75 great guitarists - downbeat, february 2009

EARLYPIONEERS

Lang wrote the book on jazz guitar in the 1920s. Hisflexible rhythm guitar sparkled with passing tones,chromatic sequences and single-string fills. Heplayed with a firm tone that added harmonic flesh andrhythmic bones to ensembles led by Red Nichols,Frankie Trumbauer, the Dorsey Brothers, PaulWhiteman and Bing Crosby. His tendency wastoward an even, four-to-the-bar pulse, often with anew chord position, inversion or alteration on everydownstroke of the strings.

A pioneer rhythm guitarist in the 1920s, Kress devel-oped into a swinger playing with top ensembles ofthe era, including those led by Paul Whiteman, RedNichols, Miff Mole and the Dorsey brothers. Hisrhythmic and directly stated chorded solos evolvedout of Eddie Lang’s approach to combine harmonyand melody simultaneously. A former banjoist, Kressplayed guitar with a gentle touch and a bouncy drivethat horn players and soloists found inspiring. Herelied on a tuning method that allowed him to playchord voicings you can’t get on the regular Spanishguitar.

Green was invaluable in giving the Count Basie bandan airy and elastic rhythmic foundation that stood incontrast to other big bands of the day. He joined Basiein 1937 and stayed with the big band leader for nearlyfive decades. “With Basie, Freddie Green is the pulseof that band,” Barney Kessel said in DownBeat (July14, 1966). “He is the steady force. [Guitarist] IrvingAshby once said: ‘Rhythm guitar is like vanilla extractin a cake. You can’t taste it when it’s there; but youknow when it’s left out.’”

CarlKress

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Django ReinhardtThe magnificent Belgian-born Gypsy Reinhardtwas more than a great instrumentalist. He becamethe embodiment of European jazz in the 1930s.Reinhardt’s virtuosity enabled him to accomplishfeats of incredible dexterity on the frets, and thescope of his technique was even more incrediblewhen one considers that he played with a maimedleft hand. Unrivaled in his expressiveness and orig-inality, Reinhardt played with emotional intensityand uninhibited romanticism. “Reinhardt had aninfallible ear,” fellow guitarist Charlie Byrd oncesaid (DownBeat, July 14, 1966). “He was famousfor his explosive attack and scintillating passagesof single notes. ... It would take years of concen-trated study to play like Reinhardt.”

EddieLang

FreddieGreen

The Six-String Sensations Who Have Innovated Improvised MusicBy Ed Enright

Only five guitarist are currently in the DownBeat Hall of Fame—CharlieChristian, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix and FrankZappa. A small list, but one that shows the wide-ranging influence thatthe guitar has had on music since it made its way into jazz in the 1920s.

In the first in a series of articles to celebrate DownBeat’s 75thanniversary, we shine the spotlight on 75 of the all-time great jazz, bluesand beyond guitarists who have graced the pages of the magazine. Wetalked to a number of the living masters, and combed our archives forquotes and background information on the artists who have given themost popular instrument in the world a place in DownBeat.

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February 2009 DOWNBEAT 27

28 DOWNBEAT February 2009

Durham played guitar and trombone throughout hiscareer. He also contributed significantly to the art ofearly jazz arranging, writing and charting for bandlead-ers like Bennie Moten, Count Basie, Willie Bryant,Glenn Miller, Harry James and Artie Shaw. An earlyexperimenter with guitar amplification, he was a directinfluence on Charlie Christian. Durham was the first tomake a recording on electric guitar as a member ofthe Kansas City Five in 1938. During the 1940s, heworked as musical director for the InternationalSweethearts of Rhythm. In 1969, after years of free-lance arranging, he joined with former Basie-mateBuddy Tate and resumed his playing career.

A banjoist who switched to guitar early in his career,Van Eps emerged in the late 1920s and early ’30s play-ing alongside the likes of Eddie Lang, Benny Goodmanand Ray Noble. Known as a chordal specialist, VanEps’ distinctive approach to the instrument influencedevery generation of jazz guitarists to follow. “I like tothink of it as a harmonic line, rather than as blockchords, because block chords rule out the idea of anykind of continuity with contrapuntal effect,” he said inDownBeat (July 16, 1964). “The guitar is a piano thatyou hold in your lap.”

One of the few jazz guitarists to never take a solo,Condon made his presence felt whenever he pickedup his four-string guitar. Based in Chicago, hebecame associated with members of the Austin HighGang in the 1920s, and later played with Gene Krupa,Red McKenzie and Bix Beiderbecke. Condon’smetronomically regular pulse and superb swingbecame a model of what a guitar should contribute toa proper “hot” rhythm section. A man of many facetsand a dry wit, Condon was also known as a clubowner, a&r man, promoter, author and TV host.

TinyGrimesGrimes sparkedrhythm sections withhis infectious beat.Whether playingblues or bop, layingdown a four-beatswing pattern or exe-cuting perfectly timed

riffs and fills, he drove bands and pushed soloistswith his four-stringed axe. The fleet-fingeredGrimes had the chops to keep up with anyone,including Art Tatum, whose trio he joined in 1943.His style was straightforward, his phrases wellshaped and styled with subtle inflections.

Bauer established himself in the big bands ofWoody Herman and Benny Goodman. He went onto join Lennie Tristano’s band from 1946–’49,where he graduated from rhythm guitar to playingadvanced bebop. Bauer’s playing continued toadvance in the 1950s and ’60s with Lee Konitz, apairing that allowed him to stretch out into newareas of cool and the avant-garde. He foundedthe Billy Bauer Guitar School in 1970, and taughtlessons until shortly before he died in 2005.

