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.
A
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
B
47. Gyula Babos
48. Elek Bacsik
49. Brian Baggett
50. Mike Baggetta
51. Derek Bailey (the most radical)
52. Sheryl Bailey (blazing style, need to check out)
53. Bob Bain
54. Clint Baker
55. Duck Baker
56. Matt Balitsaris
57. Charlie Ballantine
58. Biel Ballester
59. Dan Baraszu
60. Diego Barber
61. Carlos Barbosa-Lima
62. Dave Barbour
63. A Spencer Barefield
64. Danny Barker
65. Everett Barksdale
66. Junior Barnard
67. Tony Barnard
68. George Barnes
69. Jeff Barone
70. Carl Barry
71. Frode Barth
72. Claude Barthélémy
73. Bruce Bartlett
74. John Basile
75. Billy Bauer
76. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
77. Billy Bean
78. Gerry Beaudoin
79. Jeff Beck
80. Joe Beck
81. David Becker
82. Walter Becker (Steely Dan)
83. Jean-Marc Belkadi
84. Kelvyn Bell
85. Robert Bell
86. Roni Ben-Hur
87. George Benson
88. Lutte Berg (Incredible technique, sound similar to Nguyen Lé)
89. Rolf Berg
90. Gonzalo Bergara
91. Chris Bergson
92. Randy Bernsen
93. Peter Bernstein
94. Gene Bertoncini
95. Mads Berven
96. Skeeter Best
97. Ed Bickert
98. Raoul Björkenheim
99. Brian Blade
100. Lee Blair
101. Jack Bland
102. Marek Bliziński
103. Michael Bocian
104. Claus Boesser-Ferrari
105. Pascal Bokar
106. Mark Boling
107. Paul Bollenback
108. Luiz Bonfá
109. Raymond Boni
110. Dekel Bor
111. Ron Bosse
112. Perry Botkin Sr
113. Jean-Paul Bourelly
114. Al Bowlly
115. Tim Bowman
116. Gary Boyle
117. Ned Boynton
118. Terry Bradds
119. Craig Brann
120. Sean Bray
121. Joshua Breakstone
122. Lenny Breau
123. Zachary Breaux
124. Pascal Brechet
125. Terence Brewer
126. Jakob Bro
127. Bobby Broom
128. Andy Brown
129. Norman Brown
130. Sam Brown
131. Dale Bruning
132. Jimmy Bruno
133. Maurizio Brunod
134. John Bruschini
135. Mike Bryan
136. Jimmy Bryant
137. Buckethead
138. Dennis Budimir
139. Hiram Bullock
140. Teddy Bunn
141. Kenny Burrell
142. Andre Bush
143. Billy Butler
144. Jonathan Butler
145. Charlie Byrd
C
146. Olivier Cahours
147. Al Caiola
148. Michele Calgaro
149. Giulio Camarca
150. Glen Campbell
151. Royce Campbell
152. Jim Campilongo
153. Brent Canter
154. Andre Caporaso
155. Joe Capraro
156. Ana Caram
157. Steve Cardenas
158. John Carlini
159. Larry Carlton
160. Danny Caron
161. Stian Carstensen
162. Joe Carter
163. Deirdre Cartwright
164. Al Casey
165. Oscar Castro-Neves
166. Chet Catallo
167. Lauderic Caton
168. Philip Catherine
169. Katie Cavera
170. Mike Cea
171. Roberto Cecchetto
172. Franco Cerri
173. William Chabbey
174. Eugene Chadbourne
175. Greg Chako
176. Emmett Chapman
177. Roger Chaput
178. Rémi Charmasson
179. Jean Chaumont
180. Fawzi Chekili
181. Ed Cherry
182. Andrew Cheshire (free and refreshing, check him out)
183. Pete Chilver
184. John Chiodini
185. James Chirillo
186. Charlie Christian
187. Corey Christiansen
188. Jeff Ciampa
189. Joe Cinderella
190. Roy Clark
191. Bruce Clarke
192. Doug Clarke
193. Greg Clayton
194. Dave Cliff
195. Nels Cline
196. Barry Coates
197. Joe Cohn
198. George Cole
