Page "Jazz guitar" Paragraph 10

It was not until the large-scale emergence of small combo jazz in the post-WWII period that the guitar took as a versatile instrument, which was used both in the rhythm section and as a featured melodic instrument and solo improviser.

In the hands of Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, and Tal Farlow, who had absorbed the language of bebop, the guitar began to be seen as a “ serious ” jazz instrument.

Improved electric guitars such as Gibson ’ s ES175 ( released in 1949 ), gave players a larger variety of tonal options.

In the 1940s through the 1960s, players such as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Jim Hall laid the foundation of what is now known as " jazz guitar " playing.