First I’m hearing of this folks… Jazz guitar great Herb Ellis died Sunday March 28, 2010 of complications associated with Alzheimer’s. He was 88 years old.
Ellis was inspired to play the guitar because of guitar legend Charlie Christain. Due to a lack of funds Ellis dropped out of college and went on the road touring with several different bands. He eventually joined Glen Gray’s Casa Loma Band in 1943 and began to get noticed by the jazz press. His next gig was with the Jimmy Dorsey band and in 1952 he replaced Barney Kessell in the Oscar Peterson Trio. He also did solo projects and toured with jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. He established himself as a major jazz guitarist and continued recording for various specialist labels until the ‘90s.
He was best known among guitarists for playing a Gibson ES-175 and eventually got his own Gibson signature model. Ellis is survived by his wife Patti, a son, a daughter and three grandchildren. I personally loved his playing and think he was certainly one of the jazz guitar greats.