I am an amateur jazz guitarist and listen to a lot of jazz guitarists, old and new. But I’m getting the impression that most jazz guitar fans are also amateur jazz guitarists. Jazz fans are kind of an esoteric bunch to begin with and it seems like trumpet and sax have broader appeal.
For rock, guitar is prominent so if you like rock, you’re listening to guitar. And everybody can play air guitar.
But guitar is not nearly so much a focus in jazz. Guitar, although well established in jazz, is not as prominent as horns and piano. Are there people out there who are into jazz guitar but don’t play the guitar themselves?
Huge fan here, and a longtime guitarist - but can’t play jazz.
I saw Joe Pass’s last show at Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA and got his autograph on his Live at Yoshi’s disc - one of only two autographs I have ever asked for - the other being Dizzy Gillespie.
JP’s Virtuosos series is a master class - I especially love #3 - melodic beautiful and technically unsurpassed.
I also love Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue and The Cats are both wonderful discs.
I deeply respect Wes Montgomery and his protoge George Benson…
I love the other main players, but you are right - Sax and Trumpet, and piano, too are all…valued? more than jazz guitar.
I play guitar very, very badly, and don’t play jazz. But I love listening to jazz guitar; I’ve got Bucky Pizzarelli and Frank Vignola’s Moonglow on right now. Django Reinhardt is a favorite, of course. And Bucky Pizzarelli’s son, John Pizzarelli, has done some good stuff over the last decade or two.
I guess this isn’t really in keeping with the OP’s question since I’m yet another
guitarist, but I can’t resist singing more praises for Joe Pass. He’s been a big influence for me going on 30 years now. His death was a big blow, but fortunately, he left a legacy of recordings that will sustain a lifetime of guitar study.
I’m not much of a jazz player, but I play in a sort-of-swing band and it allows me the latitude to use lots of jazz licks and backing chords. I copped a lot of stuff from the recordings Joe made with Herb Ellis.
When you’re named after a chord, you have no choice but to follow the music where that chord is prominently featured.
I am particular to bossa myself. I love the combination of a smooth voice singing in Portuguese with the syncopated nylon-string guitar chord changes in the background
I too play guitar, and I love jazz guitar, but I"m not a jazz guitarist. I plan to take a swing guitar* course at the local music store, but I know that’s not going to be jazz so much as the 1990s incarnation of ‘swing’, which seemed mainly to be like 1950s-era jump blues.
Although the piano might be on a par with it, I think guitar is arguably the most difficult instrument in jazz. Take for example the trumpet and sax mentioned by the OP. The musician only plays one note at a time. Of course, it goes without saying that he or she needs to understand the structure of chords, the progression which is currently being played over, and so forth. But the sax player doesn’t have to make the chords, other than by arpeggio, which tends to follow naturally from the scale. On the other hand, a guitarist has to be able to do pretty much anything a saxist or trumpeter can do on the melodic side, except much faster, and make all the needed chords as well. I think the difficulty of the instrument might be one reason it’s not as prominent…there just aren’t as many guitarists who can play competently at the professional level, as there are players of other instruments.
I’ll add my name to the list of those who own guitars and even attempt to play them. I even took some jazz lessons a few years ago and have tried to play in a jazz style since I began playing back in the 60’s. I’m not much good, so I can qualify as not being an accomplished player.
Another vote for Joe Pass. Add an appreciation for Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Laurindo Almeida, Charlie Byrd, Earl Klugh, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Al DiMeola, Larry Carlton, Jim Hall, Chet Atkins, Ed Bickert, Duane Allman, Dickie Betts, Joe Beck, Jeff Beck, Kenny Rankin, Howard Roberts and probably another dozen I can’t think of off the top of my head.
Except for piano (any keyboards really) I can’t think of another instrument that’s so easy to play and yet so hard to play well.
I keep wanting to hear a guitarist try Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and get away with it. Anybody ever hear such a thing?
Rock guitar player here. When I was in my early 40s I took some theory lessons from Carl Filipiak, a great fusion player in Baltimore. He tried to interest me in playing jazz, but I found I lacked the time, and probably the ability, to get anywhere with it. All of that said, he did spark an interest in listening to jazz guitar. I enjoy Pass, Montgomery and Benson, already mentioned, and I really like Django Reinhardt.
I’ve been a lifelong jazz fan but, I must admit, I didn’t start listening to much jazz guitar until I started playing. Mostly, I played blues/rock but I never really rose above mediocrity. Eventually, I ended up quitting the guitar after a pretty bad hand injury I never lost my love of jazz guitar.
A personal favourite (and it seems everybody else’s) is Joe Pass. And, of course, Django Reinhardt is a god. Another name worth looking into are Pat Martino, whose Live at Yoshi’s is on my all-time favourites list.
A couple of excellent Canadian guitarists worth a listen are Jordan Officer and Jeff Healey. Healey’s probably best known in the US as that blind guitarist from the Patrick Swayze ‘classic’ Roadhouse. However, he’s recently released a couple of excellent swing guitar CDs in the Django tradition that kick-ass. He also hosts a radio show on Jazz.fm focussing on 30’s and 40’s jazz. The man’s a virtual expert on the era.
Jordon Officer is a younger, up-and-comer who’s made a name for himself playing with the Susie Arioli Swing Band. They mostly play the swing standards but he sets the music on fire with his rock and boogie influenced playing. Come to think of it, Healey sits in on a track from Susie Arioli’s Pennies From Heaven CD.
Yeah, me. I can squeeze a song out of a bass if I work at it, but I’m no musician. However, I’m always keen to hear some Pat Metheny, Al Di Miola, Paco De Lucia, Michael Hedges, John McLaughlin, or some other guitarist my more musically inclined friends suggest to me.
My dad played a Wes Montgomery album for me ages ago, and I was hooked. I"m with you, minor7flat5, I love me some bossa nova. Lately, I’ve been hooked on Baden Powell.