A veteran of radio, TV and the musical instrumentsindustry, Paul made significant contributions to jazzguitar before turning his attention toward recordingpop hits and inventing early solid-body electric gui-tars. Influenced by Django Reinhardt, he plays jazzwith a mercurial, hard-swinging style that featuresrapid solo lines and expressive bent notes. The 93-year-old Paul can still be heard to this day onMonday nights at the Iridium in New York. “The gui-tar is a great bartender, psychiatrist ... real therapy,”Paul said in DownBeat (March 1997). “If I feeldepressed, I’ll pick it up and it will say, ‘Look, I’ve gotsomething new for you, something to accomplish.’”

GeorgeVan Eps

EddieDurham

LesPaul

BarneyKessel

The self-taught Kessel first attracted attention asa member of big bands led by Artie Shaw andCharlie Barnet, and later established himself as asmall-group bopper with Oscar Peterson’s trio.He possessed a smooth and immaculate tech-nique that made him an acclaimed jazz artist aswell as a successful studio musician. “I’m notplaying what you might call traditional music, noram I playing ‘space’ music,” he said in DownBeat(July 14, 1966). “It’s the result of playing for 30years, keeping my eyes and my ears open andcontinuing to evolve through all this time.”

BillyBauer

OscarMoore

INVENTINGBOP

EddieCondon

Nat Cole’s original trio from 1937–’47 had anexceptional talent in guitarist Moore, who slippedinto relative obscurity after winning the DownBeatReaders Poll for four straight years (1945–’48).Strongly influenced by Charlie Christian, Mooreplayed bebop-like single-note solos with a bright,rounded, clean tone. In addition to his work withCole, Moore performed and recorded with thelikes of Lionel Hampton, Art Tatum and LesterYoung. “What he got out of the instrument as awhole impressed me—not only in single-line solosbut in chords, melody and harmony,” KennyBurrell said in DownBeat (Aug. 1, 1963). “He hadone of the greatest harmonic conceptions of anyguitarist I’ve ever heard.”

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Raney was one of the first to grasp the lyricism ofCharlie Parker and turn it into long, flowing lines ofhis own. His flawless technique allowed him to applythe most sophisticated bebop concepts to the guitar.A strong and clean player, Raney kept the volumedown on his amp. “I like pure sound, not anythingtwangy,” he said in DownBeat (July 20, 1961). Hewas known for his work on several Stan Getzrecordings; he first played with the saxophonist inWoody Herman’s orchestra. In 1954 and 1955 hewon first place in the DownBeat Critics Poll.

Texan Ellis established himself as one of the mosttechnically accomplished players in Oscar Peterson’strio in the mid-1950s, and later as an accompanist toElla Fitzgerald. In the early ’70s, after a long stint as aLos Angeles studio musician, Ellis teamed up with JoePass; the duo recorded several important albumstogether and formed the group Great Guitars withCharlie Byrd and Barney Kessel. He venerates thememory and work of Charlie Christian, whose swing-ing style became the basis of his own inventive melod-ic and harmonic concept. “Guitar is a naked instru-ment,” he said in DownBeat (July 16, 1964). “Other gui-tar players not only can hear you playing it—then cansee what you’re doing. ... I just think that as an instru-ment, there is more honesty perhaps in guitar playing.”

JimmyRaney

HerbEllis

Charlie ChristianChristian drastically changed thecourse of jazz guitar during his all-too-short career. Influenced by LesterYoung, he approached the guitar as asolo instrument, focusing on lineardevelopment rather than chord place-ment and voicings like his predeces-sors. He pioneered the use of electricamplification, a radical concept thatmade jaws drop when he was installedin the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939.Christian’s sweeping impact on jazzgoes far beyond the guitar world: Heplayed an important role in the inven-tion of bebop with Thelonious Monk,Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker andKenny Clarke. He died of tuberculosisin 1942 at age 23.

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Tal FarlowSkating over the stringswith huge hands, Farlowextracted unbelievablethings from the guitar.By the time he wasvoted New Star Guitaristin the 1954 DownBeatCritics Poll, he hadestablished himself as aplayer of mind-blowing fluidity and tonal purity. Theself-taught Farlow was a leading guitarist in theearly bop style, incorporating unusual intervals andunorthodox harmonics into his improvisations. A shypersonality who was known to duck out of the musicscene for years at a time, Farlow became somethingof a legend during his own lifetime. “I don’t pushvery hard,” he said in DownBeat (Dec. 5, 1963). “Inever really thought of myself as a 100 percent pro-fessional musician. There were times when I wouldstop and do sign painting.”

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After a short stint with Oscar Peterson in 1955,Burrell’s career bloomed as an essential jazz sidemanand trio leader in his own right. The 1965 release of theLP Guitar Forms revealed the full scale of Burrell’sachievements, featuring him on both classical andelectric guitar. Burrell played with a conservativeapproach, favoring mellow melodic lines over flashesof virtuosity. “I’m not going to be preoccupied with try-ing to do one type of thing, harmonically or melodical-ly,” he said in DownBeat (Aug. 1, 1963). “It doesn’treally make any difference whether you play atonal,polytonal or just tonal—if what you feel inside willcome through.”

When Pass recorded the solo album Virtuoso in themid-1970s, he startled listeners and critics with hiscomprehensive grasp of instrumental technique. Hequickly found himself in great demand for concertsand recording sessions not only as a solo act, but asan accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan,and as a member of Oscar Peterson’s groups. A mas-ter of fingerpicking, Pass’s playing revealed a refinedsense of harmony and variety of complex textures.“When I solo, I’m thinking mostly about my own har-monies, then about the time feel,” he said inDownBeat (April 6, 1978). “In a duo setting, I’m thinkingof counterpoint lines, or movement. I’m listening to theother person and trying to fit; I don’t take the lead.”

