Home » Jazz Musicians » Barney Kessel

Barney Kessel

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him, heard him play. If you listened to the popular radio shows in the 1950's you heard his guitar. When you saw a movie in the 1950's or 1960's you probably heard his guitar. In fact, he may have been one of the most recorded musicians in the history of recorded music.

Born Oct. 17, 1923, in Muskogee, Okla., Barney Kessel first came across the guitar while passing a music store on his paper route. He liked its look and the fact that it came with a booklet, "How to Play the Guitar in Five Minutes," which he believed. Although it took a good deal more than five minutes, Kessel learned to pick guitar by copying western- swing musicians he heard on the radio. He left school at 14 to begin his professional career and soon began working professionally in Ellis Ezell's band as a teenager - a standout in 1937 not only because of his youth but also because he was the only white musician in an all-black band playing black clubs throughout Oklahoma.

Kessel soon began to refine his playing, dropping the emphasis on vibrato for a hard-swinging but cleaner sound, which was emanating from the black music scene in Kansas City, Mo. Within a year he had his first electric guitar - the only person, he once said, with the newfangled amplified instrument within a radius of 400 miles. His style became modeled closely on that of fellow Oklahoman Charlie Christian, the black guitarist who played to great acclaim with the racially integrated Benny Goodman Sextet. Christian first heard of Barney Kessel on a visit home. The pair soon met but when Kessel had the opportunity to play with Christian at a jazz jam session, he told The New York Times in 1991, the experience inspired him to develop a style of his own. "I realized that I had been methodically lifting his ideas from records," Kessel said. "What was I going to play? All I knew was his stuff. There were two guys playing like Charlie Christian. I knew I had to find myself."

Read more

Tags

18
Album Review

Sonny Rollins: Go West! The Contemporary Records Albums

Read "Go West! The Contemporary Records Albums" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Apparently, the median age of a jazz listener is in his or her mid to late 40s. So, perhaps, the representative listener was born in the mid-1970s. Sonny Rollins first recorded in 1949. The recordings reviewed here were made in the late 1950s, well before many contemporary listeners were born. While there have been ample reissues of Rollins' work, most coincided with the still-active phase of his career. Much of his work has appeared since “Skylark" on The Next Album ...

14
Multiple Reviews

Contemporary Records 70th: Barney Kessel and Hampton Hawes on vinyl

Read "Contemporary Records 70th: Barney Kessel and Hampton Hawes on vinyl" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Almost a century ago, times were different and folks with the gumption to forge their own paths were more likely to make a mark on history. When you think of the documentation of jazz, names like John Hammond, Francis Wolff, and Ahmet Ertegun were integral to spreading the word of America's unique art form. Far less known is Lester Koenig and his iconic west coast endeavor, namely Contemporary Records. Founded in 1951, the label was home to such key artists ...

11
Getting Into Jazz

Barney Kessel: The First Four Albums

Read "Barney Kessel: The First Four Albums" reviewed by Mark Barnett


Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule Beautiful work by a luminary of the jazz guitar. These albums are a showcase for Kessel's skill and sensitivity, and a reminder of how gifted he was as an arranger. Background Barney Kessel, perhaps the most celebrated jazz guitarist of the 1950s and ...

294
Album Review

Barney Kessel: Plays For Lovers

Read "Plays For Lovers" reviewed by Russell Moon


Guitarist Barney Kessel was the backbone of what I consider to be the most romantic album ever made, Julie London's Julie Is Her Name. It was only a natural choice for Fantasy to add Kessel's name to its list of Plays For Lovers compilations.

Barney Kessel Plays For Lovers is 67 minutes of generally gorgeous music recorded for Contemporary Records over the period from 1953 to 1988. The album consists of 16 standards, two of which are up-tempo: “Satin Doll" ...

