Editing Jazz guitar (section)

==History==

===1900–mid-1930s===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2017}}The stringed, chord-playing rhythm can be heard in groups which included military band-style instruments such as brass, saxes, clarinets, and drums, such as early jazz groups. As the acoustic guitar became a more popular instrument in the early 20th century, guitar-makers began building louder guitars which would be useful in a wider range of settings. [[Nick Lucas]] is regarded as the grandfather of jazz guitar, with two of his guitar compositions recorded in 1922, Picking the Guitar and Teasing the Frets, being the first guitar solos ever recorded. Lucas built the foundations for jazz guitar through his development of various rhythmic, single string, and sweep picking techniques. 

The Gibson L5, an acoustic [[archtop guitar]] which was first produced in 1923, was an early “jazz”-style guitar which was used by early jazz guitarists such as [[Eddie Lang]]. By the 1930s, the guitar began to displace the banjo as the primary chordal rhythm instrument in jazz because the guitar could be used to voice chords of greater harmonic complexity, and it had a somewhat more muted tone that blended well with the [[upright bass]], which, by this time, had almost completely replaced the tuba as the dominant bass instrument in jazz.

===Late 1930s-1960s===
During the late 1930s and through the 1940s—the heyday of [[big band]] jazz and [[swing music]]—the guitar was an important [[rhythm section]] instrument. Some guitarists, such as [[Freddie Green]] of [[Count Basie]]'s band, developed a guitar-specific style of accompaniment. Few of the big bands, however, featured amplified guitar solos, which were done instead in the small combo context. The most important jazz guitar soloists of this period included[[Django Reinhardt]], the Manouche virtuoso; [[Oscar Moore]] who was featured with [[Nat “King” Cole]]'s trio and [[Charlie Christian]] of [[Benny Goodman]]'s band and sextet who was a major influence despite his death early in 1942 at the age of 25. Also noteworthy was [[Mike Danzi]] who performed with the [[Alex Hyde]] Orchestra in the United States as well as with several jazz orchestras throughout Germany during the 1930s.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120313062344/http://www.centerforjazzarts.org/danzi_exhibition.html Center For Jazz Arts: "An American In Berlin" Mike Danzi on centerforjazzarts.org]</ref> 

[[File:Duke Ellington - Hurricane Ballroom - rhythm section.jpg|thumb|[[Duke Ellington]]'s [[big band]] had a rhythm section that included a jazz guitarist, a double bass player, and a drummer (not visible).]]

It was not until the large-scale emergence of small combo jazz post-WWII that the guitar took off as a versatile instrument which was used both in the rhythm section and as a featured melodic instrument and solo improviser. In the hands of [[George Barnes (musician)|George Barnes]], [[Billy Bauer]], [[Kenny Burrell]], [[Herb Ellis]], [[Barney Kessel]], [[Jimmy Raney]], and [[Tal Farlow]], who had absorbed the language of [[bebop]], the guitar began to be seen as a “serious” jazz instrument. Improved electric guitars such as Gibson's [[Gibson ES-175|ES-175]] (released in 1949), gave players a larger variety of tonal options. In the 1940s through the 1960s, players such as [[Wes Montgomery]], [[Joe Pass]], [[Al Caiola]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carlton |first1=Jim |chapter=Al Ciola (A Career At The Top) |pages=5–18 |chapter-url={{GBurl|p6pLpxEGRuoC|p=5}} |title=Conversations with Great Jazz and Studio Guitarists |date=2012 |publisher=Mel Bay Publications |isbn=978-1-61911-052-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=Steve |chapter=The Magnificent Seven (1960)—Al Caiola and His Orchestra |pages=334–335 |chapter-url={{GBurl|GQglDwAAQBAJ|p=335}} |title=Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings |date=2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-5449-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Sam |title=Al Caiola, Guitarist With Top 40 Instrumental Hits, Dies at 96 |id={{ProQuest|1842929920}} |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/arts/music/al-caiola-guitarist-who-played-hit-tv-themes-dies-at-96.html |work=The New York Times |date=24 November 2016 }}</ref> [[Tony Mottola]]<ref> {{cite web|title=Tony Mottola, 86; Composer, Guitarist Played With Sinatra|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-13-me-passings13.2-story.html|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=17 June 2017|date=13 August 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Guitarist Tony Mottola Dies At 86| url = http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/1431176/guitarist-tony-mottola-dies-at-86|magazine=Billboard|access-date=17 June 2017|language=en|date=10 August 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Project 3 Is Joint Singer-Light Firm |page=74 |url={{GBurl|CgEAAAAMBAJ|p=74}} |magazine=Billboard |volume=79 |issue=7 |date=18 February 1967 }}</ref> and [[Jim Hall (musician)|Jim Hall]] laid the foundation of what is now known as "jazz guitar" playing.

