Jazz Guitar Solos - Barney Kessel Played Guitar Like No One Else!

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Jazz Guitar Solos - Barney Kessel Played Guitar Like No

One Else!
By Steve M Herron | Submitted On February 15, 2015

Although lots of guitarists were strongly affected by Charlie Christian in the 1940s and 1950s, Barney Kessel was the first to
establish his own unique voice out of the Charlie Christian approach. Like Christian, Kessel was from Oklahoma. Besides 3
months of lessons, Kessel was self-taught on guitar. He gained early experience playing with regional swing groups.
After relocating to Los Angeles in 1942, he performed with The Chico Marx Big Band (1942-43), which was a group put
together by Ben Pollack. Discovered by Norman Granz, Kessel was included in the Lester Young short length film "Jammin' The
Blues" in 1944. He worked with the orchestras of Charlie Barnet (1944-45) and Artie Shaw, likewise having fun performing
with Shaw's Gramercy Five.
After the Shaw gig, Kessel became a studio musician in Los Angeles while at the same time playing bop-oriented jazz in the
evenings. He recorded with Charlie Parker in 1947, travelled with Jazz at The Philharmonic, and during 1952-53 belonged to
The Oscar Peterson Trio. Though he left Peterson after a year to stay near to the studios, Kessel recorded his most unique
recordings in the 1950s making a string of very creative albums for Contemporary Records.
While he stayed a bop soloist, the styles varied from swing to west coast jazz. An additional series of recordings teamed him
with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne as The Poll Winners, since they frequently won the "Downbeat" and "Metronome" jazz polls
of that time period. Kessel also recorded with Art Tatum and Sonny Rollins.
Barney Kessel stayed popular on the scene during the next couple of decades. While his later recordings as a leader typically lack
the excitement and energy of his earlier dates, Barney Kessel still sounded at his fiery best when performing with Herb Ellis and
Charlie Byrd as The Great Guitars during 1974-82.
Barney Kessel's guitar approach was securely rooted in the jazz music of the late thirties and forties. As one of the key
transitional guitar players of that period, his approach naturally embodied the lexicons of the swing and bebop periods. Both jazz
categories applied a tremendous effect on his playing. To a lesser extent, Barney was affected by the post-bop modal and hard
bop jazz movements and contemporary jazz.
Barney was an incredible chord melody stylist and fantastic single-note soloist. His chord playing referenced the harmonic
sophistication, differing structures, and arranging acumen of a pianist and orchestra leader. Barney enjoyed the modern poly

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Jazz Guitar Solos - Barney Kessel Played Guitar Like No One Else!

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tonal alternatives and chord extensions preferred by jazz keyboardists and often worked these into his re-harmonizations of
standard tunes like "Tenderly", "Misty," and "Spring Is Here.".
The sounds of the blues played a huge role in Barney's music. Despite the heady bop-inflected lines and colorful harmonic
variations laced throughout his improvisations, cool sounding blues licks were also plentiful. Barney made use of blues
elements in both chord and single-note style. His flowing solo passages were frequently punctuated with distinctive string bends,
grooving riff-like patterns, slurred ninth and 7th chords, and characteristic double stops.
Barney had several notable phrasing techniques that made his single-note improvisations personal and immediately recognizable.
Prime amongst these were the rake-picked smeared arpeggio figures that decorated lots of his bop passages. Another unique
Kessel signature was the extended guitar line harmonized in parallel 3rds. Also notable was his strong, unflagging sense of
swing when rendering long strings of eighth notes like a wind instrumentalist. A terrible stroke put an end to Barney Kessel's
jazz guitar playing in 1992 and he died 12 years later.
Peabody Conservatory trained guitarist Steven Herron is an expert on jazz guitar instruction. He has spent most of his adult life
playing professionally at clubs and restaurants as well as teaching private students at his studio. Sign up now for his free guitar
e-course and find out more about Barney Kessel solos.
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