177
Album Review

Barney Kessel: Barney Kessel's Swingin' Party at Contemporary

Read "Barney Kessel's Swingin' Party at Contemporary" reviewed by David Rickert


Swingin’ Party was recorded at Contemporary’s studio in from of a live audience (one can only wonder, given how many sessions were recorded there at this time, who might have been present). The reason for this is obvious; the setting combines the energy and spontaneity of a live performance with the pristine sound of the studio. Kessel’s style, as always, is a potpourri of bent notes and pull-offs, all cleanly articulated and full of unexpected phrases. Like a gracious host, ...

137
Album Review

Barney Kessel (OJC: Let's Cook!

Read "Let's Cook!" reviewed by Douglas Payne


A lively, swinging date from 1957 that certainly lives up to its name. Guitarist Barney Kessel fits his perfect trio featuring bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne into one quintet with pianist Hampton Hawes and vibesman Victor Feldman and a sextet with tenor man Ben Webster, pianist Jimmy Rowles and trombonist Frank Rosolino. Over the course of five tunes, Kessel and company really stretch out nicely. Outstanding are Kessel's 11-minute title cut, deftly handled by the quintet, and clocking ...

273
Album Review

Barney Kessel: Let's Cook!

Read "Let's Cook!" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Two sessions, one taste. What makes this special is a magic ingredient – fortune. Barney was called as a sideman for a Benny Carter date, but Benny couldn’t make it. Everyone else was there, so Barney was made the leader, and the tape started rolling. This let him jam with horns of great stature – Ben Webster and Frank Rosolino. The balance is a quintet session with a similar feel. What you get is simple blues, a loose feeling, and ...

Read more articles

Recording

Backgrounder: Barney Kessel - Kessel's Kit, 1969

Backgrounder: Barney Kessel - Kessel's Kit, 1969

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In the spring and early summer of 1969, guitarist Barney Kessel was on an extensive solo European tour. In each country, he picked up local players for his performances. In two of those countries—France and Italy, he recorded albums. In Rome, two albums were cut for Italian RCA—Reflections in Rome and Kessel's Kit, later known as Guitarra, on RCA's Camden budget line. Kessel's Kit is particularly interesting. For that album, recorded on May 7, 8 and 9 of 1969, Kessel ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him, heard him play. If ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him, heard him play. If ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him, heard him play. If ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him... Read more.

Place our ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him... Read more.

Place our ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him... Read more.

Place our ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Jazz Musician of the Day: Barney Kessel

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Barney Kessel's birthday today!

Legendary musician, guitarist, influential jazz artist, composer, arranger, session player, record producer, one of the leading figures in West Coast jazz, later delving into hard bop, Barney Kessel is now generally considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians around the world to be arguably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Barney Kessel was truly everywhere as a musician. People, who had never heard of him... Read more.

Place our ...

Video / DVD

Jazz Scene USA: Barney Kessel

Jazz Scene USA: Barney Kessel

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers


Education

Music Education Monday: A jazz guitar workshop with Barney Kessel

Music Education Monday: A jazz guitar workshop with Barney Kessel

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Today for Music Education Monday, you can get a video lesson from the legendary guitarist Barney Kessel. Some younger musicians and fans understandably might not know Kessel, who died of a brain tumor in 2004 and previously had been inactive since suffering a stroke back in 1992, but for a long stretch of the 20th century, he was one of the busiest and most respected jazz guitarists in the world. Born in 1923 in Muskogee, OK—yes, the very same town ...

Ben Bishop
guitar, electric
Brian Nova
guitar
Bob Roetker
guitar, electric
Gabriele D'Angela
guitar, electric
Ken Brown
guitar
Lew Woodall
guitar
Steve Homan
guitar
Benoit Viellefon
guitar and vocals
Spencer Alexander
guitar, electric

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Go West! The...

Craft Recordings
2023

buy

More Jazz Guitar...

The Intense Media
2017

buy

The First Four Albums

Concord Music Group
2008

buy

Military Swing

Concord Music Group
2006

buy

Yesterday

Concord Music Group
2003

buy

Plays For Lovers

Contemporary Records
2003

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.