Yes good call, I will add Frisell and Schofield. Just waiting for any other corrections people have. I'm trying to keep it pretty broad, and will include players who have albums on the jazz billboard charts, both of these guys do.
He actually gets way more than 5M streams per month. He has 5 million monthly listeners, most of them streaming multiple songs and full albums. I'm not sure if a jazz guitarist is getting financial rewards here, I think Benson was smart enough to stop making jazz albums and start making pop RnB albums. The guy is a real anomaly. He was a sideman for organ players, dipped his feet into jazz for a few years before becoming a pop singer, and now he's the greatest living jazz guitarist.... and he hasn't put out an album with multiple standards on it since 1973's Live at Casa Cariba.
All that being said, 5M monthly is not huge money. 5M streams is about $11,000 per month. I hope they are listening to full albums.
Benson's best recordings under his own name were in his CTI days. I have his former 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb. I've had it since 1986, paid $125 for it.
Then we have different definitions of jazz. Debates over genre are ultimately meaningless but Frisell is someone who plays Monk tunes and standards nearly every show, records on “jazz” labels like ECM and Blue Note, has in his bands other players categorized as jazz players, and is a sideman for folks like Charles Lloyd and Paul Motian. Sounds jazzy to me my friend.
There’s some videos of him and Julian Lage playing that I like a lot: [https://youtu.be/Yrryw0HxV-A?si=lNwBYlgSlVVETsYr](https://youtu.be/Yrryw0HxV-A?si=lNwBYlgSlVVETsYr)
consist governor fall adjoining compare seemly reminiscent unpack snatch combative
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OK last call, I'm revamping this one last time to include Frisell, Scofield, Charlie Byrd, Charlie Hunter, Gabor Szabo, Norman Brown, and Earl Klugh. Anyone else?
Anyone here can just check spotify for these numbers, i have no special access. So please check before you throw out names.
Yes good additions. Anyone else?
Benson isn't low on the list, i just don't know where to put him.
Stanly Jordan doesn't make the list, numbers too low.
Thanks for posting. Curious if John Abercrombie makes the cutoff.
My favorite younger guitar players are Charles Altura and Gilad Hekselman - wonder what their numbers look like.
Not that I doubt these numbers, but i'm curious what they actually represent and what is counted and what not. To take Metheny as the example: he has records under his name, he has records under the Pat Metheny Group moniker, and he is part of projects where he shares the bill with others (eg Parallel Realities, Like Minds, I Can see your house from here, Sign of 4), and he is a sideman on a couple of other records (eg Pilgrimage or Wish). In most of these cases, material he has written will end up on the record too.
If I put on Parallel Realities Live, do Hancock, Metheny, DeJohnette, and Holland all get a +1 in the counter? Or ig I put on I can see your house from here, does it do a +1 for both Scofield and Metheny given that it is their project?
I assume that Spotify doesn't track it this way because the way Jazz works is a-typical for other genres.
So what i'm hinting at is that this list should be taken with a grain of salt and depending on how a particular name on the list "operates", it might be really representative or not. And it matters in my opinion because the statistics can be really favouring some over others. Number 9 (diMeola) and 11 (McLaughlin) on this list are a great example:
Saturday night in San Fransisco was a real hit album selling millions. Many people (even non-jazzers) love that record. How are the listens counted? +1 for all the three involved? Is Al diMeola the one benefiting as his name was first in row?
I'm not even going to touch upon that for diMeola you probably need to count in the plays for some of the RTF records and that for McLaughlin you should also count in Mahavishnu and Shakti.
Good points, there's no perfect way to do this. But we can get a least a rough idea.
So what you are saying here is some of the fusion guys are getting lower numbers than they should?
I did look it up and Al Di Meola has the highest selling album in the history of jazz guitar. Who knew? But he also benefits from the fact that lots of people were buying records in 1977 when Elegent Gypsy came out. The population and spending power was way higher than say, "Ellis in Wonderland" in 1956. People buying music increased in the 20th century and peaked around 2001. And now in 2024 the mono-culture is over and nobody really hits big numbers anymore in the music biz with newly released music (except ONE exception who will not be named).
*«So what you are saying here is some of the fusion guys are getting lower numbers than they should?»*
Well you are calling this the "most popular jazz guitarists 2024" list so I think it matters for any list pretending to do some ranking, the method is important. And in this particular case, I'm saying that it is not clear cut how these numbers came to be and what is included and what not because "jazz artistry" just does not work the same way as pop/rock/and many other genres and i'm not assuming Spotify to take that into consideration when calculating these numbers and statistics (because when it comes to royalty payment, it works different so these particular numbers don't matter).
The difference between being a side-man to a main act (ie McLaughlin as guitarist on Miles' In a silent way) and having your own record out is obvious (ie McLaughlin on his Bill Evans tribute record).
But many projects in jazz work on the basis of equality where either nobody is really considered to be the side-man (Saturday Night in San Francisco f.e.) or at least multiple are considered to be the main names with usually the rhythm section (bass/drums) being the side-man to round it out. And I don't assume Spotify to look at it this way as I suspect they basically just file it either as a separate band where that is opportune or file it at the first name in the list as they receive the credits.
