The following Top 100 Jazz Guitar Albums list is the result of the numerous emails I get from people asking me to suggest jazz guitar CDs to listen to. I asked the same question on the forum and about 220 people submitted their favorite jazz guitar albums. Here are the results…
At the bottom of this page is another list, a Top 10 of jazz guitarists, ordered according to how many times they were mentioned in the Top 100 thread on the forum. Although not very scientific, both lists are a good starting point for beginning jazz guitarists in terms of recommended listening.
The Top 100 Jazz Guitar list is in alphabetical order.
- Al Di Meola – Elegant Gypsy
- Allan Holdsworth – Metal Fatigue
- Antonio Carlos Jobim – Wave
- Baden Powell – At the Rio Jazz Club
- Barney Kessel – Kessel Plays Standards
- Barney Kessel – The Poll Winners
- Barry Galbraith – Guitar and the Wind (only available together with the album Manhatten Jazz Septette)
- Bill Frisell – East/West
- Bireli Lagrene – Gypsy Project
- Bireli Lagrene – Standards
- Bucky and John Pizzarelli – Contrasts
- Charlie Byrd – At The Village Vanguard
- Charlie Byrd – The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd
- Charlie Christian – Genius of the Electric Guitar
- Charlie Christian – Solo Flight
- Charlie Hunter – Bing Bing Bing
- Danny Gatton – Untouchable
- Django Reinhardt – Djangology
- Django Reinhardt – Quintet du Hot Club de France
- Earl Klugh – One on One
- Ed Bickert – Live at The Garden Party
- Eddie Lang – Jazz Guitar Virtuoso
- Emily Remler – Firefly
- Ernest Ranglin – Below the Bassline
- Frank Gambale – Thinking Out Loud
- George Barnes – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
- George Benson – Bad Benson
- George Benson – Breezin’
- George Benson – Beyond the Blue Horizon
- George Benson – The George Benson Cookbook
- George Van Eps – Mellow Guitar
- Grant Green – Green Street
- Grant Green – Idle Moments
- Grant Green – The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark
- Hank Garland – Jazz Winds From a New Direction
- Herb Ellis/Joe Pass – Seven, Come Eleven
- Herb Ellis/Joe Pass – Two for the Road
- Howard Alden/George Van Eps – 13 Strings
- Howard Roberts – HR Is A Dirty Guitar Player
- Jeff Beck – Blow by Blow
- Jim Hall – Concierto
- Jim Hall – Live
- Jim Hall/Bill Evans – Intermodulation
- Jim Hall/Bill Evans – Undercurrent
- Jim Hall/Ron Carter – Alone Together
- Jimmy Bruno – Burnin’
- Jimmy Raney – Wisteria
- Joe Beck – Strangers in the Night
- Joe Diorio Trio – Live
- Joe Pass – For Django
- Joe Pass – Virtuoso
- John Abercrombie – Timeless
- John Basile – The Desmond Project
- John McLaughlin – Extrapolation
- John Scofield – A Go Go
- John Scofield – Hand Jive
- Johnny Smith – Johnny Smith
- Johnny Smith – Moonligh in Vermont (w Stan Getz)
- Jonathan Kreisberg – Unearth
- Kenny Burrell – Guitar Forms
- Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue
- Kevin Eubanks – Guitarist
- Kurt Rosenwinkel – Deep Song
- Larry Carlton – Last Nite
- Larry Coryell (w John McLaughlin) – Spaces
- Lee Ritenour – Rit’s House
- Lenny Breau – Live on Bourbon Street
- Luiz Bonfa – Solo in Rio 1959
- Martin Taylor – Spirit of Django
- Mike Stern – Play
- Mike Stern – Standards (and Other Songs)
- Mike Stern – Upside Downside
- Mundel Lowe – Guitar Moods
- Nguyen Le – Walking on the Tiger’s Tail
- Norman Brown – After the Storm
- Pat Martino – El Hombre
- Pat Martino – Footprints
- Pat Metheny – Bright Size Life
- Pat Metheny – Question and Answer
- Pat Metheny/Charlie Haden – Beyond The Missouri Sky
- Pat Metheny/John Scofield – I can see Your House From Here
- Peter Bernstein – Earth Tones
- Peter White – Caravan of Dreams
- Phillip Catherine – Summer Night
- Ralph Towner – Solstice
- Rene Thomas Quintet – Guitar Groove
- Robben Ford – Tiger Walk
- Ronny Jordan – The Antidote
- Rosenberg Trio – Caravan
- Stanley Jordan – Stolen Moments
- Steve Kahn – The Suitcase (Live)
- Sylvain Luc – Trio Sud