Wes MontgomeryThe inventor of the“round sound” ofplaying lines withthe meat of histhumb, Montgomeryhad an uncannyability to playmelodies in two reg-isters at a time. Afteremerging fromIndianapolis in 1959,

Montgomery won the New Star Guitar division ofDownBeat’s 1960 Critics Poll. He went on to achievegreat commercial success, embracing a melodicallydominated approach to improvisation. “When I firstcame up big on the Billboard charts they couldn’tdecide whether to call me a jazz artist or a pop artist,”Montgomery said in DownBeat (June 27, 1968). “I thinkI originated a new category. ... There is a jazz conceptto what I’m doing, but I’m playing popular music.”

JimHallHall’s talent hasbeen kneaded andshaped by musi-cians of widely dif-ferent approaches,starting with hisinvolvement withChico Hamilton,Jimmy Giuffre, Bill Evans and Sonny Rollins. Oftenbluesy, Hall’s compositional approach to soloingmakes use of motivic development. He prefers a nat-ural, mellow guitar sound and eschews long eighth-note lines in favor of wide, broken phrases that evokea sense of space and pace. “I’m not really a jazz gui-tarist,” DownBeat reported him saying in 1958. “I’m acomposer who just happens to play guitar.”

Green helped establish the organ trio as a standardensemble in the 1950s and ’60s. A remarkably relaxedperformer who was never short on groove, he playedwith a single-note style. “I don’t listen to guitar playersmuch,” Green said in DownBeat (July 19, 1962). “I dighorn players.” Known for his versatility as much as hisbig, singing tone, Green remained grounded in r&bthroughout his career, which included a succession ofsuccessful recordings on Blue Note.

POST-BOPLEADERS

Benson successfully straddlesthe line between commercialmusic and conventional jazz.Originally a sideman in JackMcDuff’s trio, Benson went on toachieve tremendous popular andfinancial success as a bandleaderand star performer. He is perhapsbest known as the guitarist wholiked to double his melodies with askillfully executed scat-sung line.“I’m not interested in beingtyped,” he said in DownBeat(June 29, 1967). “It’s to a guy’sadvantage to be able to play avariety of music. You never knowwhen things are going to change,anyway. I quite like the pop field,but I also like to improvise.”

KennyBurrell

GrantGreen

JoePass

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George Benson

One of the most versatile guitarists of the 1950s, Smithplayed jazz in big-time nightclubs at night and workedas a studio musician for NBC in New York by day. Hewas known for the precision and coolness of his tech-nique, which raised the bar for future generations ofjazz and studio guitarists. His Moonlight In Vermontwas named 1952 jazz album of the year by DownBeat.He basically left the jazz scene when he moved toColorado in the 1960s. “Johnny Smith showed us thatthe guitar is a small orchestra,” said Russell Malone.

JohnnySmith

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BLUESMASTERS

A gifted Mississippi Delta guitarist who died tragi-cally young in 1938, Johnson is the most legendaryof all blues artists. Having mastered the guitar in anincredibly short time, he was the envy of his con-temporaries, incorporating everything from trickyslide techniques to mysterious alternate tunings.Johnson was also a prolific composer who helpedbring the idea of song structure to the blues, andwas known for his instinctive ability to cue impor-tant changes to other musicians on stage. “Robertwas so far ahead it was unbelievable,” JohnMcLaughlin said. “His playing concepts were radi-cal. He was a mighty influence on me and lot of gui-tarists, not the least being Eric Clapton.”


First billed as “Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing andguitar playing miracle,” Tharpe began performing atage 4 accompanying her evangelist mother, whoplayed mandolin and preached at tent revivals in theSouth. After her family moved to Chicago in the late1920s, Tharpe played blues and jazz in private whileperforming gospel music in public settings. Her guitarstyle clearly reflected secular influences, as she used bent notes in the same risqué manner jazz and blues artists did. In the 1930s she performed frequently alongside jazz heroes like Cab Callowayand Benny Goodman.

King’s guitar technique is an extension of the single-note electric guitar style developed by T-BoneWalker. King added the rhythms of modern jazz andmade use of his amp by sustaining notes for entiremeasures. His most important advances have beenvarious creative ways of punctuating phrases, be itwith a barrage of chords or the use of bent notes.King’s guitar is the perfect complement to his vocals:It begins where the words leave off. “Sounds aremore important than trying to play a lot of notes,” hesaid in DownBeat (Oct. 31, 1968). “It’s like automo-biles. You can have speed or economy, not both.”

In the late 1930s, Walker helped pioneer the electricguitar sound that created modern blues and thus influ-enced all popular music that followed. He transferredtraditional blues-lick techniques to the electric guitarby combining them with the jump and swing styles ofthe day. His 1940s hits “T-Bone Blues” and “StormyMonday” are blues classics, demonstrating his jazz-based style. His stinging single-string solos influencedbluesmen like B.B. King and such rockers as ChuckBerry, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

LonnieJohnsonJohnson pioneered theimprovised guitarsolo—played note-by-note with a pick—onthe 1927 track “6/88Glide.” His techniquereached the playerswho applied his approach to electric blues. Many ofhis early recordings featured him playing 12-stringguitar in a manner that influenced Charlie Christianand Django Reinhardt. Johnson was the jazziest ofearly blues guitarists: In 1927, the New Orleans-raisedJohnson recorded with Louis Armstrong and his HotFive, and in 1928 he recorded with Duke Ellington.

