Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel is an exceptionally gifted musician with a very wide range. His versatility has ensured his place in the world of jazz greats. With his own distinctive flavor, the Muskogee native became one of the best-known and most recorded guitarists in jazz by the mid-'60's. In the early '70's, Kessel teamed up with Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd to perform as the group Great Guitars, and they continued to tour well into the 1980's. After playing in various bands, Kessel began to establish a name for himself on the West coast. He was featured in the award-winning documentary film “Jammin' The Blues” (1944) and played in various big bands of the late swing era.
He was in great demand for studio work, jazz record sessions, club and concert dates and on tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic. A composer and arranger, Kessel originated the idea of the guitar being used instead of a piano as the predominant voice of a jazz trio with bass and drums. Kessel has played and recorded with a long list of jazz greats including Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster and Sonny Rollins. From the early 1940's Kessel played and recorded with the big bands of Chico Marx, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Charlie Barnet. He was one of the original members of Oscar Peterson's Trio. A winner of all the major jazz polls including Downbeat, Metronome, Melody Maker and Playboy, he was one of the most popular jazz guitarists of the 1950's and 1960's.
He worked for almost 40 years in Hollywood as an arranger and free lance musician for radio, hundreds of films and TV shows such as Steve Allen and Hollywood Palace, and performed and recorded with such diverse talents as Fred Astaire, Lawrence Welk, the Beach Boys, Barbara Streisand, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. The last Kessel album to be recorded is the superb "Red, Hot and Blues" on Contemporary. Vestapol Videos released a one-hour video entitled "Barney Kessel Rare Performances, 1962-1991." In 1996, Kessel was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by the University of Oklahoma for his lifetime contributions to music. Kessel lives in San Diego, CA. with his wife, writer Phyllis Van Doren. A stroke in 1992 left him unable to play; however, he is teaching again. Barney Kessel's recordings are collector's items today and are an important part of jazz history.