Artist Index How to use Artist INDEX

Robben Ford　

Robben Ford has had a diverse career. He taught himself guitar when he was 13 and considered his first influence to be Mike Bloomfield. At 18 he moved to San Francisco to form the Charles Ford ..more

Lee Ritenour　

Lee Ritenour has long been the perfect studio musician, one who can melt into the background without making any impact. While he possesses impressive technique, Ritenour has mostly played {\inst ..more

Larry Carlton　

Best known for his signature Gibson 335 guitar and his supreme technique, Larry Carlton sees no drawing a line between genres. He draws on his varied musical roots including jazz, rock, country, and n ..more

Marc Ribot　

Eclectic guitarist Marc Ribot has recorded a wide variety of music over his career, including working with Elvis Costello and on Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs. He has also recorded compositions for ..more

Bill Frisell　

The defining characteristic of any given jazz musician is frequently his sound. The more control a player has over the nature of that sound, the more likely he is to project a distinctive musical p ..more

Pat Martino　

One of the most original of the jazz-based guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, Pat Martino made a remarkable comeback after brain surgery in 1980 to correct an aneurysm caused him to lose his mem ..more

Pat Metheny　

Guitar legend Pat Metheny is known for his original and genre-breaking music and emotional tone that can be recognized easily. In fact, his music is so inclusive that classifying him as jazz musician ..more

Barney Kessel　

One of the finest guitarists to emerge after the death of Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel was a reliable bop soloist throughout his career. He played with a big band fronted by Chico Ma ..more

Charlie Byrd　

Tasteful, low-key, and ingratiatingly melodic, Charlie Byrd had two notable accomplishments to his credit -- applying acoustic classical guitar techniques to jazz and popular music and hel ..more

Joe Pass　

Joe Pass did the near-impossible. He was able to play up-tempo versions of bop tunes such as Cherokee and How High the Moon unaccompanied on the guitar. Unlike Stanley Jordan, Pas ..more

George Benson　

George Benson is simply one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history, but he is also an amazingly versatile musician, and that frustrates to no end critics who would paint him into a narrow {\ ..more

John Mclaughlin　

One of fusion’s most virtuosic guitar soloists, John McLaughlin placed his blazing speed in the service of a searching spiritual passion that has kept his music evolving and open to new influenc ..more

John Scofield　

One of the big three of current jazz guitarists (along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell), John Scofield’s influence grew in the ’90s and continued into the 21st century. Possessor of a ..more

Django Reinhardt　

Django Reinhardt was the first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe -- and he remains the most influential European to this day, with possible competition from Joe Zawinul, ..more

Jim Hall　

A harmonically advanced cool-toned and subtle guitarist, Jim Hall has been an inspiration to many guitarists, including some (such as Bill Frisell) who sound nothing like him. Hall attende ..more

Korekata Hirokuni　

Kenny Burrell　

One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead jazz guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist whose understated and melodic style, grounded in bebop and blues, made him in an in-demand s ..more

Grant Green　

Grant Green was born in St. Louis on June 6, 1931, learned his instrument in grade school from his guitar-playing father and was playing professionally by the age of thirteen with a gospel group. H ..more

Gilad Hekselman　

Gabor Szabo　

Gabor Szabo was one of the most original guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, mixing his Hungarian folk music heritage with a deep love of jazz and crafting a distinctive, largely self-taught sound. ..more