Hooker played a droning, one-chord style that tiedtogether the Delta blues with the emerging post-Warelectric blues. A rhythmically free yet driving guitarist,he rarely played on a standard beat, as he changedtempo to fit the needs of the song. He embodied hisown unique genre of the blues, often incorporating theboogie-woogie piano style into his idiosyncratic bluesguitar and singing. Described by John McLaughlin as“the essential blues player, a majestic player,” Hookerfrequently played a walking bass pattern with histhumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with aseries of hammer-ons and pull-offs. His best-knownsongs include “Boogie Chillen” (1948) and “BoomBoom” (1962).

Guy changed the course of the electric blues with hishigh-powered live performances and aggressive,stinging, single-note playing style. He takes the musicto extremes, employing everything from distortion andfeedback to wildly bent notes and wailing cries. Ajazz-loving bluesman with a flair for r&b, Guy has influ-enced an entire generation of rocking blues players,including Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and JimiHendrix. “I base everything on audience reaction,” hesaid in DownBeat (Oct. 31, 1968). “If a gimmick is nec-essary, I use it.”

Robert Johnson

B.B.King

T-BoneWalker

BuddyGuy

JohnLeeHooker

SisterRosettaTharpe

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Frisell combines the finesse of jazz, the thunder ofrock, the vast openness of country and the experi-mental mind-set of the avant-garde in his playing.After studying with Jim Hall in the early 1970s,Frisell helped redefine the function of the guitar incontemporary music. An important part of his soundcomes from deft use of a volume pedal, which heuses to give his instrument a floating, breathingquality. Today, his genre-defying music can only becalled classic Americana, and his humor is everpresent in his art. Off stage, his modesty shinesthrough his gentle personality to reveal a reflectivesoul who is never content to rest on his laurels.

“I never imagined that I would make a record, orany of the stuff that’s happened,” he said. “Butwhat’s going on internally with me, I still feel like Ihave as far to go as I ever had to go.”

A man of phenomenal technical capacity and pro-found spirituality, McLaughlin exudes a command-ing presence when he plays. Since his emergencewith Miles Davis in 1969, the British-bornMcLaughlin has achieved guru status on the guitarand remains a towering force in contemporarymusic, with such pioneering groups as theMahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti. An avid listener,he continues to absorb world music, jazz, rock andblues influences. McLaughlin describes WesMontgomery as “one of the greatest guitarists injazz—his influence can be heard even in the mostbanal ‘smooth jazz’ recordings.” He calls JimiHendrix “a revolutionary on guitar—modern guitarwould not be the same without the influence ofJimi,” and he refers to Muddy Waters as “theessential acoustic slide blues player from theMississippi Delta whose recordings in the early1950s were simply outstanding and a major influ-ence on me.”

Malone has incorporated elements of the blues, rock,jazz, gospel and country into an informed style that isall his own. An alum of Harry Connick Jr.’s orchestrain the early 1990s, Malone has done well as anaccompanist—he played with Diana Krall and JimmySmith—in addition to recording a nice discography ofalbums with his own groups. “When it comes to beingRussell Malone, I’m the best there is—no one willever be able to outdo me at that,” he said. “I stoppedworrying about trying to be someone else’s expecta-tion of what a jazz guitarist is. What I am concernedabout is being the best musician I can be.”

One of the premier electric guitarists of the post-World War II era, the distinctive Mississippi blues-man King taught himself to play left-handed, with hisfingers instead of a pick, holding a regular guitarupside-down. Over his long career he fashioned acutting, tone-concentrated sound. Thanks to anunorthodox low tuning method he employed, Kingcould bend strings to produce a tortured bluessound that defined his style and set him apart fromhis contemporaries. “He bent the notes down, physi-cally toward the ground, as opposed to bending up,which most right-handed players do,” John Scofieldsaid of King’s playing. “There was a different forceof gravity at work, and different muscles working inhis right hand, so he got this sound that was so soul-ful and unearthly.”

Waters dominated the vital Chicago post-war bluesscene after transplanting himself to the Windy Cityfrom the deep South in 1943. The most influentialartist in the amplified blues idiom, Waters masteredthe stinging bottleneck and the jagged, pulsatingrhythms of Delta guitar to complement his tightlyconstricted, pain-filled singing. The sound his bandprojected was loud and brutal, an electrified incar-nation of the old Mississippi sound with a straight-ened-out 4/4 drive. “I always thought of myself as amusician,” Waters said in a DownBeat interview(Oct. 8, 1964). “If I wasn’t a good musician then I feltthat sooner or later I would be a good musician. Ifelt it in me.”

AlbertKing

MuddyWaters

BillFrisell

JohnMcLaughlin

PatMetheny

MODERN JAZZMAESTROS

Metheny has chops that can keep up with thefastest and finest guitarists, but his true strengthlays in the lyricism he coaxes from the instrument.“I realize that my strengths are not that I can playfast, but that I can play melody over almost anychanges presented to me,” he said in DownBeat(July 13, 1978). “Playing melodies is my numberone asset.”

Metheny has frequently used guitar synthesiz-ers to get a horn-like or slap-echo sound, giving hisplaying a distinct contemporary edge. He also hasventured into the avant-garde, having thoroughlydigested the music of Ornette Coleman; Methenycollaborated with the celebrated alto man on thegroundbreaking album Song X, considered one ofthe most important jazz releases of the 1980s.

