I think the problem with this sort of tree is that some players were
more influenced by guitarists than others.
I think it's fair to say that Wes was influenced by Christian, since
Wes reportedly learned to play by copying Christian solos. That's
also true for a lot of guys of that era. Barney Kessel comes to mind -
- he continued to use the "Charlie Christian" pickup throughout his
career.
But, Jim Hall, as someone pointed out, was probably more influenced
by horn players than guitar players. Tal Farlow credits Red Norvo
for a lot of his style.
I don't know exactly who influenced Metheny. His style was in place
when Bright Size Life came out. Who sounded remotely like that? Maybe
Gary Burton and associates? Does anyone know?
The great bop players may have become guitarists because of
Christian, and were certainly trodding in his footsteps in trying to
play horn-like lines, but I think it would be fair to say that Bird
influenced Raney more than Christian did. To me, Raney's lines remind
me of Bird, not Charlie.
My old teacher, Warren Nunes, curiously had a very small record
collection. He attributed his style to George Shearing.
Anyway, my point is that some guitarists were not influenced
primarily by other guitarists, Charlie Christian himself being a
shining example.
Rick
--- In jazz_guitar@..., "MJU" <memjazz@m...> wrote:
What about:
1. Jimmy Raney, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessell, Tal Farlow and
others (like
Johnny Smith) in that vein after Christian?
2. Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Mundell Lowe, Tal, & Grant Green along
with Wes
and Jim Hall?
Django and Christian were essentially around at the same time. One
was
European Gypsy the other Mid West Swing and Blues.
Then thereare those that were more or less contemporaries of
Christian (an
influences on him): Oscar Moore & Eddie Durham (who was the one
that turned
a young CC on to the electric guitar).
There are too many others that were important and influential
before
Chirstian on the instrument. I saw where someone mentioned Lang,
but then
there is Kress, McDonough, Van EPs and the other big band guys like
Freddie
Green and Bus Etri that had a major impact on the instrument at the
time.
The timeline from the 1900's to 1970 would fill a volume or two of
an
encyclopedia-type book easily.
I know that you were probably giving an overview but there are too
many
people to figure in (for me that is). I must lie down and think
about
this............... :)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Williams" <scanz777@y...>
To: <jazz_guitar@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 4:42 PM
Subject: [jazz_guitar] Jazz Guitar Tree?
I was giving it some thought and was wondering if I
was wrong in my accessment. As far as a timeline and
influences as far as styles, I picture a tree with
Charlie Christian at the apex and then two branches
with Wes Montgomery on one side and Jim Hall on the
other. It could look like this with players similiar
in style or mentioned influences branching further:
Charlie Christian
/ \
Wes Montgomery Jim Hall
/ \ / \
Benson, Martino, Raney Goodrick, Metheny,
Scofield
This is just given as an example and maybe there are
far too many players to peg this way. But it seems
that there is one group who's lines are more bop
oriented while another is more into space and
textures.
Is this fair?
Sean Williams
www.gtr4hire.com
