The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists

I can’t know for sure that this is “the most complete” list of jazz guitarists. For all I know, someone else might have compiled a list of jazz guitarists that is even longer.

Given the amount of work and research it took to compile this list, I like to believe that mine is probably the longest one. 🙂

I made it all the way to over a 1000 jazz guitar players.
I am still ways away from having heard the music of every musician on this list, but I’m getting there.

My two favorite jazz guitarists are Pat Metheny and my fellow Belgian countryman Philip Catherine. Me being a huge fan of Philip Catherine doesn’t have anything to do with his Belgian nationality b.t.w.- I just really love his music.

I also really love Bruce Bartlett. He was my favorite guitar teacher at Berklee College of Music. Apart from how much I loved studying with him, I have all his albums and love his playing and compositions.

This is a continuous work in progress.

You will notice I added some notes for some of the guitar players. This might turn into a booklet over time with short biographies. I have included a pdf which you can download at the bottom. In that pdf, you can click on the names to get more info about each guitarist.

Anyhow, here are the 1000+ jazz guitarists.

1. Blake Aaron
2. Eivind Aarset
3. Rez Abbasi
4. John Abercrombie
5. Paul Abler
6. Steve Abshire
7. Morris Acevedo
8. Bernard Addison
9. Steve Adelson
10. Dan Adler
11. Ron Affif
12. Caio Afiune
13. Noël Akchoté
14. Jan Akkerman
15. Odd Steinar Albrigtsen
16. Howard Alden
17. Johnny Alegre
18. Oscar Alemán
19. Cecil Alexander
20. Glenn Alexander
21. Neal Alger
22. Dave Allen
23. Laurindo Almeida
24. Peter Almqvist
25. Frode Alnæs
26. Greg Amirault
27. Leonardo Amuedo
28. Chuck Anderson
29. Stephen D. Anderson
30. Tuck Andress
31. John Anello Jr
32. Quentin Angus
33. Apostolis Anthimos
34. Michael Anthony
35. Ron Anthony
36. Marc Antoine
37. Dan Arcamone (Modern, similar to Alex Skolnick)
38. Bruce Arnold
39. William Ash
40. Irving Ashby
41. Dave Askren
42. Badi Assad
43. Gustavo Assis-Brasil
44. Chet Atkins
45. Erich Avinger
46. Jay Azzolina

47. Gyula Babos
48. Elek Bacsik
49. Brian Baggett
50. Mike Baggetta
51. Derek Bailey (The most radical)
52. Sheryl Bailey (Blazing style)
53. Bob Bain
54. Clint Baker
55. Duck Baker
56. Mickey Baker
57. Matt Balitsaris
58. Charlie Ballantine
59. Biel Ballester
60. Dan Baraszu
61. Diego Barber
62. Carlos Barbosa-Lima
63. Dave Barbour
64. A Spencer Barefield
65. Danny Barker
66. Everett Barksdale
67. Junior Barnard
68. Tony Barnard
69. George Barnes
70. Jeff Barone
71. Carl Barry
72. Frode Barth
73. Claude Barthélémy
74. Bruce Bartlett
75. John Basile
76. Billy Bauer
77. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
78. Billy Bean
79. Gerry Beaudoin
80. Jeff Beck
81. Joe Beck
82. David Becker
83. Walter Becker (Steely Dan)
84. Jean-Marc Belkadi
85. Kelvyn Bell
86. Robert Bell
87. Roni Ben-Hur
88. George Benson
89. Lutte Berg (Incredible technique, sound similar to Nguyen Lé)
90. Rolf Berg
91. Gonzalo Bergara
92. Chris Bergson
93. Randy Bernsen
94. Peter Bernstein
95. Gene Bertoncini
96. Mads Berven
97. Skeeter Best
98. Ed Bickert
99. Raoul Björkenheim
100. Brian Blade
101. Lee Blair
102. Jack Bland
103. Marek Bliziński
104. Michael Bocian
105. Claus Boesser-Ferrari
106. Pascal Bokar
107. Mark Boling
108. Paul Bollenback
109. Luiz Bonfá
110. Raymond Boni
111. Dekel Bor
112. Ron Bosse
113. Perry Botkin Sr
114. Jean-Paul Bourelly
115. Al Bowlly
116. Tim Bowman
117. Antoine Boyer
118. Gary Boyle
119. Ned Boynton
120. Terry Bradds
121. Craig Brann
122. Sean Bray
123. Joshua Breakstone
124. Lenny Breau
125. Zachary Breaux
126. Pascal Brechet
127. Terence Brewer
128. Jakob Bro
129. Bobby Broom
130. Andy Brown
131. Norman Brown
132. Sam Brown
133. Steve Brown
134. Dale Bruning
135. Jimmy Bruno
136. Maurizio Brunod
137. John Bruschini
138. Mike Bryan
139. Jimmy Bryant
140. Buckethead
141. Dennis Budimir
142. Hiram Bullock
143. Teddy Bunn
144. Kenny Burrell
145. Andre Bush
146. Billy Butler
147. Jonathan Butler
148. Charlie Byrd