199. Cal Collins
200. John Collins
201. Ken Colyer (mostly known as trumpeter, but also played jazz guitar)
202. Eddie Condon
203. Bill Connors (Return to Forever)
204. Robert Conti
205. Ry Cooder
206. Joyce Cooling
207. Michael Coppola
208. Larry Coryell
209. Pete Cosey
210. Ray Crawford
211. Henri Crolla
212. Steve Cropper
213. Pierre Cullaz
214. David Cullen
D
215. Thomas T. Dahl
216. Ori Dakari
217. Laurie Dameron
218. Jerome Darr
219. Rudolf Dašek
220. Daniel Heløy Davidsen
221. Bill DeArango
222. Angelo Debarre
223. Tony DeCaprio
224. Graham Dechter
225. Phil deGruy
226. Fabien Degryse
227. Paco de Lucía
228. Mike DeMicco
229. Orhan Demir (Incredible chops, style similar to Pat Martino)
230. Tom Dempsey
231. Cary DeNigris
232. Frank Deniz
233. Jack deSalvo
234. Philippe Deschepper
235. Bob Devos
236. Mike DiBari
237. Eddie Diehl
238. Al Di Meola
239. Denny Dias (Steely Dan)
240. Joe Diorio
241. Diz Disley
242. Sacha Distel
243. Lonnie Donegan
244. Pat Donohue
245. Christy Doran
246. Pierre Dørge
247. Pierre Van Dormael
248. Tony do Rosario
249. Jim Douglas
250. Scott DuBois
251. Marc Ducret
252. Todd Duke
253. Ted Dunbar
254. Cornell Dupree
255. Eddie Duran
256. Eddie Durham
E
257. David Eastlee
258. Jon Eberson
259. Lars Edegran
260. Bruce Eisenbeil
261. Howard Elkins
262. Charles Ellerbee
263. Edward Ellington II
264. Mike Elliott (cult album “Solo Guitar”)
265. Herb Ellis
266. Danny Embrey
267. James Emery
268. Tommy Emmanuel
269. Cenk Erdogan (Plays fretless acoustic, unique sound!)
270. Eddie Erickson
271. Gene Ess
272. Ron Eschete
273. Christian Escoudé
274. Gene Ess
275. John Etheridge
276. Bus Etri
277. Kevin Eubanks
F
278. Dave “Knife” Fabris (Several albums with piano legend Ran Blake)
279. Dan Faehnle
280. Mike Fageros (Phrasing like Pat Martino)
281. Dalia Faitelson
282. Nelson Faria
283. Tal Farlow
284. Buzzy Feiten
285. Nir Felder
286. Mordy Ferber
287. Jim Ferguson
288. Julio Fernandez
289. Per Arne Ferner
290. Bebo Ferra
291. Boulou Ferré
292. Elios Ferré
293. Jean-Pierre “Matelo” Ferret
294. Pierre “Baro” Ferret
295. Garrison Fewell
296. Scott Fields
297. Diego Figueiredo
298. Ed Fila
299. Carl Filipiak
300. Jamie Findlay
301. Barry Finnerty
302. Axel Fischbacher
303. Jacob Fischer
304. Andy Fite
305. Buddy Fite (Check out his great album “Tasty”)
306. David Fiuczynski
307. Brick Fleagle
308. Rod Fleeman
309. William “Biddy” Fleet
310. Chris Flory
311. Ronaldo Folegatti
312. Antonio Forcione
313. Robben Ford
314. Bruce Forman
315. Marc Fosset
316. Johnny Fourie
317. Mimi Fox
318. Heiner Franz
319. Christer Fredriksen
320. George Freeman
321. Russ Freeman
322. Fred Fried
323. Robert Fripp
324. Bill Frisell
325. Carl Filipiak
326. Nir Felder
327. Scott Fivelson
328. Peter Frampton (Verve, Monk’s “Work” on “That’s The Way I Feel Now”)
329. Jean-Marie Frédéric
330. Fred Frith
G
331. Tony Gaboury
332. Per Gade
333. Gabor Gado
334. Al Gafa
335. Slim Gaillard
336. Barry Galbraith
337. Eric Gale
338. Charlie Galloway
i. Led one of the very first jazz-oriented bands in 1889.
ii. No recordings exist of his playing.