RussellMalone

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Byrd was largely responsible for bringing classicalguitar technique to the attention of the jazz world.After an inspiring South American tour in the early1960s, Byrd came up with the idea for Jazz Samba,an album he recorded with Stan Getz that led tothe bossa nova craze in the United States. “Thevery sound of the classic guitar, as opposed to theelectric guitar, or as opposed to the steel-stringacoustic guitar, is the most attractive thing aboutthe instrument for me ... the timbre of the sound,”he said in DownBeat (Aug. 1, 1963), during a dis-cussion with other guitarists regarding the ongoingpick-versus-fingerstyle debate. “I used to cursebeing at the mercy of all those tubes.”

When Zappa shut up and played his guitar, greatthings happened. A prolific composer and outspo-ken critic of popular culture, Zappa was also askilled instrumentalist with a unique, avant-gardestyle that fit perfectly with the zany, ironic weird-ness of his song lyrics. He had a fondness for jazzand classical music that directly affected every-thing he played and wrote, even his silliest rocknumbers. “The more mediocre your music is, themore accessible it is to a larger number of peoplein the United States,” he said in DownBeat (Oct. 30,1969). “That’s where the market is. You’re not sell-ing to a bunch of jazz aesthetes in Europe. You’reselling to Americans, who really hate music andlove entertainment.”

John AbercrombiePerpetually walkingthe fine linebetween freedomand structure,Abercrombie con-jures impressionisticmusical imagerythat’s firmly ground-ed in the tradition ofmainstream jazz. Along association with ECM records beginning in 1974gave him the freedom and the opportunity to establishhimself as a formidable improviser and prolific com-poser. “I’ve carried on the tradition, but I’ve alsochanged the musical language and opened a few littledoors to harmonic and rhythmic approaches that aredifferent from the standard jazz fare,” he said.

Philadelphian Bruno is a master jazz guitarist and edu-cator. He came to prominence in the 1990s after a suc-cessful 20-year career as a commercial guitarist andsession man. He developed his dazzling technique byteaching himself to play the violin etudes of Wohlfahrtand Paganini. He counts Johnny Smith, Joe Pass andTal Farlow among his influences. Bruno travels thejazz circuit, mesmerizing with his chops and hisunyielding command of traditional and free-jazz styles.

Pat MartinoAs a teenager in the 1960s,Martino earned his reputa-tion as daring improviserwith soul to spare. Today,he’s known as a superb jazzguitarist and composer wholost—and later triumphantlyregained—much of hismemory after suffering froma brain aneurysm. Early on,the Philadelphia-basedMartino was drawn into thejazz vortex by a holy trinityof guitarists. “I looked atJohnny Smith as the frontdoor into the house, WesMontgomery as the backdoor and Les Paul as the

provider of quite a number of things that were func-tional within the house,” he said. “After that myinterest turned toward pianists, saxophonists, trum-peters and expanded beyond instrumentation.”

Scofield blends blues, rock and other pop formswith the harmonic sophistication of bebop. Hethrives in multiple roles: as bandleader, sideman,composer and improviser. Scofield’s approach tothe instrument is noticeably funky, even in contextsthat lean toward straightahead jazz. His harmonicconcept is often playfully dissonant, his tone fre-quently distorted with a soft fuzziness. Hear one riff,and you immediately know it’s Sco. “We’re all indi-viduals,” he said. “And after you’ve been playing for a while, you kind of do it your own way.”

An original virtuoso, Alden worked around LosAngeles playing traditional, mainstream and modern jazz before heading east in 1979 to perform with Red Norvo. Alden’s strengths as asoloist and accompanist have been recognized by artists like Joe Williams, Warren Vaché,Woody Herman, Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie. He can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1999Woody Allen movie Sweet And Lowdown.

JohnScofield

HowardAlden

CharlieByrd

FrankZappa

Pizzarelli is the most solid rhythm guitarist alive today.Known in jazz circles as an expert comper and swing-ing time-keeper, he also thrives in a solo role, wherehe frequently accompanies himself with a walkingbass line played on the seventh string of his instru-ment. Pizzarelli continues to perform into his 80s.“Rhythm guitar is really the most important thing on arecording,” he said. “When you hear that after-beat—the bass player hits first note and the second beat isthe rhythm guitar—that eludes a lot of great guitarplayers. You’ve got to think about it and work on it.”

BuckyPizzarelli

JimmyBruno

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Beck started his career by exploring psychedelia andthe heavier side of rock before switching gears in 1975with the groundbreaking instrumental jazz-fusionalbums Blow By Blow and Wired. While many electricguitarists rely on racks of gear to create their tone,Beck prefers a simple, natural approach that empha-sizes manual dexterity over gadgets. He plays theentire instrument, using his fingers instead of a pick forgreater control over the fretboard and bending noteswith controlled cruelty using the whammy bar. Beckadds deft twists of the volume and tone knobs toshape notes as he plays them.

From the time Atkins arrived in Nashville in 1950, hisguitar playing combined folk-derived fingerpickingstyles with a harmonically advanced, jazzy tech-nique—a seldom heard combination. Indeed, hecould be categorized as “1950s jazz” just as easily as“country” or even “semi-classical.” Atkins was prob-ably best known among jazzmen for an improvisation-al approach in which everything seems to be happen-ing at once: bass line, harmony and lead line. “It’s sim-ilar to stride piano style, like Fats Waller,” Atkins saidin DownBeat (August 1985). “That’s what I alwayswanted to sound like—piano players like Ralph Suttonand Fats, guys who kept that left hand going.”