149. Olivier Cahours
150. Al Caiola
151. Michele Calgaro
152. Giulio Camarca
153. Glen Campbell
154. Royce Campbell
155. Jim Campilongo
156. Brent Canter
157. Andre Caporaso
158. Joe Capraro
159. Ana Caram
160. Steve Cardenas
161. John Carlini
162. Larry Carlton
163. Danny Caron
164. Stian Carstensen
165. Joe Carter
166. Deirdre Cartwright
167. Al Casey
168. Oscar Castro-Neves
169. Chet Catallo
170. Lauderic Caton
171. Philip Catherine
172. Katie Cavera
173. Mike Cea
174. Roberto Cecchetto
175. Franco Cerri
176. William Chabbey
177. Eugene Chadbourne
178. Greg Chako
179. Emmett Chapman
180. Roger Chaput
181. Rémi Charmasson
182. Jean Chaumont
183. Fawzi Chekili
184. Ed Cherry
185. Andrew Cheshire
186. Pete Chilver
187. John Chiodini
188. James Chirillo
189. Charlie Christian
190. Corey Christiansen
191. Jeff Ciampa
192. Joe Cinderella
193. Roy Clark
194. Bruce Clarke
195. Doug Clarke
196. Greg Clayton
197. Dave Cliff
198. Nels Cline
199. Barry Coates
200. Joe Cohn
201. George Cole
202. Cal Collins
203. John Collins
204. Ken Colyer (Mostly known as trumpeter, but also played jazz guitar)
205. Eddie Condon
206. Bill Connors (Return to Forever)
207. Robert Conti
208. Giuseppe Continenza
209. Ry Cooder
210. Joyce Cooling
211. Michael Coppola
212. Larry Coryell
213. Pete Cosey
214. Yamandu Costa
215. Ray Crawford
216. Dave Creamer
217. Henri Crolla
218. Steve Cropper
219. Pierre Cullaz
220. David Cullen
221. Brian Cunningham

222. Thomas T. Dahl
223. Ori Dakari
224. Laurie Dameron
225. Jerome Darr
226. Rudolf Dašek
227. Daniel Heløy Davidsen
228. Bill DeArango
229. Angelo Debarre
230. Tony DeCaprio
231. Graham Dechter
232. Phil deGruy
233. Fabien Degryse
234. Paco de Lucía
235. Mike DeMicco
236. Orhan Demir (Incredible chops, style similar to Pat Martino)
237. Tom Dempsey
238. Cary DeNigris
239. Frank Deniz
240. Jack deSalvo
241. Philippe Deschepper
242. Bob Devos
243. Mike DiBari
244. Eddie Diehl
245. Al Di Meola
246. Denny Dias (Steely Dan)
247. Joe Diorio
248. Diz Disley
249. Sacha Distel
250. Lonnie Donegan
251. Pat Donohue
252. Christy Doran
253. Pierre Dørge
254. Pierre Van Dormael
255. Tony do Rosario
256. Jim Douglas
257. Scott DuBois
258. Marc Ducret
259. Todd Duke
260. Ted Dunbar
261. Cornell Dupree
262. Eddie Duran
263. Eddie Durham

