The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: Favourite Guitarist

Voters
1242. You may not vote on this poll
  • John Scofield

    131 10.55%
  • Bill Frisell

    91 7.33%
  • Django Reinhardt

    155 12.48%
  • Wes Montgomery

    347 27.94%
  • Jim Hall

    167 13.45%
  • Joe Pass

    278 22.38%
  • Pat Metheny

    160 12.88%
  • Kurt Rosenwinkel

    79 6.36%
  • John Mclaughlin

    66 5.31%
  • John Abercrombie

    28 2.25%
  • Lee Ritenour

    26 2.09%
  • Pat Martino

    106 8.53%
  • Tal Farlow

    64 5.15%
  • Barney Kessel

    94 7.57%
  • Allan Holdsworth

    60 4.83%
  • George Benson

    147 11.84%
  • Grant Green

    123 9.90%
  • Jimmy Raney

    51 4.11%
  • Charlie Christian

    76 6.12%
  • Kenny Burrell

    163 13.12%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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Posts 26 to 50 of 336
  1. #26

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    Don't really have a favorite jazz guitar player, but below is a list of the jazz guys I like...

    George Benson
    Earl Klugh
    Martin Taylor
    Tuck Andress
    Jobim
    Robben Ford (for combining different genres)

    If I have to name the guitar player that made me want to play the guitar more than anybody, that would be Eddie Van Halen. Sorry guys, I know this is jazz forum.

    -FunkyE9th

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  3. #27

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    I'm thinking George Benson ranks right up there with the best of the best. Such a innovative player. Pure original genius. There are so many though that I like. Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery for example.

  4. #28

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    I just have to go with Joe Pass. I just really like he's style. It's so full of emotion. Just that feeling when he plays it....just great...

  5. #29
    hee guys,

    Have you ever heard of the great jazz-guitarist called jesse van ruller.
    he is a monk-award winner. Check "you tube" there are a couple of video's
    of these marvelous guitarist

    Grtz Jacob

  6. #30

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    And where are the non-Americans? I'd like to see René Thomas, Attila Zoller, Gabor Szabo, Marc Ducret etc. as possible choices. In the meantime, I have voted for the great Jim Hall.

  7. #31

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    Well, I do like Mike Stern... When he's on a roll he's really good!

    Also like Mark Whitfield. He did a couple of albums in the Wes / Benson tradition that were excellent!

    My all-time top three would be Wes, Pass & Burrell. But as a guitar player I think Wes takes the cake out of those three. Wes had that fantastic thick tone, he put a lot of expression in his playing, he definitely had the technique, but he made music. His solos really flow effortlessly, but they're never just empty vessels.

    So in short: Wes.

  8. #32

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    GEORGE BENSON!

  9. #33

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    I don't understand; I do understand why Benson went commercial. I had
    forgotten about an old live recording, that I'd just heard again recently, Benson did of Sonny Rollins' "Oleo". Unbelievable!!! I'd like to see him return to the jazz fold.

  10. #34

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    you would think he could now...he's made a good buck doing the contemporary thing...he must enjoy what he's doing

  11. #35

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    "you would think he could now...he's made a good buck doing the contemporary thing...he must enjoy what he's doing"


    How does one know that? I wish I could believe you. I'd really like to. When art is run by business, no one wins. It's probably best to see Benson when he's having fun. He's probably so inundated with contracts, he couldn't wouldn't if he would or could. As with most things in life, nothing or rather, anything is free. How disconcerting. I'm not one for cloned music, so maybe, real folks can change the business.

  12. #36

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    I'm listening to his cd 'Secret Story' as I type - this guy is just sooo inventive but has one of the most beautiful touches I've ever heard! A real inspiration and the reason I'm floundering about trying to get into jazz guitar... Pete.

  13. #37

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    Django, Wes, Pass, notwithstanding, Jim Hall ranks with them. Jim Hall has
    influenced nearly every modern guitar player. I would venture to say Carlton,
    Ritenour, Metheny and the like, basically our poll list, come from the Jim Hall branch.
    Last edited by griphon ii; 04-26-2007 at 03:08 PM. Reason: basically our poll list

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by griphon ii
    Django, Wes, Pass, notwithstanding, Jim Hall ranks with them. Jim Hall has
    influenced nearly every modern guitar player. I would venture to say Carlton,
    Ritenour, Metheny and the like, basically our poll list, come from the Jim Hall branch.
    When I first heard the Jimmy Giuffre song "The Train and the River", with Jim Hall on guitar, I instantly saw Jim's influence on players like Frisell, Metheny and Scofield. Obviously, there are plenty of other such signs, but this particular song really lays it out there. In fact, it gave me a much better understanding of what Frisell has been up to over the last few years, with his forays into Americana.

  15. #39

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    One glaring omission is Bireli Lagrene, which about the most technically, musically gifted guitarist out there.
    Vic Juris, Howard Alden, Jimmy Bruno, Jack Wilkins are also modern masters.

  16. #40

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    Now that we've arrived at the "glaring omissions" part of the poll, let me submit the following masters of the Brazilian sound:

    Antonio Carlos Jobim
    Charlie Byrd
    Oscar Alemán

    And a couple nods of the cap to:

    Mark Ribot
    Charlie Hunter

  17. #41

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    if we're going brazillian, bola sete and laurindo almedia come to mind as wellas masters of their craft...

    as for unsung heroes, well, i gotta mention barry galbraith again. one of the classiest players of all time.

