Jazz Guitar Players Look To The Past For Innovation
In the early part of the twentieth century jazz guitar players very often used the old-time banjo. This is not the instrument necessarily thought of today in the idiom. The banjo then, as it is now, was generally used for country, bluegrass and folk music, the antithesis of cool.
Gibson produced the first acoustic guitar in 1923 with a hollow body that could be heard within an orchestra. Though mostly used for rhythm, it was making inroads as a solo instrument and the banjo was packed up and sent off to the country, so to speak. The guitar was about to become cool, a designation that still holds today.
The electric guitar was invented in the 1930s. This amplified invention was capable of being heard amongst the horns and drums. Swing, bebop, hard-bop, fusion or mellow, the guitar now had a place in the band. Over time, its presence would expand. Its players earned name recognition.
Charlie Christian was the first to record the new amplified guitar with The Benny Goodman Orchestra. This proved the exception and not the rule. It still, for the most part, played a background role; in the rhythm section. Django Reinhardt was the first to have big-name recognition. His style was too inventive to take a backseat in any orchestra.
By the 1940s, things were shaken up with the advent of small combos, replacing orchestras. Quartets, trios, sextets and quintets began to dominate. With the development of the bebop style, guitarists were now soloists with name recognition. Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery were just a few of the players to make their own recordings. By the 1960s, they were famous.
Things made another drastic leap in the 1970s with a style that fused jazz with rock. Specifically heavy metal rock, taken from the playbook of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton. Jazz guitarists were no longer content with cool. They heated things up with ample volume, wah-wah pedals and octave splitters. Heavy metal was given a new jazzy twist. John McLaughlin was the preeminent name of this new style but others followed.
Fusion had its appeal for some but was replaced by a smoother, commercial sound by the 1980s. The wah-wah pedal and the octave splitters were sent packing while jazz continued to merge itself into other genres such as world music, blues, pop and new-age. This clean sound goes right back to Charlie Christian. There is a neo-traditional school intent on playing the cool, lush sound of the early guitarists. Django Reinhardt continues to influence a new generation of jazz guitar players whose Latin style is popular in dance clubs. We have come full-circle. Even the jazz banjo has a growing fan base.
jazz guitar players
Gibson produced the first acoustic guitar in 1923 with a hollow body that could be heard within an orchestra. Though mostly used for rhythm, it was making inroads as a solo instrument and the banjo was packed up and sent off to the country, so to speak. The guitar was about to become cool, a designation that still holds today.
The electric guitar was invented in the 1930s. This amplified invention was capable of being heard amongst the horns and drums. Swing, bebop, hard-bop, fusion or mellow, the guitar now had a place in the band. Over time, its presence would expand. Its players earned name recognition.
Charlie Christian was the first to record the new amplified guitar with The Benny Goodman Orchestra. This proved the exception and not the rule. It still, for the most part, played a background role; in the rhythm section. Django Reinhardt was the first to have big-name recognition. His style was too inventive to take a backseat in any orchestra.
By the 1940s, things were shaken up with the advent of small combos, replacing orchestras. Quartets, trios, sextets and quintets began to dominate. With the development of the bebop style, guitarists were now soloists with name recognition. Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery were just a few of the players to make their own recordings. By the 1960s, they were famous.
Things made another drastic leap in the 1970s with a style that fused jazz with rock. Specifically heavy metal rock, taken from the playbook of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton. Jazz guitarists were no longer content with cool. They heated things up with ample volume, wah-wah pedals and octave splitters. Heavy metal was given a new jazzy twist. John McLaughlin was the preeminent name of this new style but others followed.
Fusion had its appeal for some but was replaced by a smoother, commercial sound by the 1980s. The wah-wah pedal and the octave splitters were sent packing while jazz continued to merge itself into other genres such as world music, blues, pop and new-age. This clean sound goes right back to Charlie Christian. There is a neo-traditional school intent on playing the cool, lush sound of the early guitarists. Django Reinhardt continues to influence a new generation of jazz guitar players whose Latin style is popular in dance clubs. We have come full-circle. Even the jazz banjo has a growing fan base.
jazz guitar players
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