264. David Eastlee
265. Jon Eberson
266. Lars Edegran
267. Bruce Eisenbeil
268. Howard Elkins
269. Charles Ellerbee
270. Edward Ellington II
271. Mike Elliott (Cult album Solo Guitar)
272. Herb Ellis
273. Danny Embrey
274. James Emery
275. Tommy Emmanuel
276. Cenk Erdogan (Plays fretless acoustic, unique sound!)
277. Eddie Erickson
278. Gene Ess
279. Ron Eschete
280. Christian Escoudé
281. Gene Ess
282. John Etheridge
283. Bus Etri
284. Kevin Eubanks

285. Dave “Knife” Fabris (Several albums with piano legend Ran Blake)
286. Dan Faehnle
287. Mike Fageros (Phrasing like Pat Martino)
288. Dalia Faitelson
289. Nelson Faria
290. Tal Farlow
291. Buzzy Feiten
292. Nir Felder
293. Mordy Ferber
294. Jim Ferguson
295. Julio Fernandez
296. Per Arne Ferner
297. Bebo Ferra
298. Boulou Ferré
299. Elios Ferré
300. Jean-Pierre “Matelo” Ferret
301. Pierre “Baro” Ferret
302. Garrison Fewell
303. Scott Fields
304. Diego Figueiredo
305. Ed Fila
306. Carl Filipiak
307. Jamie Findlay
308. Barry Finnerty
309. Axel Fischbacher
310. Jacob Fischer
311. Andy Fite
312. Buddy Fite (Check out his great album Tasty)
313. David Fiuczynski
314. Brick Fleagle
315. Rod Fleeman
316. William “Biddy” Fleet
317. Chris Flory
318. Ronaldo Folegatti
319. Antonio Forcione
320. Robben Ford
321. Bruce Forman
322. Marc Fosset
323. Johnny Fourie
324. Mimi Fox
325. Heiner Franz
326. Christer Fredriksen
327. George Freeman
328. Russ Freeman
329. Fred Fried
330. Robert Fripp
331. Bill Frisell
332. Carl Filipiak
333. Nir Felder
334. Scott Fivelson
335. Peter Frampton (Verve, Monk’s “Work” on “That’s The Way I Feel Now”)
336. Jean-Marie Frédéric
337. Fred Frith

338. Tony Gaboury
339. Per Gade
340. Gabor Gado
341. Al Gafa
342. Slim Gaillard
343. Barry Galbraith
344. Eric Gale
345. Charlie Galloway
i. Led one of the very first jazz-oriented bands in 1889.
ii. No recordings exist of his playing.
346. Frank Gambale
347. Oliver Gannon
348. Keith Ganz
349. Al Garcia
350. Dick Garcia
351. Olivier-Roman Garcia
352. Paulinho Garcia
353. Hank Garland
354. Arv Garrison
355. Danny Gatton
356. Pierrejean Gaucher
357. Nigel Gavin
358. Jay Geils (“Jay Geils Plays Jazz”)
359. Grant Geissman
360. Mike Gellar
361. Jane Getter
362. Sandro Gibellini
363. Eddie Gibbs
364. Banu Gibson
365. Gene Gifford
366. Joe Giglio
367. Joao Gilberto
368. David Gilmore (Not the guy from Pink Floyd lol)
369. Greg Ginn
370. Steve Giordano
371. Egberto Gismonti
372. Jamie Glaser
373. Christophe Godin
374. George Golla
375. Jeff Golub
376. Geoff Goodman
377. Mick Goodrick (Post-bop)
378. Torsten Goods
379. John Goodsall
380. Werner Goos
381. Pedro Javier González
382. Tony Gottuso
383. Anton Goudsmit
384. Jimmy Gourley (Hard-bop solos)
385. Guthrie Govan
386. Gismo Graf
387. Davy Graham
388. Primoz Grasic
389. Jack Grassell
390. Pasquale Grasso
391. Ronny Graupe
392. Jay Graydon (Played the solo on Steely Dan’s “Peg”)
393. Douglas B. Green
394. Freddie Green
395. Grant Green
396. Grant Green Jr
397. Barry Greene
398. Ted Greene
399. Sonny Greenwich
400. Michael Gregory
401. Tiny Grimes
402. Igor Grigoriev
403. Steve Grismore
404. Marty Grosz
405. Ivar Grydeland
406. Tom Guarna
407. George Guesnon
408. Jostein Gulbrandsen
409. Gerard Guse
410. Rune Gustafsson
411. Fred Guy (Ellington Orchestra)

