American jazz guitarist, born 4 December 1930 in Buffalo, New York, USA, died 10 December 2013 in New York City, New York, USA. Married to Jane Hall
Highly ranked jazz guitarist.
Recipient of a Jazz Masters Award from the USAs National Endowment for the Arts in 2004.
He is known for his duo and small-group recordings with some of the biggest names in jazz from the 1950s onward, including saxophonists Sonny Rollins , Gerry Mulligan , and Ornette Coleman , and pianist Bill Evans.
Studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Settled on the West Coast in the mid-1950s, becoming a member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet and, subsequently, the Jimmy Giuffre Trio..
He started playing the guitar at age 10. He became interested in jazz at 13 when he went to the store to buy a Benny Goodman record and heard Charlie Christian playing guitar on the tune "Grand Slam".
He graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He moved to Los Angeles, where he became a founding member of Chico Hamiltons quintet, among the originators of the laid-back West Coast cool style. He later moved to New York, and made several recordings. He led his own trio starting in the mid-1960s.
