Jimmy is unusual, as he has actually completely re-invented
himself (IMO) as a guitar player, starting sometime around
Stevie's death, as far as I can tell. If you check out JLV's
Fab T-birds stuff, the guy's really got. A lot of Texas brashness,
very confident playing. Never a fret-board melter like SRV
could be, but totally competant.
In later years, he actually radically changed both his playing
style and his sound. He changed from using a pick like most
people do to being a finger picker. However, even his picking
style is very unusual - he uses his index finger only. This
clearly introduces some limitations on what is possible to play.
His style changed from quite a smooth flowing sound (even though
it could be a bit brash, as is the Texas style) to a stoccato
type style. Quite old-fashioned in style, I would say, and very
very stripped back. A good example of his "new" sound is the
track Like a King, from the album Out There. I'm sure you'll be
able to find it on YouTube. It's not at all flash, it's completely
stripped bare. Not even any vibrato. All gone. Stripped back on
purpose (I say on purpose, because JLV had all those qualities
earlier on, he just chose (IMO) to leave them behind and go on a
new journey in search of total simplicity).
I would recommend to have a look at early JLV on YouTube. There's
a perfect example on YouTube of JLV, SRV, and Angela Strehli
playing in Hawaii (sp?). The track is called "You Were Wrong".
EXCELLENT playing from Jimmy. Totally
brilliant - a real lesson on doing nothing more than necessary.
I learned from it. Really great. So cool. IMO his solo was better
than Stevie's on that particular song. His style then was quite
similar to Denny Freeman's style, if you're familiar with him.
Totally cool player.
I'd say give JLV a chance. I do understand exactly where you're
coming from. His stipped down sound is very unique and very basic;
not something we're used to as guitar players - we're all supposed
to be flash and technically brilliant ;-) IMO JLV could/can do all
that stuff (up to a point - Jeff Beck he ain't) but after a while
I think his sound will grow on you. My reaction was the same as
yours, and I grew to like it. And he puts great tracks/songs together.
It's not *all* about the guitar :-)
M