412. Bobby Hacket
413. Axel Hagen
414. Jerry Hahn
415. Tommy Halferty
416. Jim Hall
417. René Hall
418. Stuart Hall
419. Mary Halvorson (A fierce improviser, avant-garde)
420. Bob Hames
421. Fred Hamilton
422. Steve Hancoff (Ragtime)
423. Mick Hanson
424. Fareed Haque
425. Sean Harkness
426. Richard Hart
427. Albert Harris
428. Bill Harris
429. Jerome Harris
430. Leroy Harris Sr.
431. Joel Harrison
432. John Hart (Modern mainstream )
433. Richie Hart
434. Ken Hatfield (Hard to classify)
435. Svein Dag Hauge
436. Frank Haunschild
437. Jeff Healey
438. Gilad Hekselman
439. Franz Hellmüller
440. Scott Henderson
441. Al Hendrickson (Artie Shaw Orchestra)
442. Steve Herberman
443. Jon Herington (Steely Dan)
444. Even Helte Hermansen
445. Octavio Hernandez
446. Jimmy Herring
447. Jim Hershman
448. Peter Hertmans
449. Allen Hinds
450. Carl Hogan
451. Jerome Hol (Performs with Dutch sax legends Hans and Candy Dulfer)
452. Allan Holdsworth
453. Clarence Holiday
454. Sol Hoopii
455. Toninho Horta
456. Sten Hostfalt
457. Michael Howell
458. Diane Hubka
459. Brian Hughes
460. Geoff Hughes
461. Perry Hughes (On a par with George Benson)
462. Charlie Hunter
i. 8-string
ii. Bop-based guitarist with an open mind towards funk and R&B
iii. www.charliehunter.com
463. Joe Huron (Only 2 CDs released, very difficult to find, brilliant)
464. Clifton Hyde
465. James “Tootie” Hogan

466. Adrian Ingram
467. Ike Isaacs
468. Enver İzmaylov

469. Michael Gregory Jackson
470. Milt Jackson
471. Paul Jackson Jr.
472. Ron Jackson (Hard-bop based guitarist)
473. Sid Jacobs
474. Alex Jacquemin
475. Tim Jago
476. Bert Jansch
477. Tomas Janzon
478. Rolf Jardemark
479. Maceo Jefferson
480. Billy Jenkins
481. Bill Jennings
482. Chris Jentsch
483. Denny Jiosa
484. Antonio Carlos Jobim
485. Kim Johannesen
486. Nils-Olav Johansen
487. Art Johnson
488. Eric Johnson (Bluesy soulful)
489. Henry Johnson
490. Lonnie Johnson (One of the couple of top jazz guitarists from the 20’s)
491. Wayne Johnson
492. Randy Johnston (Straight ahead in the hard bop/soul-jazz tradition)
493. Rodney Jones
494. Ronny Jordan
495. Stanley Jordan (8-finger tapping jazz, extraordinary)
496. Steve Jordan
497. John Jorgenson (Gypsy jazz)
498. Joyce Moreno (Brazilian singer, “Music Inside”)
499. Gabor Juhasz
500. Barbara Jungfer
501. Vic Juris

502. Dirk K
503. Helmut Kagerer
504. Henry Kaiser (Hard to classify, worked with Fred Frith a lot)
505. Kalle Kalima
506. Ray Kamalay
507. Grzegorz Kapołka
508. Ken Karsh
509. Terry Kath
510. Halvard Kausland
511. Ryo Kawasaki (Fusion)
512. Pat Kelley
513. Jim Kelly (Australia)
514. Jim Kelly (U.S.)
515. Louis Keppard
516. Barney Kessell
517. Calvin Keys
518. Steve Khan
519. Rebecca Kilgore
520. Mark Kimbrell
521. B.B. King
522. Jackie King
523. Steven Kirby
524. Frode Kjekstad
525. Bjørn Klakegg
526. Daan Kleijn
527. Oscar Klein
528. Mark Kleinhaut (Hard bop and post-bop jazz)
529. Goran Klinghagen
530. Earl Klugh
531. Niclas Knudsen
532. Paul Kogut
533. Frank Kohl
534. Jan Erik Kongshaug
535. Ludwik Konopko
536. Dave Koonse
537. Larry Koonse
538. Jerry Krahn
539. Wayne Krantz
540. Jonathan Kreisberg
541. Tor Egil Kreken
542. Carl Kress
543. Volker Kriegel (Germany’s most legendary jazz guitarist)
544. Uwe Kropinski (A master on the acoustic guitar)
545. Aleksey Kuznetsov
546. Frank Kvinge
547. Allen Kwela

