👍🏻 hay mucha duda con respecto a si Bickert usaba flat o round y si era 0.10, 11 o 12... El sonido es sus manos.

don't you just love Eastman guitars?