* En anglais uniquement
One of the finest guitarists to emerge after the death of
Charlie Christian,
Barney Kessel was a reliable bop soloist throughout his career. He played with a big band fronted by Chico Marx (1943), was fortunate enough to appear in the classic jazz short Jammin' the Blues (1944), and then worked with the big bands of
Charlie Barnet (1944-1945) and
Artie Shaw (1945); he also recorded with
Shaw's Gramercy Five.
Kessel became a busy studio musician in Los Angeles, but was always in demand for jazz records. He toured with
the Oscar Peterson Trio for one year (1952-1953) and then, starting in 1953, led an impressive series of records for Contemporary that lasted until 1961 (including several with
Ray Brown and
Shelly Manne in a trio accurately called
the Poll Winners). After touring Europe with
George Wein's Newport All-Stars (1968),
Kessel lived in London for a time (1969-1970). In 1973, he began touring and recording with
the Great Guitars, a group also including
Herb Ellis and
Charlie Byrd. A serious stroke in 1992 put
Barney Kessel permanently out of action, but many of his records (which include dates for Onyx, Black Lion, Sonet, and Concord, in addition to many of the Contemporaries) are available, along with several video collections put out by Vestapol.
Kessel was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in 2001, which eventually took his life in May of 2004. He was 80 years old. ~ Scott Yanow