JeffBeck

ChetAtkinsJimi

Hendrix

Hendrix was adored by all styles of guitarists—from rockers to bluesmen to even the most stu-dious of jazz players. A high-priest figure whosename was immortalized with his premature death,Hendrix’s recordings from the late 1960s reveal alove for improvisation and a grasp of the blues. Hisinnovations were numerous, including the use offeedback and distortion. “Jimi Hendrix is the great-est musician who ever lived,” Larry Coryell said inDownBeat (Nov. 9, 1972). “The stuff I saw him do inperson in jam sessions was some of the heaviestjazz music I ever heard. ... I’ve never been so jeal-ous of a cat in my life.”

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Emerging from New York City in the mid-1960s,Sharrock was the father of avant-garde guitar. Anemotional player whose approach was uniquelyhis own, Sharrock completely ignored the stan-dard jazz concepts of linear solos and chordalcomping in favor of a truly “out” style that dealt intextures and gut-level communication. “When youplay single lines and notes, you’re very limited,” hesaid in DownBeat (June 11, 1970). “You know,there ain’t but so many combinations of 11 notesthat you can make.”

An early pioneer of free guitar in the mid-1960s, Baileywas a highly creative and original improviser whoseinfluence is felt to this day far beyond his nativeEngland. “Just from hearing him once, the first fewnotes he played, wow—this whole other thing splitopen in my mind,” said Bill Frisell of the late Bailey.“The music was so much about that particularmoment and never going back to that moment. Derekwas that sort of true improviser where it was moreabout the process and not so much about the actualnotes he was playing.”

Greatly influenced by Ornette Coleman in the mid-1970s, the always funky Ulmer draws from a free-wheeling harmonic and melodic palette thatspanned many tonalities and included elements ofjazz, gospel, blues and hard rock. A fearlessexperimenter, his music comprised contrapuntallines and confronted listeners with tremendousenergy and dissonance. “It’s infinitely more inter-esting for listeners if improvising becomes spon-taneous melody instead of just scales andchords,” he said in DownBeat (October 1980).“People are pretty hip now and don’t want some-thing that’s not creative.”

SteveCropperThe most well-knownand influential soul gui-tarist, largely due to hisability to adapt to manydifferent styles,Cropper was a majorfigure in the Southernsoul movement of the 1960s. He made his mark notonly as a player and arranger (on classic sides byBooker T. & the MGs, Otis Redding, Sam & Daveand Wilson Pickett), but as a songwriter as well,co-writing “In The Midnight Hour.” In the late ’70s,he and Donald “Duck” Dunn became members ofLevon Helm’s RCO All-Stars, and then they went onto lead The Blues Brothers Band. Cropper contin-ues to be an in-demand musician and producer.

Reid has played and recorded in a huge variety ofcontexts, from free-jazz to pop to punk. In the mid-1980s, the British-born/Brooklyn-bred guitaristformed his own metal-minded funk/rock bandLiving Colour, which blended hard-rock energywith heady improvisation. Reid’s sound is sharp-edged and wild; he creates a virtual lightning stormevery time he picks up his instrument. “I wasstruck by ... how hard he was playing, how honestlyhe was playing,” Sonny Sharrock said inDownBeat (July 1993) about hearing Reid onrecord for the first time. “That’s always the thingthat knocks me out: how terribly hard some peopleplay. I don’t get kicked off any other way.”

VernonReid

Towner has developed a special affinity for thenylon string acoustic guitar. A founder of the bandOregon in 1971, Towner has found creative ways toincorporate elements of classical fingerstyle tech-nique with rock, jazz and world music. He oftenkeeps multiple lines grooving at once. “I would liketo be remembered for expanding the vocabulary ofthe guitar and taking a more pianistic approach,”he said. “That, and composition that includes someinvolved harmony and voicings that you wouldn’thear on the traditional plectrum guitar.”

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Marc RibotAlthough he’s played major jazz festivals consis-tently since 1979, what comes out of Ribot’s guitarisn’t exactly what you’d call jazz. Whether punkingout post-modern style with the Lounge Lizards,grooving soulfully in Jack McDuff’s trio, embracingthe freeness inspired by Albert Ayler or genre-jumping with his own bands, Ribot excels in a vastrange of styles. He is possibly the most open-mind-ed guitarist on the planet. “I find it more interestingto listen to horn players, in particular saxophoneplayers, than guitar players. I like the idea of trans-lation, from one instrument to another,” he said. “Ilike the collateral damage that happens when youdo that.”

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The quintessential studio cat, Ritenour became asought-after session player in the mid-1970s. Knownas “Captain Fingers,” Ritenour is trained in jazz andclassical; he was influenced by the relaxed styles ofWes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Barney Kessel.Starting in 1976, at the age of 24, he began a prolificsolo career that now includes upwards of 40 albumsand collaborations. He continues to experiment withmyriad styles of music, incorporating elements of funk,pop, rock, blues and Brazilian music with jazz.

A rocker to the core who excels in bebop and fusioncontexts, Stern has shared the stage and studio withthe likes of Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Stan Getz andMike Brecker, to name just a few. He has made hismost important contributions to jazz since emerging asa bandleader in the mid-1980s. A fluid and intenseimproviser, Stern acknowledges the powerful influ-ence of horn players on his playing style—whichencompasses everything from jazz, rock and blues tofunk, world and folk. “The guitar helps you relate to alot of music because it is in so many kinds of music,”he said. “So it tends toward giving you an open mind.That’s true with jazz guitar nowadays, most cats havethat kind of openness inherent in the instrument.”