548. David Laborier
549. Fapy Lafertin
550. Julian Lage
551. Biréli Lagrène
552. Nappy Lamare
553. Shawn Lane
554. Eddie Lang
555. Jake Langley
556. Jon Larsen
557. Attila László
558. Steve Laury
559. Ant Law
560. Serge Lazarevitch
561. Hugh Leal
562. Gene Leis
563. Peter Leitch
564. Nguyên Lê
565. Harry Leahey
566. Bob Leary
567. Michael Leasure
568. Phil Lee (A master, his CDs are very difficult to find)
569. Søren Lee (Great Danish player, brilliant bluesy jazz!)
570. Peter Leitch
571. B.D. Lenz
572. Peter Lerner
573. Rob Levit
574. Adam Levy
575. O’Donel Levy
576. Vic Lewis
577. Vince Lewis
578. Arto Lindsay
579. Anders Chico Lindvall
580. Rudy Linka
581. Jeff Linsky
582. Tom Lippincott
583. Ed Littman
584. Ulysses Livingston
585. Jean-Pierre Llabador
586. Chuck Loeb
587. Bruce Lofgren
588. Lorne Lofsky
589. Eric Löhrer
590. Mimi Lorenzini
591. Lionel Loueke
592. Olivier Louvel
593. Mundell Lowe
594. Robert Lowe Jr.
595. Romero Lubambo
596. Sylvain Luc
597. Nick Lucas
598. Reggie Lucas
599. Lawrence Lucie
600. Rob Luft
601. Steve Lukather
602. Lage Lund
603. Alf Wilhelm Lundberg
604. René Lussier
605. Jo David Meyer Lysne

606. Doug MacDonald
607. Alex Machacek
608. Billy Mackel
609. Dave MacNab
610. Thor Madsen
611. Stephen Magnusson
612. Ivor Mairants
613. Lanfranco Malaguti
614. Russell Malone
615. Andy Manndorff (Totally unique style)
616. Ahmad Mansour
617. Janet Marlow
618. Jack Marshall
619. Eddie Martinez
620. Pat Martino
621. Pedro Martins
622. Steve Masakowski
623. Jeff Massanari
624. Carmen Mastren
625. Yoshiaki Masuo
626. Hans Mathisen
627. Rick Matle
628. Will Matthews
629. Peter Mazza
630. Pete McCann
631. Pat McCarthy
632. Charlie McCoy (Mostly known as session musician harmonica player)
633. Dick McDonough
634. Eddie McFadden
635. Sean McGowan
636. Dan McIntyre
637. Steve McKenna
638. John McLaughlin
639. John McLean
640. Jimmy McLin
641. Dick McPartland
642. Lou Mecca
643. Maurizio Mecenero
644. Paul Mehling (Gypsy jazz)
645. Coleman Mellett
646. Chris Mello
647. Alessio Menconi
648. Pat Metheny
649. Ulf Meyer
650. Paul Meyers
651. Rale Micic
652. Fredrik Mikkelsen
653. Adam Miller (Great Australian player)
654. Jane Miller (Post-bop)
655. Tim Miller
656. John Mills Jr.
657. Dom Minasi
658. Chieli Minucci
659. Roman Miroshnichenko
660. Andreas Mjøs
661. Adrien Moignard (One of the hottest new Gypsy Jazz players)
662. Per Møllehøj
663. Amanda Monaco
664. Ben Monder
665. Wes Montgomery
666. Davy Mooney
667. Johnny Moore
668. Oscar Moore
669. Juarez Moreira
670. Justin Morell
671. Paulo Morello
672. Mike Moreno
673. Joe Morris
674. Scotty Morris
675. Tony Mottola (Frank Sinatra’s regular guitar player)
676. John Moulder
677. Ronald Muldrow
678. Jim Mullen
679. James Muller
680. Matt Munisteri
681. Tisziji Munoz
682. Doug Munro
683. Ron Murray
684. Michael Musillami
685. Wolfgang Muthspiel
686. Jean-Philippe Muvien
687. Brad Myers
688. Kim Myhr

