AN ARCH-TOP GUITAR, NEW YORKER

The sound and quality of D'Angelico arch-tops are legendary to those in-the know. Vintage arch-tops like this one were designed to be played with big bands and were often reached for to create the sound of jazz. The body's ability to amplify sound meant it could be heard all the way in the back of the room before the days of amplifiers and electronics. According to Rodgers: "There’s just nothing that sounds like it. That’s just the real deal jazz…that’s like, that’s what you want a guitar to sound like when you’re playing that style. To me that’s as good as it gets....The few numbers of D’Angelicos...that were ever made, they all were bought by people who could afford them, one, and people who appreciated an instrument of that quality. That was to any jazz guitar player, those were our Stradivariuses. That’s it! You couldn’t get any better than that."

Rodgers' musical journey is firmly rooted in jazz. Speaking of his childhood, "... I was a jazzer at heart, because jazz was the music of choice in my beatnik parents' household. I loved it, too. ( Le Freak, p.100)." Later on, when Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were crafting CHIC's musical identity, Rodgers would again turn to jazz. " Musically, I found my inspiration in jazz. Many of my
jazz heroes were enjoying hit records-- only they were doing it by creating R&B dance music....So we developed a new sounds that was a fusion of jazz, soul, and funk grooves with melodies and lyrics that were more European influenced" ( Le Freak, p.121).