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MikeStern

AllanHoldsworthHoldsworth is currently making aserious comeback after anextended absence from thescene. The progressive anduncompromising British gui-tarist, who emerged in the 1970sand began leading his owngroups in the ’80s, plays with arock ’n’ roll edge and consistent-ly pushes the instrument’s rangeof tonal and textural possibilities.He has dedicated considerabletime to exploring advanced gui-tar technologies, including gui-tar-based synthesizers and elec-tronic components for the stu-dio. “I always like to be influ-enced by people but not try toimitate them,” he said. “I did tryto imitate Charlie Christian, andthen I realized I was just gettinggood at imitating CharlieChristian.”

Jordan has developed an aston-ishing two-handedtapping technique thatessentially made a key-board out of the guitar fret-board. It allows him to accom-pany himself with chordal voic-ings and orchestral textures thatwere previously consideredunachievable on the guitar. “I’lltake notes and just get them flyingaround in a cycle, then take thatcycle and start transforming it andmoving it around,” he said inDownBeat (April 1985). “It’s sort oflike working on ... the next level ofsound, because instead of listen-ing to each note, you’re listeningto a whole cycle as being like a[single] note.”

StanleyJordan

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Australia-born Gambale began developing his sweep-picking technique at an early age. In 1986 he startedhis recording career and was recruited by Jean-LucPonty to go on tour. Shortly afterward, Gambale begana six-year stint with Chick Corea that yielded fivealbums. In 2005 he released the album Raison D’Etre,which showcased the “Gambale tuning,” a restringingof the guitar that enabled close-voiced chords previ-ously available only to piano players. Gambale contin-ues to tour and write for albums, books and videos.

Di Meola’s command of guitar styles and scales ismind-blowing. He made his debut with Chick Corea’sReturn To Forever at Carnegie Hall as a teenager inthe mid-1970s before striking out on his own as arecording artist on Columbia. Possessing a fiery flair,he did notable flamenco-style work in the 1980s as amember of a guitar trio with John McLaughlin andPaco de Lucia. Later in the decade, Di Meola began toblend his acoustic guitar with synthesizers, creatinghis own mind-expanding brand of high-tech instru-mental pop. He has worked with some of the heaviestnames in the contemporary jazz and pop worlds,including Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty, Paul Simonand Carlos Santana. A precursor to the “shred” style,Di Meola is lauded for his velocity on the fretboard andability to navigate complex syncopation.

Influenced early on by Charlie Byrd and Chet Atkins,Klugh is a master of nylon acoustic guitar and finger-style technique. After getting off to an auspicious startin the early 1970s with George Benson, Klugh hasfound considerable success as a bandleader andsoloist in his own right. “When I went on the road withGeorge and played in his band for a year-and-a-half,that was a whole different type of learning experi-ence,” he said. “I learned, boy do I have a long way togo before I call myself a guitar player. And as much asI think I’m pushing myself, in order to do this, you’vegot to put an extraordinary amount of time, effort andthought into it. That moved me on.”

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Coryell is one of the most original improvisers and composers to emerge in the 1960s and ’70s. A jazz fusion pioneer who played with Gary Burton,Fourplay and Eleventh House, he excels at manystyles on the guitar. Coryell has an uncanny ability to sense relationships among the musics of diverse cultures. “If music has something to sayto you—whether it’s jazz, country blues, westernor hillbilly, Arabian, Indian or any other Asian,African, South American folk music—take it,” he said in DownBeat (June 29, 1967). “Neverrestrict yourself.”

Carlton was an in-demand West Coast sessionmusician in the early 1970s who played with starsfrom every imaginable genre, including Herb Albert,Quincy Jones, Paul Anka, Michael Jackson andJohn Lennon. He made his debut as a leader in 1978 after he was recognized for his tastefullyfunky guitar playing on Steely Dan’s The RoyalScam. Inspired by Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomeryand B.B. King, Carlton has a sweet bluesy sound hecoaxes from his Gibson ES-335. He also broke newground with his trademark volume pedal techniquewith the jazz/rock group The Crusaders as well aswith Joni Mitchell and Tom Scott.

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LarryCarlton

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BEYONDU.S. BORDERS

Touré was a Malian guitarist and singer, one ofAfrica’s most renowned musicians. His music rep-resents an intersection where traditional Malianmusic meets its North American cousin, the blues.Touré forged connections between the hypnoticmodal riffs of Malian songs and the driving one-chord boogie of American bluesmen. He becameknown as “the African John Lee Hooker,” sincethe many superpositions of guitars and rhythms inhis music were similar to the latter’s hypnotic style.He pioneered and perfected the adaptation ofSonrai, Peul and Tamascheq styles to the guitar. In1992 Touré recorded the Grammy-winning TalkingTimbuktu with American guitarist Ry Cooder.

When Gypsy guitarist Lagrène first made the sceneas a teenager in the 1980s, he was hailed as thenew Django Reinhardt. He plays acoustic guitarwith dazzling speed, yet somehow manages tonever get ahead of himself. Lagrène used his flaw-less technique to make inroads in the jazz-rockgenre with bassist Jaco Pastorius. “I want to domusic my way, but I don’t want to forget Django,”he said in DownBeat (April 1985). “I’ll always wantpeople to know my own music, but I’ll always beplaying this music with Django behind me.”

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João GilbertoGilberto single-handedly changed theway people played guitar in Brazil whenhe helped create bossa nova, a refinedversion of the samba that did away withdrums completely and relied only on hisguitar—which he used as a percussioninstrument as well. In 1958, Odeonreleased two Gilberto singles that popu-larized his new style and marked thestart of the bossa nova movement:“Chega De Saudade”/“Bim Bom” and“Desafinado”/“Oba-la-lá.” He recordedtwo tracks with vocalist Elizete Cardosoon her album Canção Do Amor Demais,another milestone for the bossa nova. In1964, Gilberto recorded in the UnitedStates with Stan Getz and AstrudGilberto (his former wife); the Grammy-winning Getz/Gilberto album sold morethan 1 million copies.