689. Gabo Naas
690. Nate Najar
691. Randy Napoleon
692. Ken Navarro
693. King Benny Nawahi
694. Joe Negri
695. Willie Nelson (“Two Men With The Blues”)
696. Werner Neumann
697. Calvin Newborn
698. Helmut Nieberle
699. Bern Nix (Ornette Coleman’s guitarist)
700. Mike Nielsen
701. Uwe Niepel
702. Sebastian Noelle
703. Robin Nolan
704. Robert Normann
705. Issei Noro
706. Ray Norris
707. Øystein Norvoll
708. Brian Nova
709. Oz Noy

710. Andreas Öberg
711. Ray Obiedo
712. Dave Occhipinti
713. Jordan Officer
714. Miles Okazaki
715. Steve Oliver
716. Peter O’Mara
717. Mary Osborne
718. Dietmar Osterburg
719. Max Ostro
720. Wim Overgaauw

721. Nathen Page
722. Remo Palmieri
723. Lello Panico (Highly sought-after cult CD The Secret)
724. Gerard Pansanel
725. Eugene Pao
726. Jeff Parker
727. Dean Parks
728. Jackie Paris
729. John Parricelli
730. Andreas Paolo Perger
731. Joe Pass (Was the ultimate bebop guitarist)
732. Rosa Passos
733. Lino Patruno
734. Ralph Patt
735. Roy Patterson
736. Les Paul
737. Rick Peckham
738. Hallgeir Pedersen
739. Ricardo Peixoto
740. Oscar Peñas
741. Harry Pepl (The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend)
742. Evan Perri
743. Bobby Perry
744. Mike Peters
745. Andreas Petterson
746. Jack Petersen
747. Lorenzo Petrocca
748. Peter Petrucci
749. Reynold Philipsek
750. Romain Pilon
751. Chico Pinheiro
752. Jacques Pirotton
753. John Pisano
754. Bill Pitman
755. Bucky Pizzarelli
756. John Pizzarelli
757. Mary Pizzarelli
758. Mikkel Ploug
759. Nils Pollheide
760. Jimmy Ponder
761. Kenny Poole
762. Frank Portolese
763. Frank Potenza
764. Gary Potter
765. Baden Powell
766. Doc Powell
767. Nigel Price
768. Jeanfrancois Prins
769. Rue Protzer
770. Sylvain Provost
771. Joe Puma
772. Tony Purrone

773. Snoozer Quinn

774. Rafael Rabello
775. Brad Rabuchin
776. Nate Radley
777. Corinne Bailey Rae
778. Adam Rafferty
779. Elliott Randall
780. Doug Raney
781. Jimmy Raney
782. Ernest Ranglin
783. Karl Ratzer
784. Aurell Ray
785. Ray Reach
786. Jake Reichbart
787. Hans Reichel
788. Vernon Reid
789. Babik Reinhardt
790. Django Reinhardt
791. Josef “Nin Nin” Reinhardt
792. Lousson Reinhardt
793. Nitcho Reinhardt
794. Bernhard Reinke
795. Emily Remler
796. Andrew Renfroe
797. Allan Reuss
798. Alvino Ray
799. Paul Renz
800. John Reynolds
801. Marc Ribot
802. Jeff Richman
803. Reuben Ristrom
804. Lee Ritenour
805. Jimmy Rivers
806. Tony Rizzi
807. Howard Roberts
808. Duke Robillard
809. Jim Robitaille
810. Phil Robson
811. Steve Rochinski
812. Jimmy Rodgers (Song: Blue Yodel no 9)
813. Adam Rogers
814. Billy Rogers
815. Romane
816. Tony Romano
817. Dan Rose
818. Jimmy Rosenberg
819. Stochelo Rosenberg
820. Jamie Rosenn
821. Kurt Rosenwinkel
822. Brandon Ross
823. Dave Ross
824. Thom Rotella
825. Avi Rothbard
826. Bjarne Roupé
827. Issi Rozen
828. Chris Ruppenthal
829. Ray Russell
830. Art Ryerson
831. Jakob Terjesønn Rypdal
832. Terje Rypdal