339. Frank Gambale
340. Oliver Gannon
341. Keith Ganz
342. Al Garcia
343. Dick Garcia
344. Olivier-Roman Garcia
345. Paulinho Garcia
346. Hank Garland
347. Arv Garrison
348. Danny Gatton
349. Pierrejean Gaucher
350. Nigel Gavin
351. Jay Geils (“Jay Geils Plays Jazz”)
352. Grant Geissman
353. Mike Gellar
354. Jane Getter
355. Sandro Gibellini
356. Eddie Gibbs
357. Banu Gibson
358. Gene Gifford
359. Joe Giglio
360. Joao Gilberto
361. David Gilmore (not the guy from Pink Floyd lol)
362. Greg Ginn
363. Steve Giordano
364. Egberto Gismonti
365. Jamie Glaser
366. Christophe Godin
367. George Golla
368. Jeff Golub
369. Mick Goodrick (post-bop)
370. Torsten Goods
371. John Goodsall
372. Pedro Javier González
373. Tony Gottuso
374. Anton Goudsmit
375. Jimmy Gourley (hard bop solos)
376. Guthrie Govan
377. Gismo Graf
378. Davy Graham
379. Primoz Grasic
380. Jack Grassell
381. Ronny Graupe
382. Jay Graydon (Played the solo on Steely Dan’s “Peg”)
383. Douglas B. Green
384. Freddie Green
385. Grant Green
386. Grant Green Jr
387. Barry Greene
388. Ted Greene
389. Sonny Greenwich
390. Michael Gregory
391. Tiny Grimes
392. Igor Grigoriev
393. Steve Grismore
394. Marty Grosz
395. Ivar Grydeland
396. Tom Guarna
397. George Guesnon
398. Jostein Gulbrandsen
399. Rune Gustafsson
400. Fred Guy (Ellington Orchestra)
H
401. Bobby Hacket
402. Axel Hagen
403. Jerry Hahn
404. Tommy Halferty
405. Jim Hall
406. René Hall
407. Stuart Hall
408. Mary Halvorson (A fierce improviser, avant-garde)
409. Bob Hames
410. Fred Hamilton
411. Steve Hancoff (Ragtime)
412. Mick Hanson
413. Fareed Haque
414. Sean Harkness
415. Richard Hart
416. Albert Harris
417. Bill Harris
418. Jerome Harris
419. Leroy Harris Sr.
420. Joel Harrison
421. John Hart (modern mainstream )
422. Richie Hart
423. Ken Hatfield (hard to classify)
424. Svein Dag Hauge
425. Frank Haunschild
426. Jeff Healey
427. Gilad Hekselman
428. Franz Hellmüller
429. Scott Henderson
430. Al Hendrickson (Artie Shaw Orchestra)
431. Steve Herberman
432. Jon Herington (Steely Dan)
433. Even Helte Hermansen
434. Octavio Hernandez
435. Jimmy Herring
436. Jim Hershman
437. Peter Hertmans
438. Allen Hinds
439. Carl Hogan
440. Jerome Hol (Performs with Dutch sax legends Hans and Candy Dulfer)
441. Allan Holdsworth
442. Clarence Holiday
443. Sol Hoopii
444. Toninho Horta
445. Michael Howell
446. Diane Hubka
447. Brian Hughes
448. Geoff Hughes
449. Perry Hughes (On a par with George Benson)
450. Charlie Hunter
i. 8 string
ii. bop-based guitarist with an open mind towards funk and R&B
iii. www.charliehunter.com
451. Joe Huron (only 2 CDs, very difficult to find, brilliant)
452. Clifton Hyde
453. James “Tootie” Hogan
I
454. Adrian Ingram
455. Ike Isaacs
456. Enver İzmaylov
J
457. Michael Gregory Jackson
458. Milt Jackson
459. Paul Jackson Jr.
460. Ron Jackson (hard-bop based guitarist)
461. Sid Jacobs
462. Alex Jacquemin
463. Bert Jansch
464. Tomas Janzon
465. Rolf Jardemark
466. Maceo Jefferson
467. Billy Jenkins
468. Bill Jennings
469. Chris Jentsch
470. Denny Jiosa
471. Antonio Carlos Jobim