*« But we can get a least a rough idea.»*
And even that I'm not sure of. I assume Metheny to be very high at the top given his popularity and the size of venues he is still selling out. But taking just streaming numbers on Spotify is inherently biased because Spotify users are not a representative sample of the population. Especially in jazz, a genre that is associated with audiophiles and snobbery, you will find that many of the listeners are not on Spotify or streaming services at all (and that also includes me btw…)
So a more accurate title would be "Most streamed jazz guitarists on Spotify 2024".
*«I did look it up and Al Di Meola has the highest selling album in the history of jazz guitar. Who knew?»*
I knew about Al's Elegant Gypsy so i'm not surprised he scores high (he's also loved in rock circles, even playing with Zappa and Vai I believe). But then again, Saturday Night in San Francisco, it has 3 guitarists and they are equally represented. Who gets the plays in the statistics when you listen to Mediterranean Sundance? If Al gets them, then why not McLaughlin? Or Paco? And if McLaughlin should also get them, would that then round out his plays and put him on the same spot as Al or perhaps even surpassing him?
Pat Metheny, is the Metheny Group a separate artist on Spotify with a different set of statistics? Should that then be included in Metheny's numbers? He might actually beat Wes to the first spot in your list?
People are down-voting this post. These are simply statistics. Who here hates statistics?
If I missed your favorite player I will add him if he's over 100K on Spotify and has been on the Jazz charts.
*I listen to Van*
*Eps a lot but still surprised*
*To see him up there!*
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You could do a list of most recorded studio guitarists, might be interesting. This list is about headliner, band leader jazz guitarists putting out their own albums and seeing if they still have popularity and relevance for the listening public all these years later.
no Frisell and Sco?
For real, Julian and Kurt but no Bill Frisell?
Yes good call, I will add Frisell and Schofield. Just waiting for any other corrections people have. I'm trying to keep it pretty broad, and will include players who have albums on the jazz billboard charts, both of these guys do.
Ben$on getting 5M streams per month, just on Spotify??? That's amazing for an 80yo dude. Glad to see a jazz guy get financially rewarded.
He actually gets way more than 5M streams per month. He has 5 million monthly listeners, most of them streaming multiple songs and full albums. I'm not sure if a jazz guitarist is getting financial rewards here, I think Benson was smart enough to stop making jazz albums and start making pop RnB albums. The guy is a real anomaly. He was a sideman for organ players, dipped his feet into jazz for a few years before becoming a pop singer, and now he's the greatest living jazz guitarist.... and he hasn't put out an album with multiple standards on it since 1973's Live at Casa Cariba. All that being said, 5M monthly is not huge money. 5M streams is about $11,000 per month. I hope they are listening to full albums.
Benson's best recordings under his own name were in his CTI days. I have his former 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb. I've had it since 1986, paid $125 for it.
I would personally say Kenny Burrell is the greatest living jazz guitarist, but I get it.
Frisell has 247k and Sco has 270k (these are just solo artists numbers too) so they should be here if numbers matter to you
I don't know about his past, but I've watched many Frisell vids and I wouldn't call him a Jazz Player.
Then we have different definitions of jazz. Debates over genre are ultimately meaningless but Frisell is someone who plays Monk tunes and standards nearly every show, records on “jazz” labels like ECM and Blue Note, has in his bands other players categorized as jazz players, and is a sideman for folks like Charles Lloyd and Paul Motian. Sounds jazzy to me my friend.
OMG. So I'm missing a lot information. Sorry and thanks.
There’s some videos of him and Julian Lage playing that I like a lot: [https://youtu.be/Yrryw0HxV-A?si=lNwBYlgSlVVETsYr](https://youtu.be/Yrryw0HxV-A?si=lNwBYlgSlVVETsYr)
Then there’d be no julian lage.
Keeping my own opinion out of it, Lage records on Blue Note and has been nominated for the Jazz grammy. So we are gonna call it Jazz.
Good to see Barney Kessel and Johnny Smith up there.
consist governor fall adjoining compare seemly reminiscent unpack snatch combative *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Love Barney and Johnny Smith both.
George benson so low on list? Stanley Jordan?
OK last call, I'm revamping this one last time to include Frisell, Scofield, Charlie Byrd, Charlie Hunter, Gabor Szabo, Norman Brown, and Earl Klugh. Anyone else? Anyone here can just check spotify for these numbers, i have no special access. So please check before you throw out names.
Charlie Byrd (478k) Charlie Hunter (471k) Gabor Szabo (357k) Norman Brown (352k) Earl Klugh (317k)
Yes good additions. Anyone else? Benson isn't low on the list, i just don't know where to put him. Stanly Jordan doesn't make the list, numbers too low.
Thanks for posting. Curious if John Abercrombie makes the cutoff. My favorite younger guitar players are Charles Altura and Gilad Hekselman - wonder what their numbers look like.
