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 750 jazz guitar players.
I am still ways away from having heard the music of every musician in 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 in 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 (will turn more names into info links over time).

Anyhow, here are the 780 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. Noël Akchoté
13. Jan Akkerman
14. Odd Steinar Albrigtsen
15. Howard Alden
16. Johnny Alegre
17. Oscar Alemán
18. Glenn Alexander
19. Neal Alger
20. Laurindo Almeida
21. Peter Almqvist
22. Frode Alnæs
23. Leonardo Amuedo
24. Chuck Anderson
25. Tuck Andress
26. John Anello Jr
27. Michael Anthony
28. Ron Anthony
29. Marc Antoine
30. Bruce Arnold
31. Irving Ashby
32. Dave Askren
33. Badi Assad
34. Gustavo Assis-Brasil
35. Chet Atkins
36. Erich Avinger

37. Elek Bacsik
38. Mike Baggetta
39. Derek Bailey (the most radical)
40. Sheryl Bailey (blazing style, need to check out)
41. Bob Bain
42. Clint Baker
43. Duck Baker
44. Matt Balitsaris
45. Dan Baraszu
46. Dave Barbour
47. A Spencer Barefield
48. Danny Barker
49. Everett Barksdale
50. Junior Barnard
51. George Barnes
52. Jeff Barone
53. Carl Barry
54. John Basile
55. Frode Barth
56. Bruce Bartlett
57. Billy Bauer
58. Billy Bean
59. Gerry Beaudoin
60. Jeff Beck
61. Joe Beck
62. David Becker
63. Jean-Marc Belkadi
64. Robert Bell
65. Roni Ben-Hur
66. George Benson
67. Rolf Berg
68. Gonzalo Bergara
69. Chris Bergson
70. Randy Bernsen’s
71. Peter Bernstein
72. Gene Bertoncini
73. Mads Berven
74. Skeeter Best
75. Ed Bickert
76. Brian Blade
77. Jack Bland
78. Michael Bocian
79. Pascal Bokar
80. Paul Bollenback
81. Luiz Bonfá
82. Perry Botkin Sr
83. Jean-Paul Bourelly
84. Al Bowlly
85. Ned Boynton
86. Terry Bradds
87. Sean Bray
88. Joshua Breakstone
89. Lenny Breau
90. Zachary Breaux
91. Terence Brewer
92. Bobby Broom
93. Andy Brown
94. Norman Brown
95. Sam Brown
96. Dale Bruning
97. Jimmy Bruno
98. Maurizio Brunod
99. John Bruschini
100. Mike Bryan
101. Jimmy Bryant
102. Buckethead
103. Dennis Budimir
104. Hiram Bullock
105. Teddy Bunn
106. Kenny Burrell
107. Andre Bush
108. Billy Butler
109. Jonathan Butler
110. Charlie Byrd

111. Al Caiola
112. Glen Campbell
113. Royce Campbell
114. Jim Campilongo
115. Brent Canter
116. Andre Caporaso
117. Joe Capraro
118. Ana Caram
119. Steve Cardenas
120. John Carlini
121. Larry Carlton
122. Danny Caron
123. Stian Carstensen
124. Joe Carter
125. Deirdre Cartwright
126. Al Casey
127. Oscar Castro-Neves
128. Philip Catherine
129. Katie Cavera
130. Mike Cea
131. Franco Cerri
132. Eugene Chadbourne
133. Emmet Chapman
134. Roger Chaput
135. Fawzi Chekili
136. Ed Cherry
137. Andrew Cheshire (free and refreshing, check him out)
138. John Chiodini
139. James Chirillo
140. Charlie Christian
141. Corey Christiansen
142. Joe Cinderella
143. Roy Clark
144. Bruce Clarke
145. Doug Clarke
146. Greg Clayton
147. Dave Cliff
148. Nels Cline
149. Joe Cohn
150. George Cole
151. Joyce Cooling
152. Cal Collins
153. John Collins
154. Ken Colyer (mostly known as trumpeter, but also played jazz guitar)
155. Eddie Condon
156. Bill Connors (Return to Forever)
157. Robert Conti
158. Ry Cooder
159. Michael Coppola
160. Larry Coryell
161. Pete Cosey
162. Ray Crawford
163. Steve Cropper
164. David Cullen