472. Kim Johannesen
473. Nils-Olav Johansen
474. Art Johnson
475. Eric Johnson (Bluesy soulful)
476. Henry Johnson
477. Lonnie Johnson (One of the couple of top jazz guitarists from the 20’s)
478. Wayne Johnson
479. Randy Johnston (Straight ahead in the hard bop/soul-jazz tradition)
480. Rodney Jones
481. Ronny Jordan
482. Stanley Jordan
483. Steve Jordan
484. John Jorgenson (Gypsy jazz)
485. Joyce Moreno (Brazilian singer, “Music Inside”)
486. Gabor Juhasz
487. Barbara Jungfer
488. Vic Juris
K
489. Dirk K
490. Helmut Kagerer
491. Henry Kaiser (Hard to classify, worked with Fred Frith a lot)
492. Kalle Kalima
493. Ray Kamalay
494. Grzegorz Kapołka
495. Ken Karsh
496. Terry Kath
497. Halvard Kausland
498. Ryo Kawasaki (fusion)
499. Pat Kelley
500. Jim Kelly (Australia)
501. Jim Kelly (U.S.)
502. Louis Keppard
503. Barney Kessell
504. Calvin Keys
505. Steve Khan
506. Rebecca Kilgore
507. Mark Kimbrell
508. B.B. King
509. Jackie King
510. Steven Kirby
511. Frode Kjekstad
512. Bjørn Klakegg
513. Oscar Klein
514. Mark Kleinhaut (Hard bop and post-bop jazz)
515. Goran Klinghagen
516. Earl Klugh
517. Niclas Knudsen
518. Paul Kogut
519. Frank Kohl
520. Jan Erik Kongshaug
521. Ludwik Konopko
522. Dave Koonse
523. Larry Koonse
524. Jerry Krahn
525. Wayne Krantz
526. Jonathan Kreisberg
527. Tor Egil Kreken
528. Carl Kress
529. Volker Kriegel (Germany’s most legendary jazz guitarist)
530. Uwe Kropinski (a GOD on the acoustic guitar)
531. Aleksey Kuznetsov
532. Frank Kvinge
533. Allen Kwela
L
534. David Laborier
535. Fapy Lafertin
536. Julian Lage
537. Biréli Lagrène
538. Nappy Lamare
539. Shawn Lane
540. Eddie Lang
541. Jake Langley
542. Jon Larsen
543. Attila László
544. Steve Laury
545. Ant Law
546. Serge Lazarevitch
547. Hugh Leal
548. Gene Leis
549. Peter Leitch
550. Nguyên Lê
551. Harry Leahey
552. Bob Leary
553. Michael Leasure
554. Phil Lee (A master, his CDs are very difficult to find)
555. Søren Lee (Great Danish player, brilliant bluesy jazz!)
556. Peter Leitch
557. B.D. Lenz
558. Peter Lerner
559. Rob Levit
560. Adam Levy
561. O’Donel Levy
562. Vic Lewis
563. Vince Lewis
564. Arto Lindsay
565. Anders Chico Lindvall
566. Rudy Linka
567. Jeff Linsky
568. Ed Littman
569. Ulysses Livingston
570. Jean-Pierre Llabador
571. Chuck Loeb
572. Bruce Lofgren
573. Lorne Lofsky
574. Eric Löhrer
575. Mimi Lorenzini
576. Lionel Loueke
577. Olivier Louvel
578. Mundell Lowe
579. Robert Lowe Jr.
580. Romero Lubambo
581. Sylvain Luc
582. Nick Lucas
583. Reggie Lucas
584. Lawrence Lucie
585. Rob Luft
586. Steve Lukather
587. Lage Lund
588. Alf Wilhelm Lundberg
589. René Lussier
590. Jo David Meyer Lysne
M
591. Doug MacDonald
592. Alex Machacek
593. Billy Mackel
594. Dave MacNab
595. Thor Madsen
596. Stephen Magnusson
597. Ivor Mairants
598. Lanfranco Malaguti
599. Russell Malone
600. Andy Manndorff (totally unique style)
601. Ahmad Mansour
602. Janet Marlow
603. Jack Marshall
604. Eddie Martinez
605. Pat Martino
606. Pedro Martins
607. Steve Masakowski
608. Carmen Mastren
609. Yoshiaki Masuo
