This article is about jazz guitar performers. For the musical style, see jazz guitar. For the Ted Dunbar album, see Jazz Guitarist (album).
Jazz guitarists are guitarists who play jazz using an approach to chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist (rhythm guitar) and soloist in small and large ensembles and also as an unaccompanied solo instrument.
Until the 1930s, jazz bands used banjo because the banjo's metallic twang was easier to hear than the acoustic guitar when competing with trumpets, trombones, and drums. The banjo could be heard more easily, too, on wax cylinders in the early days of audio recording. The invention of the archtop increased the guitar's volume, and in the hands of Eddie Lang guitar became a solo instrument for the first time. Following the lead of Lang, musicians dropped their banjos for guitars, and by the 1930s the banjo hardly existed as a jazz instrument.
Amplification created possibilities for the guitar. Charlie Christian was the first to explore these possibilities. Although his career was brief, it was influential enough for critics to divide the history of jazz guitar into pre- and post-Christian eras.
Early years: 1880s-1920s
In early days of jazz in New Orleans most bands had guitarists, but there are no recordings by Lorenzo Staulz,[1][2] Rene Baptiste, Dominick Barocco, Joe Guiffre, Coochie Martin, and Brock Mumford. Buddy Bolden, one of the earliest jazz musicians, played in a band in 1889 that was led by guitarist Charlie Galloway. King Oliver, another important early figure, belonged to a band in 1910 that was led by guitarist Louis Keppard, brother of Freddie Keppard.[3]
Although jazz guitar existed during these years, banjo was a more popular instrument. The metallic twang of the banjo was easier to hear in a band than the acoustic guitar or piano, and it was easier to hear when recording on wax cylinders.[3][4] The first person to make solo recordings on guitar was Nick Lucas, the dominant guitarist of the 1920s, when he released "Pickin' the Guitar" and "Teasin' the Frets" in 1922.[3] He had experimented with wax cylinders ten years earlier. He became the first person to have a custom guitar named after him, the Gibson Nick Lucas Special.[5] Nevertheless, his career was built on his reputation as a singer. He was popular on radio, Broadway, and in vaudeville. With his high-pitched voice, he sold eight million copies of his signature song, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Both the song and singing style were borrowed decades later by Tiny Tim.[5]
Replacing the banjo
Duke Ellington's big band at the Hurricane Ballroom had a rhythm section that included a jazz guitarist, a double bass player, and a drummer (not visible, but who is to the right of the bassist).
The role of the early jazz guitarists was to be part of the rhythm section. Freddie Green played rhythm guitar for the Count Basie Orchestra from the 1930s until Basie's death in the 1980s,[4][6] contributing to the band's swing by inverting chords, also known as revoicing,[7] on each beat.[8] Like Green, Eddie Condon played rhythm guitar his whole career without taking a solo. Allan Reuss gave rhythm guitar a place in the big band of Benny Goodman.[9]
The first jazz guitarist to step from the rhythm section was Eddie Lang. Wanting to do more than strum chords for the band, Lang played single-string solos. He drew attention to himself while he was a member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and as a popular studio musician. Like most guitarists of the time, he started on banjo, and when he switched to guitar, many others followed. His Gibson L-5 archtop became a popular model among jazz guitarists. By 1934, largely due to Lang, guitar replaced the banjo as a jazz instrument.[8][10]
A jazz guitarist with his instrument plugged into a Polytone combo guitar amp (which combines an amplifier and a speaker).