165. Thomas T. Dahl
166. Laurie Dameron
167. Jerome Darr
168. Daniel Heløy Davidsen
169. Bill DeArango
170. Angelo Debarre
171. Graham Dechter
172. Phil deGruy
173. Paco de Lucía
174. Mike DeMicco
175. Tom Dempsey
176. Cary DeNigris
177. Bob Devos
178. Mike DiBari
179. Eddie Diehl
180. Al Di Meola
181. Sacha Distel
182. Joe Diorio
183. Diz Disley
184. Lonnie Donegan
185. Pat Donohue
186. Christy Doran
187. Jim Douglas
188. Marc Ducret
189. Ted Dunbar
190. Cornell Dupree
191. Eddie Duran
192. Eddie Durham

193. David Eastlee
194. Jon Eberson
195. Lars Edegran
196. Bruce Eisenbeil
197. Howard Elkins
198. Charles Ellerbee
199. Edward Ellington II
200. Herb Ellis
201. Danny Embrey
202. James Emery
203. Tommy Emmanuel
204. Eddie Erickson
205. Gene Ess
206. Ron Eschete
207. Christian Escoude
208. John Etheridge
209. Bus Etri
210. Kevin Eubanks

211. Dan Faehnle
212. Tal Farlow
213. Buzzy Feiten
214. Mordy Ferber
215. Jim Ferguson
216. Julio Fernandez
217. Per Arne Ferner
218. Boulou Ferre
219. Elios Ferre
220. Jean-Pierre “Matelo” Ferret
221. Pierre “Baro” Ferret
222. Garrison Fewell
223. Scott Fields
224. Ed Fila
225. Carl Filipiak
226. Jamie Findlay
227. Barry Finnerty
228. Jacob Fischer
229. Andy Fite
230. David Fiuczynski
231. Brick Fleagle
232. Rod Fleeman
233. William “Biddy” Fleet
234. Chris Flory
235. Ronaldo Folegatti
236. Robben Ford
237. Bruce Forman
238. Mark Fosset
239. Mimi Fox
240. Christer Fredriksen
241. Russ Freeman
242. Robert Fripp
243. Bill Frisell
244. Carl Filipiak
245. Nir Felder
246. Scott Fivelson
247. Peter Frampton (Verve, Monk’s “Work” on “That’s The Way It is”)
248. Fred Frith

249. Gabor Gado
250. Slim Gaillard
251. Barry Galbraith
252. Eric Gale
253. Charlie Galloway
i. Led one of the very first jazz-oriented bands in 1889.
ii. No recordings exist of his playing.
254. Frank Gambale
255. Oliver Gannon
256. Keith Ganz
257. Al Garcia
258. Dick Garcia
259. Paulinho Garcia
260. Hank Garland
261. Arv Garrison
262. Danny Gatton
263. Pierrejean Gaucher
264. Nigel Gavin
265. Jay Geils (“Jay Geils Plays Jazz”)
266. Grant Geissman
267. Mike Gellar
268. Jane Getter
269. Banu Gibson
270. Gene Gifford
271. Joe Giglio
272. Joao Gilberto
273. David Gilmore (not the guy from Pink Floyd lol)
274. Greg Ginn
275. Steve Giordano
276. Egberto Gismonti
277. Jamie Glaser
278. Jeff Golub
279. Mick Goodrick (post bob)
280. Torsten Goods
281. John Goodsall
282. Pedro Javier González
283. Tony Gottuso
284. Jimmy Gourley (hard bop solos)
285. Guthrie Govan
286. Davy Graham
287. Primoz Grasic
288. Jack Grassell
289. Douglas B. Green
290. Freddie Green
291. Grant Green
292. Grant Green Jr
293. Barry Greene
294. Ted Greene
295. Sonny Greenwich
296. Tiny Grimes
297. Igor Grigoriev
298. Marty Grosz
299. Ivar Grydeland
300. Jostein Gulbrandsen
301. Fred Guy (Ellington Orchestra)