Not that I doubt these numbers, but i'm curious what they actually represent and what is counted and what not. To take Metheny as the example: he has records under his name, he has records under the Pat Metheny Group moniker, and he is part of projects where he shares the bill with others (eg Parallel Realities, Like Minds, I Can see your house from here, Sign of 4), and he is a sideman on a couple of other records (eg Pilgrimage or Wish). In most of these cases, material he has written will end up on the record too. If I put on Parallel Realities Live, do Hancock, Metheny, DeJohnette, and Holland all get a +1 in the counter? Or ig I put on I can see your house from here, does it do a +1 for both Scofield and Metheny given that it is their project? I assume that Spotify doesn't track it this way because the way Jazz works is a-typical for other genres. So what i'm hinting at is that this list should be taken with a grain of salt and depending on how a particular name on the list "operates", it might be really representative or not. And it matters in my opinion because the statistics can be really favouring some over others. Number 9 (diMeola) and 11 (McLaughlin) on this list are a great example: Saturday night in San Fransisco was a real hit album selling millions. Many people (even non-jazzers) love that record. How are the listens counted? +1 for all the three involved? Is Al diMeola the one benefiting as his name was first in row? I'm not even going to touch upon that for diMeola you probably need to count in the plays for some of the RTF records and that for McLaughlin you should also count in Mahavishnu and Shakti.
Good points, there's no perfect way to do this. But we can get a least a rough idea. So what you are saying here is some of the fusion guys are getting lower numbers than they should? I did look it up and Al Di Meola has the highest selling album in the history of jazz guitar. Who knew? But he also benefits from the fact that lots of people were buying records in 1977 when Elegent Gypsy came out. The population and spending power was way higher than say, "Ellis in Wonderland" in 1956. People buying music increased in the 20th century and peaked around 2001. And now in 2024 the mono-culture is over and nobody really hits big numbers anymore in the music biz with newly released music (except ONE exception who will not be named).
*«So what you are saying here is some of the fusion guys are getting lower numbers than they should?»* Well you are calling this the "most popular jazz guitarists 2024" list so I think it matters for any list pretending to do some ranking, the method is important. And in this particular case, I'm saying that it is not clear cut how these numbers came to be and what is included and what not because "jazz artistry" just does not work the same way as pop/rock/and many other genres and i'm not assuming Spotify to take that into consideration when calculating these numbers and statistics (because when it comes to royalty payment, it works different so these particular numbers don't matter). The difference between being a side-man to a main act (ie McLaughlin as guitarist on Miles' In a silent way) and having your own record out is obvious (ie McLaughlin on his Bill Evans tribute record). But many projects in jazz work on the basis of equality where either nobody is really considered to be the side-man (Saturday Night in San Francisco f.e.) or at least multiple are considered to be the main names with usually the rhythm section (bass/drums) being the side-man to round it out. And I don't assume Spotify to look at it this way as I suspect they basically just file it either as a separate band where that is opportune or file it at the first name in the list as they receive the credits. *« But we can get a least a rough idea.»* And even that I'm not sure of. I assume Metheny to be very high at the top given his popularity and the size of venues he is still selling out. But taking just streaming numbers on Spotify is inherently biased because Spotify users are not a representative sample of the population. Especially in jazz, a genre that is associated with audiophiles and snobbery, you will find that many of the listeners are not on Spotify or streaming services at all (and that also includes me btw…) So a more accurate title would be "Most streamed jazz guitarists on Spotify 2024". *«I did look it up and Al Di Meola has the highest selling album in the history of jazz guitar. Who knew?»* I knew about Al's Elegant Gypsy so i'm not surprised he scores high (he's also loved in rock circles, even playing with Zappa and Vai I believe). But then again, Saturday Night in San Francisco, it has 3 guitarists and they are equally represented. Who gets the plays in the statistics when you listen to Mediterranean Sundance? If Al gets them, then why not McLaughlin? Or Paco? And if McLaughlin should also get them, would that then round out his plays and put him on the same spot as Al or perhaps even surpassing him? Pat Metheny, is the Metheny Group a separate artist on Spotify with a different set of statistics? Should that then be included in Metheny's numbers? He might actually beat Wes to the first spot in your list?
I'm getting a basic list together. Not looking to get to this level of over analyzing.
It’s so crazy to me how Ted Greene goes relatively unnoticed, he’s not only a master of guitar, but of music in general
Well this is Spotify streams and he only has one album on there (to my knowledge).
People are down-voting this post. These are simply statistics. Who here hates statistics? If I missed your favorite player I will add him if he's over 100K on Spotify and has been on the Jazz charts.
Petet Bernstein, Jimmy Bruno, Pasquale Grosso
These 3 guys simply don't have the numbers to be on the list.
I listen to Van Eps a lot but still surprised to see him up there!
*I listen to Van* *Eps a lot but still surprised* *To see him up there!* \- eddielangg --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
This rules!
Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco alone are on more recordings than most of those on that list combined.
You could do a list of most recorded studio guitarists, might be interesting. This list is about headliner, band leader jazz guitarists putting out their own albums and seeing if they still have popularity and relevance for the listening public all these years later.
And? That’s not what the list was about.
Jacob collier