  18. #42

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    Yup, I agree with you, Barry Galbreath was a major influence on many of the current guitarists. Like Jimmy Raney, he was truly an unsung master. Also, George Van Eps was a major influence on many of the chord melody stylists of today. Listening to his recording of "Mellow Guitar" is what got me started back in the early 50's. If you have not already done so, please take time to listen to Howard Alden---excellent 7-string guitarist from Los Angeles area now based in New York.

  19. #43

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    What can I say..... Wes is still the MAN...the best.....and the only one for me.

  20. #44

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    To be honest im getting a bit worried by a bit of this :S
    Obivously players like Wes should be held in great esteem and respect, but if jazz is based around the fact that it is constantly moving forward, unlike other music, then surely the players most looked up to should be the forward thinking ones? Frisell (for example) has taken modern music, and every time he plays a tune, people learn something and consider jazz a new way; I would say that this is more important than being well known. Most modern players would cite coltrane as a better player than Ellington because he was evolving the music, whilst at the time people hated that: "the beboppers have ruined our music, jazz is dead!"
    Anyway thats my two cents, any replies will be read with interest

  21. #45

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    "A penny for your thoughts?" "Here's my two cents." Where's the penny?
    Jim Hall is one of those players. Much has come from him. Tonal and atonal.
    Great, maybe, unknown rockers have got it. Steve Morse, comes to mind.
    Played with Jaco. When one gets this good, and business runs life, who
    makes the decisions? This "is" always part of the works. The best run of
    very good tunes since the real jazz era, was roughly 70's. Everything else
    is essentially a clone. Writing "original" is a lost art. Just writing commercials
    is an impossible job to get, unless you know someone. It's easier to steal
    from someone that actually wrote something. The only way to get heard
    is to lessen your standards. I sincerely hope that changes.

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by seanlowe
    To be honest im getting a bit worried by a bit of this :S
    Obivously players like Wes should be held in great esteem and respect, but if jazz is based around the fact that it is constantly moving forward, unlike other music, then surely the players most looked up to should be the forward thinking ones? Frisell (for example) has taken modern music, and every time he plays a tune, people learn something and consider jazz a new way; I would say that this is more important than being well known. Most modern players would cite coltrane as a better player than Ellington because he was evolving the music, whilst at the time people hated that: "the beboppers have ruined our music, jazz is dead!"
    Anyway thats my two cents, any replies will be read with interest
    i wouldn't be too worried. jazz is a big music, and people find what they like in it. you really can't "blanket statement" jazz like a lot of folks do...it'd be like saying " i like rock and roll" which as a blanket statement could mean i like the rolling stones (which i do) and the eagles (which i really, really DO NOT.)

    yes, jazz has always prided itself in being a progressive, forward looking music. or has it? the standards a lot of us love to play weren't outsider music 60 years ago-- they were pop music. they're still played today, by a lot of great players. I don't fault, say, john pizzarelli, because most of his repretoire is is 70 years old-- i love it, as do i love someone like nik bartsch's ronin, whose music has little in common with traditional "jazz" at all. i myself fall somewhere in between-- i like a lot of the modern stuff, but when i pick up my guitar, often the old standards are the first thing to pour out.

    jazz is a music that moves forward, but also has a rich tradition. i'm a believer that you don't have to like all of it, but you do have to respect it's roots. some people don't move beyond the roots. now, someone like wes montgomery is as close to "mainstream" as you can get in a fringe music (i'm not even touching smooth jazz, a lot of which contains little or no improvisation and really doesn't qualify as jazz in my book) so it's only natural that he's influenced and loved by many, especially guitar players. luckily, there are guitar players like you whose ears are open to both classic and new sounds

    by the way, your ellington/trane analogy doesn't really work for me, because i never listen to duke for his playing-- but the comment you made about people saying that bebop killed jazz might be spot on-- it likely did kill jazz as a style of popular music. i think a lot of people felt the same way about free jazz, and fusion, and contemporary styles...jazz is a BIG music.

  23. #47

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    One thing very nice about the list, it has sparked some very interesting
    conversation. Also, the list has brought out new names that I am not
    familiar. An interesting aside about John Pizzarelli that I heard on PBS,
    "Wait, Wait". John was once a rocker, while dear old dad, Bucky, just
    smiled.

  24. #48

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    True about Django. I think he was very creative and fast. I think the incredible thing is how he played with 2 fingers!! That amazes me.

  25. #49

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    I guess why I am so adamant about Jim Hall; he changed things, POV... that pivot stuff. He actually did and does all the progressive thought well. And began long ago. Scofield, Metheny and the like come from Jim Hall. I think, Jim Hall has influenced every nowaday guitar player on the map, whether they know it or not. He's incredibly subtle. Hard to get at, at first. Metheny did an album with him. I'm a major league Zappa fan, too. Tommy Tedesco, another relatively unknown studio guy and a major league guitar reader, had trouble playing Zappa's tunes. Add Tedesco to the list...

  26. #50

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    Pat is the most versatile guitarist I have heard over the past 30 years of my jazz-listening life.