Hi Ben -

Here are a few more which haven't been mentioned...

George Benson
Howard Roberts
George Van Eps
Lenny Breau (one of my favs)
Howard Morgan
Richie Hart
Mimi Fox
Joe Beck
Robert Conti
Scott Henderson (fusion guy, but great jazz player)

If you are new to jazz guitar, any of the mentioned artists will do, but I would suggest listening to the legends like Wes Montgomery, Django, and Joe Pass. Good Luck!

I found a ton of Django in my dad's cd collection. It's amazing that he can do all that with 2 fingers. Thanks for all your help yall.

Snoogans,
Ben

yeah Scott Henderson cant be left out, especially if you like fusion. in my opinion he's the best fusion guitarist out there. and Joe Beck, i saw him at this small trio performance here, he was amazing.. check out "Polariy" by him and Jimmy Bruno. and for mostly guitar, no other band members, get Joe Pass's greatest hits (or something to that effect)

Hi Rob, I found your post while I was searching for anything in the 'buzz about Mimi Fox . . . she's giving a Master Class in Jazz Guitar at the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis MN on Sunday, Nov. 10th, 2002 . . . wish I could go!

I was just curious if anyone had heard of her, and you had!

:)

Jimmy Bruno, Pat Martino, Emily Remler, Joe Pass, Djnago Reinhardt, Johnny Smith, Hank Garland, Rene Thomas, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Larry Coryell, Joe Diorio, Lagrene Birelli, Jack Wilkins, Norman Brown, Mark Whitfield, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Tuck Andress, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

Frederick, you're still alive?
Nice to hear from you!

i'm only just getting into jazz, even bought a little jazz cheat book to get a couple of chord progressions etc under my belt before i get into it seriously, but it's all because of a django reinhardt cd a pal of mine lent me. i thought cool, this guy is awesome, and there and then i decided to learn more about jazz. what freaked me out was when i learnt that he only really plays with two fingers, the other two having been damaged in a fire. wow. then i remembered an old tape i saw amongst my dad's collection which was john mclaughlin(SP?!), al di meola and another guy, i forget who exactly. i'm going there 2nite to pick it up. once you go down this track, man, there ain't no turnin back... like you'd ever want to...

;=D-

Wow... endless listening and it's all good and there's no such thing as a bad list... but... I can't believe nobody's mentioned Charlie Christian yet -- Thank You! -- I get pleasure just from typing the words: Charlie Christian.

BTW Dominic, if your Dad's got that John McL/DiMeola/and ... dang it's a famous classical guitarist and I don't remember who -- (Julian Bream maybe?) then he might have some Mahavishnu Orchestra (JMcL is the guitarist) look for "Birds of Fire" and "Visions of the Emerald Beyond" it's out there stuff but I love it .... (some of the other Mahavishnu albums are pretty lame though... the Santana/McLaughlin one is very disappointing IMHO.) Also, John McL is the guitarist on Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew."

Finally, guitarist trivia question of the day: What great (but at the time unknown) guitarist plays a solo on one track of Christopher Cross's first album (early 80s, you know, the one with all his hits: Sailing, etc. There's a Flamingo on the cover)?

Answer this correctly and you win the prize -- which is telling me which track this guy is on -- cuz I forget.

Doug.

Well, the third guitarist in this case might well
be Flamenco great Paco de Lucia. The trio has done a couple of albums together: "Friday Night in San Francisco", and "Guitar Trio". Give one or both of these a listen.
Ouch!

Thanks Tony! That sounds right! I haven't heard any of those albums because I don't like Al DiMeola... maybe I'll give em a shot. J McL is one of my Gods and I don't understand why he played with Al DiMeola... it's either cause at the time Al DiMeola was the 'big' name, the 'draw,' or because Al D is a heck of a lot better than I understand -- definitely possible -- A third reson comes to mind. Al Di (and Paco) was one of the only guys in the world who could actually keep up (technically) with the kind of music McL was interested in playing -- and vice versa I suppose.

Hendrix had been studying Jazz on and off with JMcL before he (Jimi) died... those are some sessions I want to hear!!!!

No bites on my trivia question. The guitarist is Eric Johnson. Now, which track is he on?... it's easy to hear if you have the CD, but I don't... and I'm not gonna buy it, either!

Take care,
Doug "what's so funny about peace love and jazz-rock fusion?" McMullen

I highly recommend that you listen to some Al DiMeola. I only have his most recent CD, which is more of a symphony than guitar, although the music and guitar playing are still excellent. He's actually a great composer, too. What really blows me away, though, is his playing from his earlier years, which I have on Napster. He plays a lot of foreign-sounding music, combining it not necessarily with rock (he definitely has some essence of rock and jazz, as anyone who's heard him can tell), but just some awesome guitar playing.

- J

John, Al, and Paco. I like the second one better. The first one is pure virtuoso demonstration, which gets old after awhile. The second one is a little more thought out and tasteful IMHO. Has anyone mentioned Charlie Hunter yet? Pretty cool stuff.
I'm disappointed no one got my Emmet Ray joke. I though I was being so clever. =/

Marcos

*LOL*

I'd seen Emmett Ray in your post and thought... WHO HE?... Gee he's in good company... I'll have to check him out.

Ok, so who is Emmett Ray!?

Doug.

(Bay City Rollers' "guitarist"? Virtuoso jazz Tubaist? Anagram? (Me, me, ratty?)

Oh wow! Thank you! Emmett Ray! Did a web search... Woody Allen made a jazz guitar movie and I didn't know a thing about it! YIKES. They may throw me out of New York City for this!

Doug.

LOL I hope you weren't going around New York asking for Emmet Ray albums. My roomate works at wherehouse and he said they ahad tons of people that saw the movie coming asking for his stuff. Sweet & Lowdown. I think it one or was nominated for some awards. Spectacular movie. TOtally woth seeing.

Marcos

...and the guitar soloist was Howard Alden with Bucky Pizzarelli on rhythm. Great soundtrack, I could listen to "I'll See You In My Dreams" all day!