My memory on this guy is vague at best, so I'm hoping you folk can refresh my memory and maybe give me a brief bio.
Many years ago (60's,70's ?) Tom Jone's had his own variety show on TV and he used to occasionally feature his guiitar player. I'm pretty foggy on the details, But, I seem to remember, first off, I really liked his playing, his name was Big Jim something (?), and, for some reason I imagine him playing a Tele, and that he may have passed away recently. Am I even close??

Hi Bathead: Mickey Gee, would that be? He died a year and four days ago. More here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obitu ... 50630.html

Cheers - C

I remember a 'Big Jim' Sullivan, maybe at different times?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

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Thanks for the link Ceri, didn't know who that guitar player was until now. cool that of all the guitars to be a great player with Mickey Gee chose the Telecaster. RIP Mickey Gee

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Sullivan sounds right.

No I don't think it's Gee that I'm thinking of. As I said this guitar player made regular appearances on TJ's TV show, and as I recollect his name was "Big Jim" and I believe Miami Mike is right in that his last name was Sullivan. That article mentioned nothing of Gee appearing on the show. It may be Gee that I'm thinking of that passed, as all I can remember is reports of "Tom Jone's guitarist dies."

Just did a quick bit of research online,
I was right, "Big Jim" Sullivan was indeed TJ's guitarist from 1969-1974, and he was indeed feature a number of times on the show, apparently when Tom had special guest singers. He appears to be alive and well, if his website is any indication. As I said I probably confused the reports of Gee's death with him. As to his guitar of choice at the time he was with Jone's I couldn't find any info, but I still think it may have been a Tele.
(have to make it relevant to this forum, dont'cha know!)

Nuts - you even said Big Jim in your first post, didn't you? I'm normally a careful reader too - d'oh! Sorry for the mislead - but at least we all learnt something about Mickey Gee, huh? And I've now also been learning about Big Jim Sullivan - thanks Mike!

- C

It was just a guess as I remember a guy with that nickname "Big Jim" who was a session player, but did play on many sessions including Tom's show and some recordings. I guess we did learn about 2 different players and just noticed this :

http://www.bigjimsullivan.com/History.html


Here's the guy I was thinking of with Jerry Reed :

Big Jim and Jerry Reed :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S35fLGjO ... L&index=27

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Tom Jones used to bring his guitarist out to talk with him and hit a few funky licks. He played a Rickenbacker, probably a 330. I think he had red hair and some facial hair.

He's in the U-Toob linked a couple of posts above this.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I remember "Big Jim" Sullivan,he played a Tele almost exclusively for electric stuff but I can't recall what kind of acoustics he used.If my memory serves me right it was a blonde with a maple neck and he was a heck of a player.Back then I was Tele crazy even putting owning one as my fondest dream in my high school year book.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thanks pal.

Here is a link to some of Big Jims guitars. Oddly enough, the ricky I remember is there while there is no mention of his Tele as shown in the Jerry Reed vid.


http://bigjimsullivan.com/Guitars.html

I seem to remmeber Big Jim Sullivan. Back in the day he was very popular as a session guitarist - if you couldn't get him you'd get Jimmy Paige. And Jimmy Paige did play on 'it's not unusual', I think....

Hi Stratobobster,I guess why the Tele sticks out so much is because on one Tom Jones show he had done an exquisite instrumental and when Tom remarked on it Big Jim said"Do you want to know what the flip side is like?" and flipped the guitar over showing the back.Since I'd only admired Teles from afar at the time it was the first time I noticed that the strings were installed from the back.He does however mention the Tele in the paragraph about the blonde 70 Ricky.TTFN.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.