Jim Hall

Wes Montgomery came up with such a tantalizing blueprint for guitar players in the 1960s that many fans forget there is more than one way to pluck a string. The freethinking Jim Hall has continued to follow his own impressionistic lead for the past forty years. Always a subtle and introspective player, Hall first came to public attention on the 1950s West Coast Cool scene with Chico Hamilton and Jimmy Guiffre, moving into the '60s with Paul Desmond's sublime quartet. Hall could turn the heat up with Sonny Rollins or Quincy Jones' funky big band, but as his suberb duets with Bill Evans show, he shared a special bond with introspective players. Since then Hall has continued to thrive, and Concierto, with Desmond and Chet Baker, was a mainstream acoustic jazz landmark in the Fusion-mad '70s. Many of today's elite guitarists, such as Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, are highly influenced by Hall's risk-taking -- showing that there is never just one blueprint for anything, least of all music.