Herb Ellis – The Most Legendary Jazz Music Guitar Personality Ever
Jazz guitar player Herb Ellis like quite a few other top American jazz guitar players (such as Charlie Christian, Eddie Durham, and Oscar Moore) was born in the south western section of the the USA. The blues, with a bit of country music, are a distinctive attribute of his jazz guitar music sound and his guitar playing technique. This is most surely due to the atmosphere in which Ellis was brought up. Herb Ellis first performed on the banjo, though it is claimed he played the harmonica at the age of 4, and took up the guitar at the age of 10. While he was at high school he played alto horn in the school band. Ellis studied at the North Texas State College and helped begin a jazz guitar music course there which included collection books of his jazz guitar tabs and jazz guitar tablatures. He met and befriended a lot of now well known jazz musicians whilst at this college including Jimmy Giuffre, Gene Roland, and Harry Babasin.
Herb graduated in 1941 and joined Glen Gray’s band. In 1945 he joined the Jimmy Dorsey Big Band touring and performing with them for three years. Following this, Ellis formed his own instrumental / vocal trio known as “The Softwinds”. That band, which featured Lou Carter on Piano and Johnny Frigo on bass, played collectively for 5 years. During that time Herb authored a number of successful songs which includes “Detour Ahead” and “I Told You I Love You – Now Get Out”. Ellis’s jazz guitar expertise initially became internationally recognized in 1953 when he took over from jazz guitar player Barney Kessel in the Oscar Peterson Trio. There is no doubt that throughout his 5 year stay with Peterson, and his subsequent 4 years accompanying the renowned jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis developed his musical abilities as a soloist and accompanist to the fullest. It was throughout this time that he additionally started a lengthy association and friendship with bass player Ray Brown.
Following that time Herb Ellis led a career as one of the busiest jazz guitar performers on the worldwide jazz music scene. Over the years he played and made albums with “The Great Guitars”, a band that featured pickstyle jazz guitarist Barney Kessel and fingerstyle jazz guitar performer Charlie Byrd, in a duo with jazz guitarist Joe Pass, and as leader of his own trios and quartets. Though for many years Ellis worked in the Los Angeles studio scene and was a regular member of the Don Trenner Band on the popular ‘Steve Allen Show’, he later returned to a life dedicated to jazz guitar music once again appearing and making albums routinely with Oscar Peterson. Herb died on March 28th, 2010 but luckily for aspiring guitarists, he published various jazz guitar tab books and DVD courses that present his single note improvised solos and chord melody solos and the guitar techniques he employed to play them
Peabody Conservatory trained guitarist Steven Herron helps guitar players become better guitarists. His company ChordMelody.com features an enormous selection of jazz guitar tablatures
as well as instructional DVDs by Herb Ellis himself. Find out more and claim Steven’s popular free monthly guitar lesson e-course available at: =>
Herb Ellis guitar tabs
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