===1970s===
As a result of the ubiquity of the guitar in rock and pop bands during the 1960s, jazz guitarists began to pursue rock-based styles and genres, radically changing the face of jazz guitar and developing the style of "[[jazz fusion]]", which broke out of standard jazz idioms and explored rock, funk, and electronic music. As early as 1967, [[Larry Coryell]] and his band The Free Spirits recorded [[Out of Sight and Sound]], a groundbreaking album that was one of the earliest examples of rock music being interpreted and played by jazz musicians. More prevalently, [[Miles Davis]] featured [[George Benson]] as a soloist on the track "Paraphernalia" off of his 1968 album [[Miles in the Sky]], which marked the first example of his long-standing associations with guitarists. Shortly after this, he recruited [[John McLaughlin (musician)|John McLaughlin]] to play on [[In a Silent Way|In A Silent Way]] and [[Bitches Brew]], some of the first jazz albums to be called "fusion" and the first serious jazz-rock albums. McLaughlin was a veteran of the British blues scene, and had cut his teeth playing with popular blues and rock groups, such as [[The Graham Bond Organisation|The Graham Bond Quartet]], [[The Rolling Stones]], and [[Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames]]. McLaughlin was an avowed fan of [[Jimi Hendrix]], and utilized phrasing closer to that of blues and funk guitarists than stereotypical bebop phrasing, and even had a track off of Bitches Brew named after him. He also played with the [[The Tony Williams Lifetime|Tony Williams Lifetime]] for two years, before departing, radically altering his approach, and founding a new band. Davis would continue experimenting with guitar-based music during the 1970s, spearheaded by experimental soloist [[Pete Cosey]], and rhythm guitarists [[Reggie Lucas]] and, for some time, [[Dominique Gaumont]]. Cosey made heavy use of effects, including a synthesizer, as well as 10 string guitars and experimental tunings. His work and influence is recognized by several avant-garde guitarists, such as [[Television (band)|Television]] guitarist [[Tom Verlaine]].

[[Mahavishnu Orchestra|The Mahavishnu Orchestra]], the resulting band, broke sigificant ground in both rock and jazz realms, and was headlined by McLaughlin's newer, more experimental style. His guitar playing began to utilize bends, sustain, and distortion common to blues rock musicians, as well as a vocabulary heavily influenced by [[Hindustani classical music|Hindustani]] and [[Carnatic music|Carnatic]] styles of [[Indian classical music]] which had become popular in [[psychedelic rock]]. His aggression and virtuosity earned him and his band fame, and he became a dominant force in jazz guitar. Inspired by him, pianist [[Chick Corea]] reorganized his Latin jazz band [[Return to Forever]] into a guitar-led rock band, first with blues-based guitarist [[Bill Connors]], then with young virtuoso [[Al Di Meola]]. Di Meola would also accrue much respect as a soloist, and influenced numerous rock and jazz guitarists after his time.

Many rock guitarists also began to utilize jazz vocabulary and jazz-based ideas, reflective of [[Progressive rock|progessive rock]]'s convergent evolution with fusion jazz. [[Yes (band)|Yes]] guitarists [[Peter Banks]] and [[Steve Howe]] had styles akin to that of many jazz guitarists early on, and helped define Yes's sound apart from other bands. [[John Goodsall]], guitarist for the seminal jazz-rock band [[Brand X]], utilized a fusion guitar style in the context of a progressive rock sound. Most notably, though, was [[Allan Holdsworth]], who played with numerous progessive rock groups and musicians([[Soft Machine]], [[Gong (band)|Gong]], [[Tempest (UK band)|Tempest]], [[Bill Bruford]], [[U.K. (band)|U.K.]]) before embarking on a decades-long solo career that saw him become of the most revered soloists in the guitar world. Rather than utilizing standard picking, Holdsworth relied on legato phrasing inspired by horn players like [[John Coltrane]] and wildly unique and extremely advanced harmonic ideas. Despite being an "underground" musician and getting very little commercial success, Holdsworth inspired several guitarists over the years, most particularly, [[Eddie Van Halen]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-09 |title=The one guitarist that inspired Eddie Van Halen |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-guitarist-that-inspired-eddie-van-halen/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref>{{empty section|date=May 2024}}

===1980s–2000s===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2017}}
[[File:John McLaughlin 1 (fcm).jpg|thumb|Jazz fusion pioneer [[John McLaughlin (musician)|John McLaughlin]] at a festival in Limburgerhof, Germany, 2008]]
By the early 1980s, the radical experiments of early 1970s-era fusion gave way to a more radio-friendly sounds of [[smooth jazz]]. Guitarist [[Pat Metheny]] mixed the sounds of rock, blues, country, and “world” music, while still maintaining a strong foundation in bebop and cool jazz, playing both a flat-top acoustic guitar and an electric guitar with a softer, more mellow tone which was sweetened with a shimmering effect known as “[[chorus effect|chorusing]]". During the 1980s, a neo-traditional school of jazz sought to reconnect with the past. In keeping with such an aesthetic, young guitarists of this era sought a clean and round tone, and they often played traditional hollow-body arch-top guitars without electronic effects, frequently through [[vacuum tube amplifier]]s.

As players such as [[Bobby Broom]], [[Peter Bernstein (guitarist)|Peter Bernstein]], [[Howard Alden]], [[Russell Malone]], and [[Mark Whitfield]] revived the sounds of traditional jazz guitar, there was also a resurgence of archtop luthierie (guitar-making). By the early 1990s many small independent luthiers began making archtop guitars. In the 2000s, jazz guitar playing continues to change. Some guitarists incorporate a Latin jazz influence, [[acid jazz]]-style dance club music uses samples from Wes Montgomery, and guitarists such as [[Bill Frisell]] continue to defy categorization.

Today, the jazz guitar continues to evolve, influenced by advancements in technology and the creative vision of contemporary musicians. As we look back on its journey from humble beginnings in early jazz bands to its electrifying present, one thing remains clear: the jazz guitar remains a testament to the enduring spirit of innovation and artistic exploration in music.