Chuck Wayne
| Chuck Wayne | |
|---|---|
Wayne in 1976
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Jagelka |
| Born |
February 27, 1923 New York City, New York, US |
| Died | July 29, 1997 (aged 74) |
| Genres | Jazz, cool jazz, swing |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1940s–1990s |
| Labels | Savoy Jazz, Sundazed, Choice, Prestige |
| Associated acts | Woody Herman, George Shearing, Tony Bennett |
Chuck Wayne (February 27, 1923 – July 29, 1997) was a jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1940s. He is best known for his work with Woody Herman' and for being the first guitarist in the George Shearing quintet. He was Tony Bennett's music director and accompanist from 1954–1957.
Wayne was noted for a swinging bebop style influenced by saxophone players of his time, especially Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins. In an era when many guitarists used four-square, mandolin-style picking, with rigid up-down stroke articulation, Wayne developed a legato technique not widely adopted by others until decades later. He also developed a comprehensive approach to guitar chords and arpeggios – based on generic tetrad forms spanning all possible inversions, in varying degrees of open voicing. This highly analytic approach to the fretboard was later documented in a series of theory books, some released posthumously.
Wayne was born Charles Jagelka in New York City on 27 February 1923 to a Czechoslovakian family. In his youth, he became an expert on the banjo, mandolin, and balalaika. In the early 1940s he began playing jazz on 52nd Street and in Greenwich Village. After two years in the Army, he joined Joe Marsala's band at The Hickory House in 1944. Wayne was galvanized after hearing Charlie Parker at the Three Deuces and focused on playing bebop. At one point, frustrated with the difficulty of getting the sound he wanted, he considered switching to saxophone. Bill Crow writes:
He was one of the earliest guitarists to learn the bebop style. Chuck recorded with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945, on two sides that helped spread the bebop revolution, "Groovin' High" and "Blue 'n' Boogie."
...
Wikipedia