Jazz Articles about Barney Kessel

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Barney Kessel: Exploring The Scene and Workin' Out

by Larry Koenigsberg
September 1, 1998

Back in the 1950's, before jazz was “America's classical music," when it was still a contender among the various genres in American popular music, Barney Kessel was the perennial winner of the guitarist's spot in the jazz polls which various magazines conducted. Readers of Downbeat, Playboy and the long-gone Metronome liked the clear electric timbre, swift runs, rhythmic licks, block chords, clever arranging and mix of standards and originals which were the staples of Kessel's style. Although Kessel's roots in ...