Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar

Aleman and Charlie Christian, who in turn advanced the
evolution of jazz guitar by a quantum leap.
Records by Reinhardt (with the Quintet of the Hot Club
of France) and Christian (with the Benny Goodman Sextet)
beckoned to an entire generation of new American
guitarists such as Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Tal
Farlow, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery and so many others
who contributed their remarkable creativity and expertise
to the instrument. Jazz guitar soon became a highly
sophisticated genre with a host of genial exponents.
The “vinyl tradition” of learning to play was now well-
established. Aspiring guitarists bought records by the artists
they admired, learned to play better by repeated listening
and practice, which helped them find their own voice on
the instrument and ultimately to perpetuate the evolution
of jazz guitar with their own new ideas, innovations and, of
course, new records.
The evolution continues today with Martin Taylor,
Tommy Crook, Jim Nichols, Duck Baker and Woody Mann.
Each player has developed a distinctly different approach
to interpreting and writing jazz for solo guitar by listening
intently to numerous other musicians and composers –
pianists, horn players, bassists, and singers as well as many
guitarists in jazz, blues and other styles. What distinguishes
them from more traditional jazz guitarists (who more or
less function as a linear voice in an ensemble) is their ability
to play (or imply) all aspects of the music – rhythm, chords,
bass, and melody – without accompaniment.
Records by Charlie Byrd, Lenny Breau, George Van
Eps, Laurindo Almieda, and Joe Pass have set a very high
standard for solo fingerstyle jazz guitar, and it is from this
vantage point that the solo flights of Taylor, Crook, Nichols,
Baker, and Mann take wing. Their performances not only
demonstrate their technical brilliance and imagination, they
are a testament to the enduring power and beauty of jazz
guitar in its current evolution as a major instrumental force
in American music.