610. Hans Mathisen
611. Rick Matle
612. Will Matthews
613. Peter Mazza
614. Pete McCann
615. Pat McCarthy
616. Charlie McCoy (mostly known as session musician harmonica player)
617. Dick McDonough
618. Eddie McFadden
619. Sean McGowan
620. Dan McIntyre
621. John McLaughlin
622. John McLean
623. Jimmy McLin
624. Dick McPartland
625. Lou Mecca
626. Maurizio Mecenero
627. Paul Mehling (Gypsy jazz)
628. Coleman Mellett
629. Chris Mello
630. Alessio Menconi
631. Pat Metheny
632. Ulf Meyer
633. Paul Meyers
634. Rale Micic
635. Fredrik Mikkelsen
636. Adam Miller (Great Australian player)
637. Jane Miller (Post-bop)
638. Tim Miller
639. John Mills Jr.
640. Dom Minasi
641. Chieli Minucci
642. Roman Miroshnichenko
643. Andreas Mjøs
644. Adrien Moignard (One of the hottest new Gypsy Jazz players)
645. Per Møllehøj
646. Amanda Monaco
647. Ben Monder
648. Wes Montgomery
649. Davy Mooney
650. Johnny Moore
651. Oscar Moore
652. Juarez Moreira
653. Paulo Morello
654. Mike Moreno
655. Joe Morris
656. Scotty Morris
657. Tony Mottola (Frank Sinatra’s regular guitar player)
658. John Moulder
659. Ronald Muldrow
660. Jim Mullen
661. James Muller
662. Matt Munisteri
663. Tisziji Munoz
664. Doug Munro
665. Ron Murray
666. Michael Musillami
667. Wolfgang Muthspiel
668. Jean-Philippe Muvien
669. Brad Myers
670. Kim Myhr
N
671. Gabo Naas
672. Nate Najar
673. Randy Napoleon
674. Ken Navarro
675. King Benny Nawahi
676. Joe Negri
677. Willie Nelson (“Two Men With The Blues”)
678. Werner Neumann
679. Calvin Newborn
680. Helmut Nieberle
681. Bern Nix (Ornette Coleman’s guitarist)
682. Mike Nielsen
683. Uwe Niepel
684. Robin Nolan
685. Robert Normann
686. Issei Noro
687. Ray Norris
688. Øystein Norvoll
689. Brian Nova
690. Oz Noy
O
691. Andreas Öberg
692. Ray Obiedo
693. Dave Occhipinti
694. Jordan Officer
695. Miles Okazaki
696. Steve Oliver
697. Peter O’Mara
698. Mary Osborne
699. Dietmar Osterburg
700. Max Ostro
701. Wim Overgaauw
P
702. Nathen Page
703. Remo Palmieri
704. Lello Panico (Highly sought after cult CD “The Secret”)
705. Gerard Pansanel
706. Eugene Pao
707. Jeff Parker
708. Dean Parks
709. Jackie Paris
710. John Parricelli
711. Andreas Paolo Perger
712. Joe Pass (Was the ultimate bebop guitarist)
713. Rosa Passos
714. Lino Patruno
715. Ralph Patt
716. Roy Patterson
717. Les Paul
718. Rick Peckham
719. Hallgeir Pedersen
720. Ricardo Peixoto
721. Oscar Peñas
722. Harry Pepl (The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend)
723. Evan Perri
724. Bobby Perry
725. Mike Peters
726. Andreas Petterson
727. Jack Petersen
728. Lorenzo Petrocca
729. Peter Petrucci
730. Reynold Philipsek
731. Romain Pilon
732. Chico Pinheiro
733. Jacques Pirotton
734. John Pisano
735. Bill Pitman
736. Bucky Pizzarelli
737. John Pizzarelli
738. Mary Pizzarelli
739. Mikkel Ploug
740. Nils Pollheide
741. Jimmy Ponder
742. Kenny Poole
743. Frank Portolese
744. Frank Potenza
745. Gary Potter
746. Baden Powell
747. Doc Powell
748. Nigel Price
749. Jeanfrancois Prins
750. Rue Protzer
751. Sylvain Provost
752. Joe Puma
753. Tony Purrone
