Ed Bickert

Edward Isaac Bickert, (November 29, 1932 – February 28, 2019) was a Canadian guitarist who played mainstream jazz and swing music. Bickert worked professionally from the mid-1950s to 2000, mainly in the Toronto area. His international reputation grew steadily from the mid-1970s onward as he recorded albums both as a bandleader and as a backing musician for Paul Desmond, Rosemary Clooney, and other artists, with whom he toured in North America, Europe and Japan.

Early life Bickert was born in the small village of Hochfeld, Manitoba, a Plautdietsch-speaking community of Mennonites. His parents were Harry Bickert, a Russian Mennonite immigrant from Molotschna colony, and Helen Dyck of Plum Coulee, Manitoba. Bickert's parents were semi-professional musicians: his father played fiddle and his mother played piano.

As a child, Bickert and his family moved to Vernon, British Columbia where his parents operated a chicken farm and had a small country dance band. When he was ten years old, Bickert started playing a guitar owned by his older brother, and he was soon performing at country dances with his parents. With Nimmons, he began appearing regularly on CBC radio broadcasts and on records released internationally by Verve Records and RCA. During this period, Bickert also joined the rhythm section of the Howard Cable Orchestra, which was featured on the "Showtime" program on CBC TV. “I consider it Ed’s album, really,” Desmond told writer Gene Lees for the album's liner notes.

For his 1975 Bourbon Street engagements, Desmond hired drummer Jerry Fuller in place of Clarke, and started calling the band his "Canadian Group". Three live recordings by Desmond featuring Bickert, Thompson, and Fuller were issued from recordings made during 1975 at Bourbon Street. (In 2020, these were included as part of a 7-CD boxed set of Desmond's 1975 Toronto recordings that was released by Mosaic Records.) In September, 1976, Bickert played for the last time with Desmond at shows in San Francisco and Monterey, California. At this time, Desmond was fighting lymphatic cancer, and the saxophonist died of the disease in May, 1977.

In addition to Desmond, Bickert accompanied Zoot Sims, Art Farmer, Milt Jackson, Red Norvo, Frank Rosolino, and Kenny Wheeler, among others, at Bourbon Street from the mid-1970s to 1984, when the club changed its booking policy and stopped hiring touring jazz stars.

Don Thompson made much the same point to Toronto Globe and Mail writer J.D. Considine in 2012, saying "He's not an aggressive guy....He was a reluctant bandleader."

Retirement In the winter of 1995, Bickert slipped on some ice and broke bones in both of his arms, which halted his musical activity for a period of months. Then, in 2000, his wife Madeline died, and Bickert decided, at age 67, to retire completely from music. Bickert's son Jeffery explained to Billboard magazine in 2019:

Bickert's facility for accompanying a soloist was frequently noted by musicians and jazz writers as one of the things that made his playing noteworthy. Jazz journalist Mark Miller wrote, "It is not to diminish his solos, which are models of succinct melodicism, to suggest that the Bickert identity lies in the chords that he plays."

Use of solid-body guitar Bickert was noteworthy as being one of the few mainstream jazz guitarists in the 1970s and 1980s who used a solid-body electric guitar, particularly a Fender Telecaster. This model of guitar was more associated with other genres of music like rock or country than with jazz. There were a few predecessors with solid body guitar in jazz, but hollow body or semi-hollow electric guitars were far more common in this era and Bickert's Telecaster was unusual.

At the beginning of his career, Bickert played hollow-bodied electric guitars, including a Gibson ES-175. Bickert can be heard playing this instrument on Phil Nimmons' 1960 Verve album Nimmons 'n' Nine. Bickert said of the ES-175 "I guess I chose that guitar because guys like Jim Hall and Joe Pass were playing one. I played that for many years. But because of all the studio work I was doing, I needed the versatility of a solid body guitar so I got the Telecaster. It did take a while to get used to it for jazz playing." In 1978, Bickert replaced the original Fender single-coil neck pickup with a Gibson humbucker pickup, which was the only significant modification he made to the instrument over the decades that he played it. Bickert was able to play his Telecaster in a wide variety of musical contexts, from big band sessions with Sammy Nestico and Rob McConnell to the intimate jazz played by Paul Desmond, and to exploit the unique qualities that solid-bodied instruments have, particularly regarding the sustaining of notes and chords.

According to bassist Don Thompson, the solid-body guitar was key to shaping Bickert's aesthetic, particularly as an accompanist: "The Telecaster was his instrument, and I don’t think he could have done it on another guitar. It had a lot to do with that sound. It was so dark, giving the illusion the chords were way bigger than they were. It was that sustain, and he was so in tune that set him apart."

Despite these reservations, however, Bickert recorded almost exclusively using the Telecaster during the final three decades of his career, including on all of the albums for which he was leader or co-leader.