Playing an unamplified archtop guitar is feasible for rhythm guitar accompaniment in some small groups playing in small venues. However, playing single note guitar solos audibly without an amplifier is a challenge in larger ensembles and in larger halls. Django Reinhardt's Hot Club of France was a string quintet in which being heard over the other instruments was rarely a problem. Argentinian Oscar Alemán, who was in Paris at the same time as Reinhardt, tried to overcome the problem of audibility by using a resonator guitar, as did Eddie Durham, an arranger and trombonist with the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra who also played guitar. Durham experimented with amplification and became the first person to make audio recordings with electric guitar when he recorded with the Kansas City Five in the 1930s. He played a Gibson ES-150 arched-top which Gibson had started producing a couple years before.[4][8][9] Durham persuaded Floyd Smith to buy an electric guitar, and while on tour he showed his amp to Charlie Christian.[9]
Many musicians were inspired to pick up guitar after hearing Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman orchestra. Christian was the first person to explore the possibilities created by the electric guitar. He had large audiences when he played solos with passing chords.[8] According to jazz critic Leonard Feather, Christian played a single-note line alongside a trumpet and saxophone, moving the guitar away from its secondary role in the rhythm section. He tried diminished and augmented chords. His rhythm suggested bebop. While in New York City, he spent many late hours at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, playing with musicians such as Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.[9]
Post-Christian era
Although Charlie Christian had a brief career, his impact was big enough that some critics divide the history of jazz guitar into pre-Christian and post-Christian eras. Mary Osborne saw Christian perform when he visited her home state of North Dakota in 1938. The performance inspired her to buy an electric guitar. Before Christian, George Barnes was experimenting with amplification in 1931. He claimed to be the first electric guitarist and the first to record with an electric guitar, on March 1, 1938, in sessions with blues guitarist Big Bill Broonzy fifteen days before Eddie Durham recorded with the Kansas City Five.[1]
As the swing era turned to bebop, guitarists moved away from Charlie Christian's style. Two pioneers of bebop, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, recorded with young guitarists Bill DeArango[14] and Remo Palmier and inspired Chuck Wayne to change his approach. After playing in big bands with Woody Herman and Benny Goodman, Billy Bauer explored unconventional territory with Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz[15] playing dissonant chords, and trying to adapt the abstraction of Konitiz and Warne Marsh to the guitar. Although Jimmy Raney was influenced by Tristano, his harmonies were more subtle and logical. Johnny Smith carried this love of harmony into a romantic, chordal style as in his hit ballad "Moonlight in Vermont". Tal Farlow avoided the abstraction of Trisanto. Farlow blamed his ability to play quickly on the need to keep up with his bandleader, Red Norvo.[16][9]
Lenny Breau performed using an ensemble improvisational playing, along with a more orchestral finger-style solo jazz guitar. He used many diverse elements of music, including closed voicings, flamenco-style guitar, use of varied rhythms, fingered harmonics, modal jazz harmony, an intimate knowledge of inversions and tritone substitutions, and a great understanding of bebop.[citation needed]
Jazz fusion pioneer John McLaughlin at a festival in Limburgerhof, Germany, 2008
When rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix became popular in the 1960s, he created the persona of the guitar hero, the charismatic solo guitarist dazzling the audience. He created possibilities on guitar through the use of electronic effect units. Hendrix inspired many musicians to pick up electric guitar.
One of them was Larry Coryell, who combined jazz and rock in the 1960s before the term jazz fusion was common. English guitarist John McLaughlin followed Coryell and Hendrix, but he explored other styles, too, such as blues, electronic, folk, free jazz, gypsy jazz, and Indian music. McLaughlin recorded an album of acoustic jazz in the early 1980s with guitarists Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola. English guitarist Allan Holdsworth played jazz rock in the 1980s that as inspired by John Coltrane. Lee Ritenour is among the most popular jazz fusion guitarists.[16] He established his name in the 1970s as a busy studio musician who recorded with acts in many genres.[17]
The hammer-on is a common technique in guitar, but in the 1980s Stanley Jordan was the first to extend the technique into his entire playing style. Jordan taps the fretboard with the fingertips of both hands, playing the neck of the guitar like a piano. Enver Izmaylov, a native of Uzbekistan, uses a similar two-handed technique to adapt his country's folk music to jazz. Others using tapping techniques to a lesser degree include David Torn and Tuck Andress. Some fusion guitarists reacted against the excesses of their predecessors by playing in a more restrained style. These include Larry Carlton, Steve Khan, Terje Rypdal.[16]Mike Stern began his career with the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, then was a member of Miles Davis's band in the 1980s.[18]
Influences from free jazz in the 1960s made its way to the guitar. Sonny Sharrock used dissonance, distortion effects units, and other electronic gear to create sonic "sheets of noise" that drove some listeners away when he performed at festivals. He refused to play chords, calling himself a horn player, which is where he got his inspiration.[19] English guitarist Derek Bailey established his reputation as part of the European free jazz scene. Like Sharrock, he sought liberation for its own sake and the breaking of all conventions in the name of originality. He belonged to the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the 1970s. Beginning in the 1990s, he formed duos with DJs, Chinese pipa musicians, and Pat Metheny.[16]
Jean Reinhardt, known by his Romani nickname Django, was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most significant exponents.
The term jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or to the variety of guitar playing styles used in the various genres which are commonly termed "jazz". The jazz-type guitar was born as a result of using electric amplification to increase the volume of conventional acoustic guitars.
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section ; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.
Charles Henry Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis of the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Django Reinhardt.
A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm section is often contrasted with the roles of other musicians in the band, such as the lead guitarist or lead vocals whose primary job is to carry the melody.
Martin Taylor, MBE is a British jazz guitarist who has performed in groups, guitar ensembles, and as an accompanist.
The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on guitar.
Biréli Lagrène is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles.
William Charles "Diz" Disley was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and banjoist. He is best known for his acoustic jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, for his contributions to the UK trad jazz, skiffle and folk scenes as a performer and humorist, and for his collaborations with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli.
