Top 5 Best Jazz Guitarist

1. Joe Pass
Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua) January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was a jazz guitarist. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, use of a chord-melody style of play and outstanding knowledge of chord progressions opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists.







2. Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (6 March 1923 - 15 June 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny.








3. Django Reinhart

Jean "Django" Reinhardt (23January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.

One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Tears", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42" and "Nuages" (French for "Clouds").

4. Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian (Charles Henry Christian) (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist.

Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single string technique combined with amplification helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. John Hammond and George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the swing era. In the liner notes to the 1972 Columbia album Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian, Gene Lees writes that "many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop, or if not that, at least a precursor to it."

Christian's influence reached beyond jazz and swing, and in 1990 Christian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Charles Henry Christian was raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was one of many musicians who jammed along the city's "Deep Deuce" section on N.E. Second Street. In 2006 the city renamed a street in its Bricktown entertainment district "Charlie Christian Avenue." Oklahoma City is also the home of an annual jazz festival named for Christian.

5. Pat Metheny

Patrick Bruce Metheny (pronounced muh-THEE-nee) (born August 12, 1954, Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.

One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progressive- and contemporary jazz, post-bop, latin-jazz and jazz fusion.











source : wikipedia.org