302. Bobby Hacket
303. Jerry Hahn
304. Tommy Halferty
305. Jim Hall
306. Stuart Hall
307. Mary Halvorson (A fierce improviser, avant-garde)
308. Bob Hames
309. Fred Hamilton
310. Steve Hancoff (Ragtime)
311. Fareed Haque
312. Sean Harkness
313. Richard Hart
314. Albert Harris
315. Bill Harris
316. Jerome Harris
317. Joel Harrison
318. John Hart (modern mainstream )
319. Richie Hart
320. Ken Hatfield (hard to classify)
321. Svein Dag Hauge
322. Frank Haunschild
323. Jeff Healey
324. Gilad Hekselman
325. Scott Henderson
326. Al Hendrickson (Artie Shaw Orchestra)
327. Steve Herberman
328. Jon Herington
329. Even Helte Hermansen
330. Octavio Hernandez
331. Jimmy Herring
332. Jim Hershmen
333. Carl Hogan
334. Allan Holdsworth
335. Clarence Holiday
336. Sol Hoopii
337. Toninho Horta
338. Michael Howell
339. Diane Hubka
340. Brian Hughes
341. Charlie Hunter
i. 8 string
ii. bop-based guitarist with an open mind towards funk and R&B
iii. www.charliehunter.com
342. Clifton Hyde
343. James “Tootie” Hogan

344. Adrian Ingram
345. Ike Isaacs
346. Enver İzmaylov

347. Michael Gregory Jackson
348. Milt Jackson
349. Paul Jackson Jr.
350. Ron Jackson (hard-bop based guitarist)
351. Sid Jacobs
352. Bert Jansch
353. Tomas Janzon
354. Rolf Jardemark
355. Bill Jennings
356. Chris Jentsch
357. Denny Jiosa
358. Antonio Carlos Jobim
359. Kim Johannesen
360. Nils-Olav Johansen
361. Art Johnson
362. Eric Johnson (Bluesy soulful)
363. Henry Johnson
364. Lonnie Johnson (One of the couple of top jazz guitarists from the 20’s)
365. Wayne Johnson
366. Randy Johnston (Straight ahead in the hard bop/soul-jazz tradition)
367. Rodney Jones
368. Ronny Jordan
369. Stanley Jordan
370. Steve Jordan
371. John Jorgenson (Gypsy jazz)
372. Joyce (Brazilian singer. “Music Inside”)
373. Barbara Jungfer
374. Vic Juris

375. Dirk K
376. Henry Kaiser
i. Hard to classify.
ii. Worked with Fred Frith a lot
377. Ray Kamalay
378. Ken Karsh
379. Terry Kath
380. Halvard Kausland
381. Ryo Kawasaki (fusion)
382. Pat Kelley
383. Barney Kessell
384. Calvin Keys
385. Steve Khan
386. Rebecca Kilgore
387. Mark Kimbrell
388. B.B. King
389. Jackie King
390. Frode Kjekstad
391. Bjørn Klakegg
392. Oscar Klein
393. Mark Kleinhaut (Hard bop and post-bop jazz)
394. Earl Klugh
395. Jan Erik Kongshaug
396. Dave Koonse
397. Larry Koonse
398. Jerry Krahn
399. Wayne Krantz
400. Jonathan Kreisberg
401. Tor Egil Kreken
402. Carl Kress
403. Uwe Kropinski (a GOD on the acoustic guitar)
404. Frank Kvinge

405. Fapy Lafertin
406. Julian Lage
407. Biréli Lagrène
408. Nappy Lamare
409. Shawn Lane
410. Eddie Lang
411. Jon Larsen
412. Steve Laury
413. Hugh Leal
414. Gene Leis
415. Peter Leitch
416. Nguyên Lê
417. Harry Leahey
418. Bob Leary
419. Michael Leasure
420. Phil Lee (A master, his CDs are very difficult to find)
421. Peter Leitch
422. B.D. Lenz
423. Rob Levit
424. Adam Levy
425. O’Donel Levy
426. Vic Lewis
427. Vince Lewis
428. Arto Lindsay
429. Rudy Linka
430. Jeff Linsky
431. Ed Littman
432. Ulysses Livingston
433. Chuck Loeb
434. Bruce Lofgren
435. Lorne Lofsky
436. Lionel Loueke
437. Olivier Louvel
438. Mundell Lowe
439. Robert Lowe Jr.
440. Romero Lubambo
441. Sylvain Luc
442. Nick Lucas
443. Reggie Lucas
444. Lawrence Lucie
445. Steve Lukather
446. Lage Lund
447. Alf Wilhelm Lundberg