Gypsy jazz is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908–97), as expressed in their group the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Because its origins are in France, Reinhardt was from the Manouche clan, and the style has remained popular amongst the Manouche, gypsy jazz is often called by the French name "jazz manouche", or alternatively, "manouche jazz" in English language sources. Some scholars have noted that the style was not named manouche until the late 1960s; the name "gypsy jazz" began to be used around the late 1990s.
The Quintette du Hot Club de France, often abbreviated "QdHCdF" or "QHCF", was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and active in one form or another until 1948.
Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist invents melodies and lines over a chord progression played by rhythm section instruments and accompanied by drums. Although blues, rock, and other genres use improvisation, it is done over relatively simple chord progressions which often remain in one key.
Jean-Jacques "Babik" Reinhardt was a French guitarist and the younger son of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt by Django's second wife, Naguine. His elder half-brother Lousson, who was Django's son by his first wife, Bella, was also a guitarist, but the two grew up in different families and rarely met. He was christened Jean-Jacques but generally known by his family nickname, Babik.
Eldon Shamblin was an American guitarist and arranger, particularly important to the development of Western swing music as one of the first electric guitarists in a popular dance band. He was a member of The Strangers during the 1970s and 1980s.
Joseph "Nin-Nin" Reinhardt (1912-1982) was the younger brother of guitarist Django Reinhardt and played rhythm guitar on most of Django's pre-war recordings, especially those with the Quintette du Hot Club de France between 1934 and 1939. He was a pioneer of the amplified jazz guitar in France and performed for years on a home-made instrument of his own design.
Ian Date is an Australian acoustic and electric guitarist most associated with the Gypsy jazz and bebop genres. He achieved success in the 1980s in the band Sweet Atmosphere co-led with Australian violinist George Washingmachine, playing repertoire of the 1930s and 1940s. He also plays banjo, trumpet. Jazz Ramble states, "(Ian) has played all over the world, has made numerous television, radio, festival and concert performances, and is regarded as one of Australia's great guitar players."
Ian Cruickshank was an English electric and acoustic guitarist most associated with the blues-rock and gypsy jazz genres, also well known in the U.K. as an educator, author and columnist, record producer and record label owner, festival organiser and promoter of artists in the gypsy jazz world. He achieved some success in the 1960s in the Keef Hartley Band playing electric guitar under the pseudonym Spit James before becoming enamoured of the gypsy jazz style originated by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and devoting almost all of his energies to educating, performing and promoting activities in this area up till his death in 2017. He published several influential books on gypsy jazz, was producer and music co-ordinator for the TV Documentary Django Legacy, was the owner of the Fret Records record label, and organised the UK Gypsy Jazz Guitar Festival annually from 1997 to 2000.
Harry Volpe was an early jazz guitarist and pioneering music publisher. Following the introduction and popularization of the guitar in jazz in the 1920s by Eddie Lang ‒ and prior to the world's introduction to the playing of Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian ‒ Volpe was in the vanguard of leading early virtuoso jazz guitarists whose collective style became known as plectrum guitar marked by solo and duet jazz guitar compositions, and included Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, Al Valenti, and Frank Victor. Volpe is known for his early plectrum guitar duet recordings with Frank Victor in 1936, starting a music publishing company in the 1930s, playing with Django Reinhardt in 1946 in Reinhardt's first US visit, having a Harry Volpe Epiphone guitar introduced in 1955, and having a long career writing guitar instruction books.
Gismo Graf is a German jazz musician.
References
1 2 Yanow, Scott (2013). The Great Jazz Guitarists. San Francisco: Backbeat. pp.xi–xii. ISBN978-1-61713-023-6.
1 2 3 Summerfield, Maurice J. (1998). The Jazz Guitar: Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1900 (4thed.). Newcastle upon Tyne: Ashley Mark Publishing. ISBN9781872639260.
1 2 Berendt, Joachim E. (1996). Sallis, James (ed.). The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p.147. ISBN0803242506.
1 2 3 4 Ferguson, Jim (2002). Kernfeld, Barry (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol.2 (2nded.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. pp.110–113. ISBN1-56159-284-6.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Feather, Leonard (1996). "The Guitar in Jazz". In Sallis, James (ed.). The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology. Lincoln, Nebraska: Univ. of Nebraska Press. pp.3–. ISBN0-8032-4250-6.
1 2 3 4 5 Berendt, Joachim-Ernst; Huesmann, Gunther (2009). The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century (7ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Lawrence Hill Books. pp.426–430. ISBN978-1-55652820-0.
↑ Deming, Mark. "Lee Ritenour". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
↑ Thomas, Fred. "Mike Stern". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
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