Q
754. Snoozer Quinn
R
755. Rafael Rabello
756. Brad Rabuchin
757. Nate Radley
758. Corinne Bailey Rae
759. Adam Rafferty
760. Elliott Randall
761. Doug Raney
762. Jimmy Raney
763. Ernest Ranglin
764. Karl Ratzer
765. Aurell Ray
766. Ray Reach
767. Jake Reichbart
768. Hans Reichel
769. Vernon Reid
770. Babik Reinhardt
771. Django Reinhardt
772. Josef “Nin Nin” Reinhardt
773. Lousson Reinhardt
774. Nitcho Reinhardt
775. Emily Remler
776. Andrew Renfroe
777. Allan Reuss
778. Alvino Ray
779. Paul Renz
780. John Reynolds
781. Marc Ribot
782. Jeff Richman
783. Reuben Ristrom
784. Lee Ritenour
785. Jimmy Rivers
786. Tony Rizzi
787. Howard Roberts
788. Duke Robillard
789. Jim Robitaille
790. Phil Robson
791. Steve Rochinski
792. Jimmy Rodgers (song “Blue Yodel no 9”)
793. Adam Rogers
794. Billy Rogers
795. Romane
796. Tony Romano
797. Dan Rose
798. Jimmy Rosenberg
799. Stochelo Rosenberg
800. Jamie Rosenn
801. Kurt Rosenwinkel
802. Brandon Ross
803. Dave Ross
804. Thom Rotella
805. Avi Rothbard
806. Bjarne Roupé
807. Issi Rozen
808. Chris Ruppenthal
809. Ray Russell
810. Art Ryerson
811. Jakob Terjesønn Rypdal
812. Terje Rypdal
S
813. Michael Sagmeister
814. Luis Salinas
815. Sal Salvador
816. Dennis Sandole
817. Thomas Sankara
818. Gray Sargent
819. Akio Sasajima
820. Bruce Saunders
821. Tomas Sauter
822. Jeremy Sawkins
823. Scott Sawyer
824. Paulus Schäfer
825. Wolfgang Schalk
826. Philip Schjetlein
827. Karl Schloz
828. Dorado Schmitt
829. Tchavolo Schmitt
830. Diknu Schneeberger
831. Joachim Schoenecker
832. Norbert Scholly
833. Marzio Scholten
834. John Schröder
835. Coco Schumann (The so-called “Ghetto swinger,” he survived Auschwitz)
836. Reg Schwager
837. Gary Schwartz
838. Thornel Schwartz
839. John Scofield
840. Andrew Scott
841. Bud Scott
842. Mike Scott
843. Ari Seder
844. Mitch Seidman
845. Spencer Seim
846. Gene Segal
847. Karen Segal
848. Esmond Selwyn
849. Bola Sete
850. Brian Setzer
851. Marvin Sewell
852. Agboola Shadare
853. Eldon Shamblin
854. Kendra Shank
855. Elliott Sharp
856. Sonny Sharrock
857. Brad Shepik
858. Ben Sher
859. James Sherlock
860. Bobby Sherwood
861. Scott Sherwood
862. Paul Shigihara
863. Jimmy Shirley
864. Jon Sholle
865. Tim Siciliano
866. James Silberstein
867. Yotam Silberstein
868. Ricardo Silveira
869. Ronnie Singer
870. Kenneth Sivertsen
871. David Aleksander Sjølie
872. Greg Skaff
873. Alex Skolnick
874. Margaret Slovak
875. Roy Smeck
876. Jarek Smietana
877. Floyd Smith
878. George M Smith
879. Johnny Smith
880. Kenn Smith
881. Perry Smith
882. Richard Smith
883. Stan Smith
884. Terry Smith
885. Pete Smyser
886. Ferenc Snétberger
887. Bob Sneider
888. Russ Spiegel
889. Jay Soto
890. Fabrizio Sotti
891. Les Spann
892. Melvin Sparks
893. Tim Sparks
894. Klaus Spencker
895. Russ Spiegel
896. Peter Sprague
897. Torgeir Standal
898. Chris Standring
899. Bob Stanton
900. John Stein
901. Joscho Stephan
902. Leni Stern
903. Mike Stern
904. Matthew Stevens
905. Jimmy Stewart
906. Louis Stewart (The greatest Irish jazz guitar player)
907. Eric St-Laurent