833. Michael Sagmeister
834. Luis Salinas
835. Sal Salvador
836. Dennis Sandole
837. Thomas Sankara
838. Gray Sargent
839. Akio Sasajima
840. Bruce Saunders
841. Tomas Sauter
842. Jeremy Sawkins
843. Scott Sawyer
844. Paulus Schäfer
845. Wolfgang Schalk
846. Philip Schjetlein
847. Karl Schloz
848. Dorado Schmitt
849. Tchavolo Schmitt
850. Diknu Schneeberger
851. Joachim Schoenecker
852. Norbert Scholly
853. Marzio Scholten
854. John Schröder
855. Coco Schumann (The so-called Ghetto swinger, he survived Auschwitz)
856. Reg Schwager
857. Gary Schwartz
858. Thornel Schwartz
859. John Scofield
860. Andrew Scott
861. Bud Scott
862. Mike Scott
863. Ari Seder
864. Mitch Seidman
865. Spencer Seim
866. Gene Segal
867. Karen Segal
868. Esmond Selwyn
869. Bola Sete
870. Brian Setzer
871. Marvin Sewell
872. Agboola Shadare
873. Eldon Shamblin
874. Kendra Shank
875. Elliott Sharp
876. Sonny Sharrock
877. Brad Shepik
878. Ben Sher
879. James Sherlock
880. Bobby Sherwood
881. Scott Sherwood
882. Paul Shigihara
883. Jimmy Shirley
884. Jon Sholle
885. Tim Siciliano
886. James Silberstein
887. Yotam Silberstein
888. Ricardo Silveira
889. Ronnie Singer
890. Kenneth Sivertsen
891. David Aleksander Sjølie
892. Greg Skaff
893. Alex Skolnick
894. Margaret Slovak
895. Roy Smeck
896. Jarek Smietana
897. Floyd Smith
898. George M Smith
899. Johnny Smith
900. Kenn Smith
901. Perry Smith
902. Richard Smith
903. Stan Smith
904. Terry Smith
905. Pete Smyser
906. Ferenc Snétberger
907. Bob Sneider
908. Russ Spiegel
909. Jay Soto
910. Fabrizio Sotti
911. Les Spann
912. Melvin Sparks
913. Tim Sparks
914. Klaus Spencker
915. Russ Spiegel
916. Peter Sprague
917. Torgeir Standal
918. Chris Standring
919. Bob Stanton
920. John Stein
921. Joscho Stephan
922. Leni Stern
923. Mike Stern
924. Matthew Stevens
925. Jimmy Stewart
926. Louis Stewart (The greatest Irish jazz guitar player)
927. Eric St-Laurent
928. Harri Stojka (The Austrian Django Reinhardt)
929. Håkon Storm-Mathisen
930. Rick Stone
931. Jonathan Stout
932. Margaret Stowe
933. John Stowell
934. Guy Strazzullo (Perfect in various styles)
935. Eleonora Strino
936. Dave Stryker
937. Rory Stuart
938. Håvard Stubø
939. Thorgeir Stubø
940. Daryl Stuermer
941. Monnette Sudler
942. Kiyoshi Sugimoto
943. Ray Suhy
944. Andy Summers
945. Ewan Svensson
946. Frédéric Sylvestre
947. Nelson Symonds
948. Gábor Szabó