- Tal Farlow – Verve Jazz Masters 41
- Ted Greene – Solo Guitar
- Tuck Andress – Wreckless Precision
- Wes Montgomery – Boss Guitar
- Wes Montgomery – Bumpin’
- Wes Montgomery – Full House
- Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half Note
- Wes Montgomery – The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Top 10 of Jazz Guitarists
Here’s the Top 10 of jazz guitarists, sorted according to how many times they showed up in the Top 100 thread at the forum:
- Wes Montgomery
- Joe Pass
- Jim Hall
- Pat Metheny
- George Benson
- Grant Green
- Kenny Burrell
- Pat Martino
- Django Reinhardt
- John Scofield
ALSO CHECK OUT:
- Top 50 Jazz Guitar Books
- Top 100 Jazz Albums (without a guitarist as leader)
I’d like to share a very profound moment today. Way back in the early 90s. I heard an album (once!), on an old reel to reel at a friends house I rarely visited. I found the music immediately captivating. But being the young and dumb lad I was at the time, I didn’t register or store in mind who or what the album was or by whom. Over the years from time to time, the compositions have haunted me and have been lodged in my mind. As the internet grew and in between life flying by I tried to research what this album was. With only the music to go on it was and proved to be an impossible task. I’d checked many lists like the ones above and reached out to jazz aficionados but no joy. I’d always had the impression it was an album based on the four seasons. But this was incorrect. And searching this point only led to the obvious jazz guitar albums with seasonal themes. WELL! Finally, today, just now, I found out who and what that album was, and I’m listening to it right now, with a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. And the album is, Solstice, by Ralph Towner. Hallelujah!
No Ahmad Jamal? That’s crazy.
I WANT TO KNOW WHO MADE THE JAZZ GUITAR ALBUM BAD GUITAR? MY FATHER USED TO PLAY IT WHEN I WAS A KID. I THINK ITS A TRIO. IVE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE TO FIND OUT WHO MADE IT. IF YOU DONT KNOW PLS. LET ME KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. THANKYOU
Any one interested in Jazz guitar should check out the 4 POLL WINNERS’ albums recorded 1957-1960. Kessel plays with Ray Brown on Bsss and Shelly Manne on drums. They got together for a new approach 15 years later in 1975 with STRAIGHT AHEAD. Much more hard-edged, reflecting the changes in music in the interim. All by Contemporary Records who also recorded a BK album in late 1957, but didn’t release it until 1962 (LET’S COOK); probably to make way for the Poll Winners series. All wonderful stuff.
Kessel should be NO 1 amongst jazz guitarists. He is up there technically with Joe Pass (and Chet) but his ‘Listenabilty’ is stratospheric. Unlike some others he does not show-off his technique – he just play and enjoys.
Django Reinhardt should be n°1 or Ex Aequo with Wes!!
Django Reinhardt is the Jimi Hendrix of Jazz guitar come on there is a before and an after Django in jazz guitar history…
Jeff Beck????!!!! Not a jazz player. DI Meola? Great player, but not jazz. Underrepresented : Pat Martino, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Lenny Breau. Love Pat Metheny, but he’s over represented.
Jeff Beck ?? Right! not a jazz guitarist.
DI Meola is not jazz but Coryell, McLaughlin are?? contradiction
Right! And I totally miss Tal Farlow’s work here.
I don’t think anyone ever could compile a list on this topic that would satisfy everyone. All I can say is that if there’s somebody YOU like, then they are GOOD.
this list is awful , seriously Norman Brown? Peter White ? Al Dimeola??? i know that the genre that is Jazz Guitar is a wide umbrella but this is laughable
BOO
Dimeola is the king of latin fusion
You forgot Barney Kessell.- Big mistake.
?? He’s on number 5 and 6.
How can Sonny Sharrock not be on that list??
Free jazz and avant-garde artist are not “popular” in top lists 🙁