Chuck Wayne (1923 - 1997) began his jazz guitar career in the 1940's playing with such groups as Sonny Berman's Big Eight, Woody Herman's Herd and the Dizzy Gillespie bands. He came to prominence while playing with the George Shearing Quintet.

Wayne's distinctive single string style stood out on these early bebop recordings -- a style marked by clear articulation, blazing speed and wonderful melodic structures. In Wayne's later playing he mastered a method of playing chord melody with a pick and three fingers on this right hand. This style dominates his later recordings, but can also be a heard on his early 1957 album String Fever.

Like all the great guitarists, Wayne was also an accomplished accompanist and he can be heard providing great backing to Tony Bennett on Bennett's Cloud 7. He has also played for the major TV networks and wrote and performed the music to Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending. He also taught guitar and produced guitar teaching materials.

Wayne continued playing and recording right into the 1990's. In the 70's he teamed up with Joe Puma for some duet playing in the tradition of Barnes/Kress and Ellis/Pass. His CD Alberta Clipper was released in 1990's.

Wayne was also an accomplished banjo player and he included a banjo piece on his recording Tapestry.

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