The best jazz guitarist ever, in my opinion

[VanHalenFan5150]

Al Di Meola. He was born and lives in the town where I hail from! He's been around for a long time, I know, but a friend recently enlightened me to Al, and since my respect for jazz has risen.

Flight Over Rio:
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3:40-onward is the best part. LISTEN TO THE SWEEPS AT 4:22!

Land Of The Midnight Sun
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These are my favorite songs by the best jazz player ever. Him, Steve Morse, and Stanley Clarke are my favorite jazz artists. Anybody have any favorites that they'd recommend?

[FORD]

I'm gonna have to go with Phil Keaggy here. Not strictly a jazz player, but his jazzier stuff has some of his better licks....

[Green Manalishi]

I'm not schooled enough about jazz to post any definitive " BEST EVER " answer but I do know enough to post this .

Jeff Beck has dabbled in jazz and is a very good guitarist . I love the " Wired " album .

The late George McCorkle of The Marshall Tucker Band was considered by many to be a jazzy guitarist . I saw them several times in the early '80's and he was quite good .

I saw Leo Kotke in a small theatre " in the round " in 1985 . He was impressive .

I saw Steely Dan in '06 and I thought that Walter Becker flat out KILLED !

Many of my older guitarplayer buddies rave about Al Di Meola as well as Stanley Clark ( School Daze ) is the koolest ! and Steve Morse' Dixie Dregs gets much respect !

I have heard a little bit of the late Johnny " Guitar " Watson and George Benson as well . Both quite respectable players .

Believe it or not , though he was quite bizarre , Frank Zappa was considered a jazzy guitarist as well and his music often dabbled in that direction . Oddly enough , Steve Vai was a Zappa sideman .

[chefcraig]

Di Meola never really thrilled me all that much, as his playing seemed to be a series of scales executed over and over again. I will admit that "Race With The Devil On Spanish Highway" had it's moments, however...




When it comes to true jazz guitarists, it's hard to get any better than Joe Pass.



And people laugh at me when I say this, but I honestly don't believe that Roy Clarke has ever been given his due because of his goofy personality on tv shows. Here he is, performing on "The Odd Couple", of all things.

[hambon4lif]

A 'jazz guitarist' thread will only go so far before someone mentions the obvious....

the legendary George Benson
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[chefcraig]

And of course, in my mind the finest guitarist of all time, regardless of genre...

[indeedido]

Yes, Chet and Lester both had some mighty fine jazz tunes.

[Seshmeister]

And people laugh at me when I say this, but I honestly don't believe that Roy Clarke has ever been given his due because of his goofy personality on tv shows. Here he is, performing on "The Odd Couple", of all things.

Wow talk about a classic example of 'Jumping the Shark'.

A quick look on IMDB shows not surprisingly they were cancelled soon after and Quincy went on to star in Quincy.

Also two out of the three of them are still alive, Felix died a while back...

[chefcraig]

Wow talk about a classic example of 'Jumping the Shark'.

A quick look on IMDB shows not surprisingly they were cancelled soon after and Quincy went on to star in Quincy.

Yes, but think of it this way...if the show was produced today, instead of stunt casting with questionable "celebrities", the show would have featured "a very special" event, like Felix having a baby. Then the audience would be subjected to predictable antics as the couple respond to the wise-assed remarks and actions of the precocious child actor added to boost sagging ratings.

[ThrillsNSpills]

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Holdsworth from Jean Luc Ponty's Enigmatic Ocean

[VanHalenFan5150]

Jean-Luc Ponty is a fine player too!