448. Doug MacDonald
449. Alex Machacek
450. Billy Mackel
451. Russell Malone
452. Andy Manndorff (totally unique style)
453. Ahmad Mansour
454. Janet Marlow
455. Jack Marshall
456. Eddie Martinez
457. Pat Martino
458. Steve Masakowski
459. Carmen Mastren
460. Yoshiaki Masuo
461. Hans Mathisen
462. Rick Matle
463. Will Matthews
464. Peter Mazza
465. Pete McCann
466. Pat McCarthy
467. Charlie McCoy (mostly known as session musician harmonica player)
468. Dick McDonough
469. Eddie McFadden
470. John McLaughlin
471. John McLean
472. Dick McPartland
473. Lou Mecca
474. Paul Mehling (Gypsy jazz)
475. Coleman Mellett
476. Chris Mello
477. Alessio Menconi
478. Pat Metheny
479. Paul Meyers
480. Rale Micic
481. Fredrik Mikkelsen
482. Jane Miller (Post-bop)
483. John Mills Jr.
484. Dom Minasi
485. Chieli Minucci
486. Roman Miroshnichenko
487. Andreas Mjøs
488. Amanda Monaco
489. Ben Monder
490. Wes Montgomery
491. Davy Mooney
492. Johnny Moore
493. Oscar Moore
494. Juarez Moreira
495. Mike Moreno
496. Joe Morris
497. Scotty Morris
498. Tony Mottola (Frank Sinatra’s regular guitar player)
499. John Moulder
500. Ronald Muldrow
501. Jim Mullen
502. James Muller
503. Matt Munisteri
504. Tisziji Munoz
505. Doug Munro
506. Ron Murray
507. Michael Musillami
508. Wolfgang Muthspiel
509. Kim Myhr

510. Nate Najar
511. Randy Napoleon
512. Ken Navarro
513. King Benny Nawahi
514. Joe Negri
515. Willie Nelson (“Two Men With The Blues”)
516. Calvin Newborn
517. Paul “Dutch” Newman
518. Bern Nix (Ornette Coleman’s guitarist)
519. Mike Nielsen
520. Robin Nolan
521. Robert Normann
522. Issei Noro
523. Øystein Norvoll
524. Brian Nova
525. Oz Noy

526. Andreas Öberg
527. Ray Obiedo
528. Dave Occhipinti
529. Jordan Officer
530. Miles Okazaki
531. Steve Oliver
532. Mary Osborne
533. Dietmar Osterburg

534. Nathen Page
535. Remo Palmieri
536. Gerard Pansanel
537. Jeff Parker
538. Eugene Pao
539. Jackie Paris
540. John Parricelli
541. Andreas Paolo Perger
542. Joe Pass (Was the ultimate bebop guitarist)
543. Lino Patruno
544. Ralph Patt
545. Roy Patterson
546. Les Paul
547. Hallgeir Pedersen
548. Ricardo Peixoto
549. Oscar Peñas
550. Harry Pepl (The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend)
551. Evan Perri
552. Bobby Perry
553. Mike Peters
554. Andreas Petterson
555. Jack Petersen
556. Lorenzo Petrocca
557. Reynold Philipsek
558. John Pisano
559. Bucky Pizzarelli
560. John Pizzarelli
561. Mary Pizzarelli
562. Jimmy Ponder
563. Kenny Poole
564. Frank Portolese
565. Frank Potenza
566. Baden Powell
567. Doc Powell
568. Nigel Price
569. Jeanfrancois Prins
570. Rue Protzer
571. Joe Puma
572. Tony Purrone

573. Snoozer Quinn

574. Rafael Rabello
575. Brad Rabuchin
576. Corinne Bailey Rae
577. Adam Rafferty
578. Doug Raney
579. Jimmy Raney
580. Ernest Ranglin
581. Karl Ratzer
582. Aurell Ray
583. Ray Reach
584. Vernon Reid
585. Babik Reinhardt
586. Django Reinhardt
587. Josef “Nin Nin” Reinhardt
588. Emily Remler
589. Allan Reuss
590. Alvino Ray
591. Paul Renz
592. John Reynolds
593. Marc Ribot
594. Jeff Richman
595. Reuben Ristrom
596. Lee Ritenour
597. Jimmy Rivers
598. Tony Rizzi
599. Howard Roberts
600. Duke Robillard
601. Jim Robitaille
602. Steve Rochinski
603. Jimmy Rodgers (song “Blue Yodel no 9”)
604. Adam Rogers
605. Romane
606. Jimmy Rosenberg
607. Stochelo Rosenberg
608. Jamie Rosenn
609. Kurt Rosenwinkel
610. Brandon Ross
611. Thom Rotella
612. Avi Rothbard
613. Issi Rozen
614. Chris Ruppenthal
615. Art Ryerson
616. Jakob Terjesønn Rypdal
617. Terje Rypdal