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Self-taught U.K. guitarist Taylor has developed twoaudiences in his four decades of performing: thosewho love jazz, and those who love acoustic music. Amelodic player who seldom ventures “out,” Taylorcites classical guitarists and country pickers as pow-erful influences in addition to old-time jazzmen likeGeorge Van Eps, Eddie Lang and Carl Kress. “Mymission has been to develop the guitar as a soloinstrument, as a complete instrument that can beplayed entirely on its own,” he said. “In the jazzworld, there aren’t many guitar players who playsolo. It tends to be a group instrument and a single-line instrument as well.”

Spanish guitar virtuoso de Lucia is recognized as aleading proponent of the modern flamenco style. Hehas successfully crossed over into other genressuch as classical, jazz and world music. He definedhis style in 1969 at age 22 with the release ofFantasía Flamenca. In 1977, de Lucia performed withguitarists Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and LarryCoryell, sparking a period of melodic and harmonicsearching. In 1981 he set up his own sextet, and in1982 he met Chick Corea, marking the beginning of afruitful collaboration. In 1996, de Lucia reunited withDi Meola and McLaughlin to record the landmarkThe Guitar Trio.

Norwegian sound sculptor Rypdal is one of the mostinnovative electric guitarists in European jazz. Hecombines a rock esthetic with classical knowledge,incorporating everything from bowed-note clustersand atmospheric ethereality to volume pedals anddistortion effects into his playing. Rypdal, who contin-ues to evolve as a composer and performer, creditshis jazz sensibilities to educator George Russell,whom he first met at a workshop in Oslo. “I don’thave a jazz background, but studying with George fortwo weeks was a big help,” he said in DownBeat(October 1987). “What I learned from him was how toanalyze music.”

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Rosenwinkel has established an instantly recogniz-able voice on the guitar with his cascading lines anddark lyricism. An adventurous artist whose playingflows with perpetual melodicism, his signature toneincludes touches of overdrive, sustain and echo. Thesinging quality of Rosenwinkel’s instrument isenhanced by the fact that he frequently sings in uni-son with his single note lines, á là George Benson.He achieves a fluid connectivity with his deft lefthand while retaining a sense of rhythmic syncopa-tion with his right.

KurtRosenwinkel

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Hunter came to prominence in the early1990s sporting seven- and eight-stringinstruments that allow him to playsimultaneous bass and rhythm/leadguitar lines. Informed by jazz, blues,funk, rock, r&b and soul, he employs astrong rhythmic approach that com-mands an almost universal appeal.“The guitar is anyone’s instrument—it’snot going to show up in tails and a tophat,” Hunter said. “You go around theworld, and everyone has a version ofthe guitar. It’s egalitarian.” He has asignature effervescent and organ-liketone, achieved by running the guitarsignal through a Leslie rotary speaker.

Charlie Hunter

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Born in the West African country of Benin,Loueke infuses his native culture with jazzguitar virtuosity. His soulful and organicmelodies have thrilled audiences, both as aleader and as a contributor to recordingsand tours with Herbie Hancock andTerence Blanchard. Loueke’s guitarprowess shines through on Karibu, hisrecent debut for Blue Note, which show-cases his skill as a composer and highlightsthe deft interplay of his long-trio of bassistMassimo Biolcati and drummer FerencNemeth. He was voted Rising Star Guitaristin the 2007 and 2008 DownBeat Critics Polls.“I am representing the part of the world thatI am from, which is the African continent,”he said. “I see myself as the go-betweenfor African music and jazz.”


After more than 20 years in New York, renegade guitarist Monder has played with a plethora of jazznotables, including Paul Motian, Guillermo Klein, Tim Berne, Jack McDuff, Lee Konitz and MariaSchneider. He has appeared on more than 100 CDsas a sideman. At the same time, Monder has doneadventurous work as a leader, fronting his own trioand quartet internationally and releasing several CDsunder his own name. At present, he holds a secureplace as one of most sought-after players on the pro-gressive jazz scene, an heir to the legacy of playerssuch as John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell.

New York guitarist Bernstein has been a part of thejazz scene in the U.S. and abroad since 1989. He hasparticipated in more than 60 recordings and numerousfestival, concert and club performances with musi-cians from all generations, including Lou Donaldson,Jimmy Cobb, Larry Goldings, Dr. Lonnie Smith, JoshuaRedman, Diana Krall, Nicholas Payton, Lee Konitz,Tom Harrell and Eric Alexander. Both as a sidemanand a leader, Bernstein has become known for hismelodic, bluesy approach, his keen sense of swingand overall good taste. His ultra-clean playing style isinfluenced by Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, KennyBurrell, Charlie Christian and Jim Hall.

Cline is known for his wild forays into improvisedmelody and rhythm, as well as his use of guitar effectspedals and looping devices. Born in Los Angeles in1956 and coming from a diverse musical twilight zonewhere cultural boundaries were expanded andaltered, he has played with jazz musicians CharlieHaden, Gregg Bendian, Wadada Leo Smith, Tim Berneand Vinny Golia. Cline played an important role in theAcoustic Guitar Trio, a free-improvisation group thatspecialized in microtonal improvisation. He currentlyleads the free jazz ensemble The Nels Cline Singersand continues to expand his audience as a member ofthe rock band Wilco, which he joined in 2004. DB

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75 great guitarists - downbeat, february 2009

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