Awards and honors Juno Award for Best Jazz Recording, Sackville 4005 with Don Thompson, 1980 Juno Award for Best Traditional Jazz Album - Instrumental, Live at the Senator with Mike Murley and Steve Wallace, 2002 Juno Award for Best Traditional Jazz Album, Test of Time with Mike Murley and Steve Wallace, 2013 Member of the Order of Canada, 1996

Discography

As leader or co-leader 1976 - Ed Bickert (PM) 1976 - Out of the Past (first released in 2006 on Sackville) 1977 - I Like to Recognize the Tune (Canadian Talent Library/United Artists) 1978 - Ed Bickert/Don Thompson - (Sackville, reissued in 2004 on CD with 4 bonus tracks as At the Garden Party) 1979 - Jazz Canada Europe '79 - Ed Bickert Trio; 1 LP in 4-LP boxed set (Radio Canada International) (reissued as part of The Guitar Mastery Of Ed Bickert, Unidisc, 1996) 1979 - Days Gone By - Sonny Greenwich and Ed Bickert Quartet (first released in 2000) (Sackville) 1980 - Dance to the Lady - Don Thompson and Ed Bickert (piano / guitar duets) (Sackville) 1983 - At Toronto's Bourbon Street - The Ed Bickert 5 feat. Scott Hamilton and Warren Vaché (Concord Jazz) 1984 - Bye Bye Baby - Ed Bickert Quartet featuring Dave McKenna (Concord Jazz) 1984 - Mutual Street - duets with Rob McConnell (Innovation, reissued in 1993 by Jazz Alliance/Concord) 1985 - I Wished On The Moon - Ed Bickert Quartet featuring Rick Wilkins (Concord Jazz) 1985 - The Quartet Of Lorne Lofsky & Ed Bickert And Friends - Lorne Lofsky and Ed Bickert (Unisson, reissued in 2022 by Cornerstone Records) 1989 - Third Floor Richard - Ed Bickert Trio with special guest Dave McKenna (Concord Jazz) 1990 - This is New - Ed Bickert/Lorne Lofsky Quartet (Concord Jazz) 1994 - Trio Sketches - with Rob McConnell, Neil Swainson (Concord Jazz) 1994 - Concord Duo Series Volume 7 - with Bill Mays (Concord Jazz) 1997 - Three for the Road - with Rob McConnell, Don Thompson (Concord Jazz) 1999 - Test of Time with Mike Murley, Steve Wallace (first released in 2012) (Cornerstone Records) 2000 - Live at the Senator with Mike Murley, Steve Wallace (Cornerstone Records)

With Paul Desmond 1974 - Pure Desmond (CTI) 1975 - Live (A&M/Horizon) 1975 - Paul Desmond (Artists House, released 1978) 1975 - Like Someone in Love (Telarc, released 1992) 1975 - The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic, released 2020, includes all of Live, Paul Desmond, and Like Someone in Love, plus previously unreleased music) 1976 - Edmonton Festival '76 (Gambit, released 2008)

With Rosemary Clooney 1983 - Rosemary Clooney Sings the Music of Harold Arlen (Concord) 1984 - Rosemary Clooney Sings the Music of Irving Berlin (Concord) 1985 - Rosemary Clooney Sings Ballads (Concord) 1986 - Rosemary Clooney Sings the Music of Jimmy Van Heusen (Concord) 1987 - Rosemary Clooney Sings the Lyrics of Johnny Mercer (Concord)

Selected appearances as backing musician 1957 - Cool And Hot Sax - Moe Koffman (Jubilee Records) 1960 - Phil Nimmons and Nine - Phil Nimmons (Verve) 1963 - Take Ten - Phil Nimmons Group (RCA) 1964 - Mary Poppins Swings - Phil Nimmons Group (RCA) 1976 - Thinking of You - Frank Rosolino (Sackville) 1979 - Ruby Braff With The Ed Bickert Trio - Ruby Braff (Sackville) 1981 - The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate - Buddy Tate with The Ed Bickert Trio (Sackville) 1983 - Humphrey Lyttelton in Canada - Humphrey Lyttelton with The Ed Bickert Trio (Sackville) 1985 - Old Friends/New Music - Rob McConnell Sextet (Unisson, reissued in 2023 by Cornerstone Records) 1985 - Jazz Prose - Fraser MacPherson Quintet (Concord) 1985 - A Gentleman and His Music - Benny Carter (Concord) 1985 - Night Flight - Sammy Nestico (Sea Breeze) 1985 - With a Song in My Heart - Jane Hall with Ed Bickert (ArtistShare, first released 2017) 1987 - Double Exposure - Ken Peplowski (Concord Records) 1988 - Oop-Pop-A-Da - Moe Koffman feat. Dizzy Gillespie (Soundwing) 1990 - The Jive 5 - Rob McConnell (Concord) 1993 - East-West - Barry Elmes (Cornerstone Records) 1994 - Jamie Mitges and the Jazz Legends - Jamie Mitges Quintet (self-published/RDR Music Group) 1997 - Different Voices - Barry Elmes (Cornerstone Records)

Selected albums with the Boss Brass 1976 - The Jazz Album (Attic) 1977 - Big Band Jazz (Umbrella) 1978 - Again! (Umbrella) 1980 - Present Perfect (MPS) 1981 - Tribute (Pausa) 1981 - Live in Digital (Palo Alto) 1983 - All in Good Time (Sea Breeze/Palo Alto, 1982) 1985 - Atras Da Porta (Innovation) 1985 - Boss Brass and Woods (Innovation) 1991 - The Brass Is Back (Concord) 1992 - Brassy and Sassy (Concord) 1993 - Our 25th Year (Concord) 1994 - Overtime (Concord) 1995 - Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Concord) 1996 - Even Canadians Get the Blues (Concord) 1997 - Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass Play the Jazz Classics (Concord) 1998 - Big Band Christmas (Concord)

See The Boss Brass for more information.