For George Van Eps, a Harmonic Memoriam

George Van Eps’ closing performance at last year’s L.A. Jazz Guitar Festival was such a success that its sponsor, 20th Century Guitar Magazine, and festival organizer John Pisano decided that Van Eps, the inventor of the seven-string guitar, would close the 1999 event.

When Huntington Beach resident Van Eps died in November at 85 from complications of pneumonia, the last night of the five-night event became a tribute to the guitar master. The 20th Century Guitar Magazine Legend Award that Van Eps was to receive in Encino on Saturday night at Papashon Restaurant was accepted by his daughter, Kay Van Eps, while dozens of guitarists and jazz guitar fans looked on.

“My father hated mediocrity,” she said when accepting the honor. “He was a picky old buzzard. He had very high standards. That’s why he would have loved this award and the music played here.”

Indeed, a host of respected guitarists performed, some of them using the seven-string innovation that Van Eps had pioneered in the ‘30s, all of them showing some Van Eps influence.

“He was my mentor,” seven-string guitarist Ron Eschete declared while leading his trio in songs that he had performed with Van Eps. “I’d give anything to be out in the audience tonight listening to him play.”

Most stirring of the evening’s performances, which stretched over two long sets, was the one by Van Eps colleague Howard Alden, the 40-year-old seven-string guitarist who joined Van Eps for a quartet of recordings on the Concord label.

Alden’s performance of Van Eps’ “48” and “Tango de Bongo” (heard on Van Eps’ landmark 1956 recording “Mellow Guitar”) called to his late partner’s spirit with its ease of delivery and, at times, its harmonic depth. On “My Ideal,” Alden capitalized on the fleet, unharmonized runs that he blended so successfully on record with Van Eps’ plush accompaniment.

Working with his trio mates bassist Todd Johnson and drummer Timm McMahon, guitarist Eschete developed some of Van Eps’ harmonic interest and easy way with a melody as he covered Van Eps’ variation on “I’ve Got Rhythm.”

In “Embraceable You,” seven-string guitarist Ted Greene demonstrated how a solo guitarist provides a walking bass line and harmonic counterpoints, both unheard-of techniques before Van Eps’ innovation. Greene’s performance also recalled the relaxed feel Van Eps imparted to a song, something that immediately put listeners at ease no matter how difficult the execution.

East Coast-based guitarist Jimmy Bruno, in a trio with guitarist Frank Vignola and bassist John Leitham, played his seven-string with amazing speed and dexterity on the bebop anthem “Bittersweet.” Vignola’s amazing combination of rhythm and lyricism blended well with Bruno’s daring attack.

Guitarist Charles Chapman opened the evening with a considered solo reading of “Body and Soul” and was then joined by guitarist Pat Kelley for a crisp duo reading of “Just Friends.” Kelley teamed with guitarist and host Pisano, and the two contrasted modern (Kelley) and more traditional approaches.

Despite an abundance of fine guitar playing, no one seemed able to match the harmonic interest that Van Eps injected into every song he played. Adept at using unusual, sometimes off-beat chords when constructing his solos, Van Eps made the familiar unusually fresh and the complex simply beautiful. While the evening made it apparent that his considerable influence lives on, it also pointed out that Van Eps was a one-of-a-kind artist whose harmonic and melodic skills continue to go unmatched.