I don't see Django at the top of this list because, as
a contemporary of Christian in "swing" from the 30s to
53 when he passed away, his major influences were not
in American roots as Chritians' were, et. al. W.C.
Handy, Jelly Roll Morton: Blues and Dixieland ...
I don't consider them contemporaries. Django recorded profusely from 1934 on. Christian's first recording with Goodman was in 1939. It is widely reported that CC used to play Django's solo to St. Louis Blues.
If you read the interviews with jazz guitarists from the 40s, 50s, 60s, they almost all say they were influenced by Django. Guitar Player put out a whole book of these interviews. Django had recorded octave solos while Wes was still in grade school. He was the first person I've heard to play a solo of artificial harmonics. Joe Pass (curiously missing from the list) titled one of his first albums "For Django". Et cetera, et cetera.
Steve