908. Harri Stojka (the Austrian Django Reinhardt)
909. Håkon Storm-Mathisen
910. Rick Stone
911. Jonathan Stout
912. Margaret Stowe
913. John Stowell
914. Guy Strazzullo (Perfect in various styles)
915. Dave Stryker
916. Rory Stuart
917. Håvard Stubø
918. Thorgeir Stubø
919. Daryl Stuermer
920. Monnette Sudler
921. Kiyoshi Sugimoto
922. Ray Suhy
923. Andy Summers
924. Ewan Svensson
925. Frédéric Sylvestre
926. Nelson Symonds
927. Gábor Szabó
T
928. Olaf Tarenskeen
929. Ed Taylor
930. Martin Taylor
931. Tommy Tedesco
932. Marlina Teich
933. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
934. Stephan Thelen (Fascinating soundscapes, similar to David Torn)
935. Toots Thielemans
936. René Thomas
937. Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
938. Kåre Thomsen
939. Ole Thomsen
940. Wayman Tisdale
941. Danny Toan
942. Roberto Tola
943. Jukka Tolonen
944. David Torn
945. Gisle Torvik
946. Zvonimir Tot
947. Ralph Towner
948. Mark Towns
949. Bud Tristano
950. David Tronzo
951. John Tropea
U
952. James “Blood” Ulmer
953. Phil Upchurch
954. Stein Urheim
V
955. Knut Værnes
956. Petter Vågan
957. Jaime Valle
958. Maarten Van Der Grinten
959. Rick Vandivier
960. Guy Van Duser
961. Vreny Van Elslande
962. George Van Eps
963. Jesse Van Ruller
964. Varre Vartiainen (Guitarist Leningrad Cowboys, released a jazz CD)
965. Eugene Vees
966. Craig Ventresco
967. Nelson Veras (Stunning and unique sound/technique)
968. Frank Victor
969. Frank Vignola
970. Randy Vincent
971. Al Viola
972. Hristo Vitchev
973. Ricardo Vogt
974. Harry Volpe
975. Lou Volpe
976. Matthew Von Doran
W
977. Sunao Wada
978. Ulf Wakenius
979. Mike Walker
980. T-Bone Walker
981. John Bruce Wallace
982. Doug Wamble
983. Efferge Ware
984. Leonard Ware
985. Quentin Warren
986. Kazumi Watanabe
987. Mitch Watkins
988. Chuck Wayne
989. Barry Wedgle
990. Susan Weinert (The German “Emily Remler”)
991. Carl Weingarten
992. Lloyd Wells
993. Magni Wentzel
994. Stian Westerhus
995. Jon Wheatley
996. Hy White
997. Peter White
998. Mark Whitfield
999. Jack Wilkins
1000. Wayne Wilkinson
1001. Staffan William-Olsson
1002. Bernie Williams
1003. Claude Williams
1004. Dan Wilson
1005. Mark Wingfield
1006. Torsten de Winkel
1007. Louis Winsberg
1008. Christian Skår Winther
1009. Anthony Wilson
1010. Lew Woodall
1011. Stephane Wrembel
1012. Denny Wright
1013. Wayne Wright
1014. Jimmy Wyble
Y
1015. Jim Yanda (Terrific player, unique style, similar to Bill Frisell)
1016. Patrick Yandall
1017. Masaya Yamaguchi
1018. Geoff Young
1019. Jacob Young
1020. Dhafer Youssef
Z
1021. Frank Zappa
1022. Richie Zellon
1023. Fabio Zeppetella
1024. Axel Zinowsky
1025. Norman Zocher
1026. Attila Zoller
1027. Vitaliy Zolotov
1028. Rick Zunigar
1029. 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.
Conclusion
Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.
If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.
You’ll impress your friends and loved ones in no time with your guitar playing!
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