618. Michael Sagmeister
619. Luis Salinas
620. Sal Salvador
621. Dennis Sandole
622. Thomas Sankara
623. Gray Sargent
624. Akio Sasajima
625. Bruce Saunders
626. Paulus Schäfer
627. Philip Schjetlein
628. Karl Schloz
629. Dorado Schmitt
630. Tchavolo Schmitt
631. Joachim Schoenecker
632. Marzio Scholten
633. Reg Schwager
634. Thornel Schwartz
635. John Scofield
636. Andrew Scott
637. Bud Scott
638. Ari Seder
639. Mitch Seidman
640. Spencer Seim
641. Karen Segal
642. Bola Sete
643. Brian Setzer
644. Marvin Sewell
645. Agboola Shadare
646. Eldon Shamblin
647. Kendra Shank
648. Elliott Sharp
649. Sonny Sharrock
650. Brad Shepik
651. Ben Sher
652. James Sherlock
653. Bobby Sherwood
654. Scott Sherwood
655. Jimmy Shirley
656. Jon Sholle
657. James Silberstein
658. Yotam Silberstein
659. Ricardo Silveira
660. Ronnie Singer
661. Kenneth Sivertsen
662. David Aleksander Sjølie
663. Alex Skolnick
664. Margaret Slovak
665. Roy Smeck
666. Floyd Smith
667. George M Smith
668. Johnny Smith
669. Kenn Smith
670. Richard Smith
671. Terry Smith
672. Pete Smyser
673. Bob Sneider
674. Jay Soto
675. Fabrizio Sotti
676. Les Spann
677. Melvin Sparks
678. Tim Sparks
679. Peter Sprague
680. Torgeir Standal
681. Chris Standring
682. John Stein
683. Joscho Stephan
684. Leni Stern
685. Mike Stern
686. Jimmy Stewart
687. Lewis Stewart
688. Harri Stojka (the Austrian Django Reinhardt)
689. Håkon Storm-Mathisen
690. Rick Stone
691. Jonathan Stout
692. Margaret Stowe
693. Dave Stryker
694. Rory Stuart
695. Håvard Stubø
696. Thorgeir Stubø
697. Daryl Stuermer
698. Monnette Sudler
699. Andy Summers
700. Ewan Svensson
701. Nelson Symonds
702. Gábor Szabó

703. Ed Taylor
704. Martin Taylor
705. Tommy Tedesco
706. Marlina Teich
707. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
708. Toots Thielemans
709. René Thomas
710. Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
711. Kåre Thomsen
712. Ole Thomsen
713. Wayman Tisdale
714. Jukka Tolonen
715. David Torn
716. Gisle Torvik
717. Zvonimir Tot
718. Ralph Towner
719. Mark Towns
720. Bud Tristano
721. David Tronzo
722. John Tropea

723. James “Blood” Ulmer
724. Phil Upchurch
725. Stein Urheim

726. Jaime Valle
727. George Van Eps
728. Rick Vandivier
729. Jesse Van Ruller
730. Eugene Vees
731. Craig Ventresco
732. Frank Victor
733. Frank Vignola
734. Randy Vincent
735. Al Viola
736. Knut Værnes
737. Petter Vågan
738. Ricardo Vogt
739. Harry Volpe
740. Lou Volpe
741. Matthew Von Doran

742. Ulf Wakenius
743. Mike Walker
744. T-Bone Walker
745. John Bruce Wallace
746. Efferge Ware
747. Leonard Ware
748. Quentin Warren
749. Kazumi Watanabe
750. Mitch Watkins
751. Chuck Wayne
752. Carl Weingarten
753. Lloyd Wells
754. Magni Wentzel
755. Stian Westerhus
756. Hy White
757. Peter White
758. Mark Whitfield
759. Jack Wilkins
760. Wayne Wilkinson
761. Staffan William-Olsson
762. Bernie Williams
763. Claude Williams
764. Mark Wingfield
765. Christian Skår Winther
766. Anthony Wilson
767. Lew Woodall
768. Stephane Wrembel
769. Denny Wright
770. Wayne Wright
771. Jimmy Wyble

772. Patrick Yandall
773. Masaya Yamaguchi
774. Jacob Young
775. Dhafer Youssef

776. Frank Zappa
777. Richie Zellon
778. Attila Zoller
779. Rick Zunigar
780. 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