I appreciate your positive remark, Frap! After I made my initial post, I realized that I forgot to mention two of my favorite contemporary guitarists, John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell. Frisell amazes me at times, because he can manage to sound like a number of different guitarists, depending on which style he chooses to play. His albums of the past 5 years or so are consistently creative, intelligent, and musical as hell, ranging from jazz to mildly folky to rock-flavored (such as his CD several years ago with Ginger Baker, the great British drummer). Some other guitarists that I admire: Emily Remler (who sadly died much too young some 10+ years ago), Martin Taylor (fine British player), and John McLaughlin (the stellar British guitarist who played with Miles Davis, then his own Mahavishnu Orchestra, and later did several excellent "straight jazz" CD's). About 15 years ago, Stanley Jordan enjoyed the popular spotlight and was critically acknowledged for his style of playing in which he tapped the strings with his fingertips rather than plucking or strumming. In closing, I'll share a personal note, and mention that many years ago (when I was in high school in the late 1950's near Washington, DC), I took guitar lessons from Charlie Byrd. Charlie was a fine man and a wonderful musician, and his technique amazed me. He could pluck notes with both hands, and sometimes used to amuse the audience by plucking notes on the neck of the guitar using just the fingers of his left hand. Charlie played for a number of years at the old Showboat Lounge off Connecticut Avenue in DC, and I took my regular girlfriend there for many evenings of beautiful music that ranged from Swing-flavored popular songs, to bossa nova, to classical music and flamenco. It was with great sadness that I learned of Charlie's death late last year. The music world -- not just the jazz world -- lost a stellar musician.