949. Olaf Tarenskeen
950. Ed Taylor
951. Martin Taylor
952. Tommy Tedesco
953. Marlina Teich
954. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
955. Stephan Thelen (Fascinating soundscapes, similar to David Torn)
956. Toots Thielemans
957. René Thomas
958. Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
959. Kåre Thomsen
960. Ole Thomsen
961. Wayman Tisdale
962. Danny Toan
963. Roberto Tola
964. Jukka Tolonen
965. David Torn
966. Gisle Torvik
967. Zvonimir Tot
968. Ralph Towner
969. Mark Towns
970. Bud Tristano
971. David Tronzo
972. John Tropea

973. James “Blood” Ulmer
974. Phil Upchurch
975. Stein Urheim

976. Knut Værnes
977. Petter Vågan
978. Jaime Valle
979. Maarten Van Der Grinten
980. Rick Vandivier
981. Guy Van Duser
982. Vreny Van Elslande
983. George Van Eps
984. Jesse Van Ruller
985. Varre Vartiainen (Guitarist Leningrad Cowboys, released a jazz CD)
986. Eugene Vees
987. Craig Ventresco
988. Nelson Veras (Stunning and unique sound/technique)
989. Frank Victor
990. Frank Vignola
991. Randy Vincent
992. Alexander Vinitsky
993. Al Viola
994. Hristo Vitchev
995. Ricardo Vogt
996. Harry Volpe
997. Lou Volpe
998. Matthew Von Doran

999. Sunao Wada
1000. Ulf Wakenius
1001. Mike Walker
1002. T-Bone Walker
1003. John Bruce Wallace
1004. Doug Wamble
1005. Efferge Ware
1006. Leonard Ware
1007. Quentin Warren
1008. Kazumi Watanabe
1009. Mitch Watkins
1010. Chuck Wayne
1011. Barry Wedgle
1012. Susan Weinert (The German Emily Remler)
1013. Carl Weingarten
1014. Lloyd Wells
1015. Magni Wentzel
1016. Stian Westerhus
1017. Jon Wheatley
1018. Hy White
1019. Peter White
1020. Mark Whitfield
1021. Jack Wilkins
1022. Wayne Wilkinson
1023. Staffan William-Olsson
1024. Bernie Williams
1025. Claude Williams
1026. Dan Wilson
1027. Mark Wingfield
1028. Torsten de Winkel
1029. Louis Winsberg
1030. Christian Skår Winther
1031. Anthony Wilson
1032. Christopher Woitach
1033. Lew Woodall
1034. Stephane Wrembel
1035. Denny Wright
1036. Wayne Wright
1037. Jimmy Wyble

1038. Jim Yanda (Terrific player, unique style, similar to Bill Frisell)
1039. Patrick Yandall
1040. Masaya Yamaguchi
1041. Geoff Young
1042. Jacob Young
1043. Dhafer Youssef

1044. Frank Zappa
1045. Richie Zellon
1046. Fabio Zeppetella
1047. Axel Zinowsky
1048. Norman Zocher
1049. Attila Zoller
1050. Vitaliy Zolotov
1051. Rick Zunigar
1052. Barry Zweig

The Top 30 Jazz Guitar Giants (roughly in chronological order)

Eddie Lang
Carl Kress
Dick McDonough
George Van Eps
Django Reinhardt
Les Paul
Charlie Christian
Barney Kessel
Tal Farlow
Jimmy Raney
Jim Hall
Charlie Byrd
Wes Montgomery
Grant Green
Joe Pass
George Benson
Pat Martino
Derek Bailey
Sonny Sharrock
John McLaughlin
Al Di Meola
Pat Metheny
John Scofield
Howard Alden
Bill Frisell
Mike Stern
Russell Malone
Stanley Jordan
Birelli Lagrene
Charlie Hunter

As an extra service, I gladly offer you the complete list as a pdf. You can download it here.

1000-Jazz-Guitarists

Conclusion

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Comments (2)

James venardis Says:
Mickey baker was not mentioned in the a-z of jazz greats. Why?
August 26th, 2025 at 3:14 am
vreny Says:
I left Mickey out of the list cause I always thought of him more as a blues and rock ‘n roll guitarist, considering that his main body of work is in that genre, not in jazz (despite having published the jazz lesson books). But taken your post here into account and considering that many resources also include jazz as one of the styles he played — yes maybe I should add him to the list. I’ll take care of it. 🙂
August 26th, 2025 at 6:10 pm

The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists