The following series on the evolution of jazz guitar briefly describes each era in the development of this genre, however it omits the names of several important non- guitar musicians and likewise does not go into detail regarding several important contributions they made. Its main objective is to educate the reader as to the role the guitar played during each stage of the music’s history as well as introduce us to its most influential players.
Before we begin I would like to point out that the guitar first played an important role in Blues and Dixieland prior to the 1930’s. However, it wasn’t until after this period in time that the guitar began developing its own sophisticated voice and was first featured in jazz improvisation at par with the piano, brass and woodwind soloists. In lieu of this fact, I have chosen to begin this series with the Swing Era.
NOTE: The players are categorized here according to the time period in which they first appeared on the national / international jazz scene. This does not necessarily mean that throughout their careers their styles didn’t evolve along with those introduced in subsequent eras. For instance, Wes Montgomery first emerged late in the be-bop era although he did not become a prominent jazz guitarist until the hard bop era in the mid 50′s. Consequently, his style also evolved to reflect many of the new musical trends being explored by his contemporaries.