Earliest Telecasters in Jazz

HPhillipsmusic

Hey there folks

I'm curious as to who might have been using Teles in jazz in the earliest days of the guitars production. I'm really drawn to players like Bill Frisell and Julian Lage who use Teles so well, I wondered if there were any jazz players in the 50s and early 60's who used them or any other solid bodied guitars.

If not then, who was the first that you can recall? 

Have a good day
Harry

BigLicks67

Ted Greene?

HPhillipsmusic

Of course! Nearly forgot about Ted, though i'd consider him somewhat more contemporary than I was hoping to find in my question!

Skipped

When I listen to the Jazz players on 50's albums I cannot help wondering if 18 month old strings are contributing to their sound?

BigLicks67

I know that Joe Pass used a Fender Jag for promotional purposes in the 60's.

Skipped

HPhillipsmusic said:

Hey there folks

I'm curious as to who might have been using Teles in jazz in the earliest days of the guitars production. I'm really drawn to players like Bill Frisell and Julian Lage who use Teles so well, I wondered if there were any jazz players in the 50s and early 60's who used them or any other solid bodied guitars.

If not then, who was the first that you can recall? 

Have a good day
Harry

George Benson playing a 'Burst in 1964.
This does not surprise me at all. A great Les Paul is a really versatile guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnR8EoLTYZ8#t=43

impmann

BigLicks67 said:

I know that Joe Pass used a Fender Jag for promotional purposes in the 60's.

TBH, the tone he got isn't a great advert for the Fender Jag, IMHO

impmann

Whilst its not noodly jazz in the accepted sense... Les himself was an astonishing player...

ICBM

Joe Pass played a Tele, Jazzmaster and Jaguar at various times at least once… I think in the early 60s but might have been earlier for the Tele or Jazzmaster.

Philly_Q

There's a Canadian jazz guitarist called Ed Bickert who uses a Tele.  He's been around since the '50s but I'm not sure when he first started using the Tele, maybe not until the mid '60s, maybe even early '70s, so again a bit more contemporary than you're looking for.

He has a neck humbucker but I think he originally used the stock pickup.

smigeon

Ed Bickert - e.g. 

Stuckfast

Did John McLaughlin ever play a Tele? I've seen pictures of him with a Mustang.

HPhillipsmusic

Yes! @Philly_Q and @smigeon this is the kind of thing I was hoping for. Great find. Anymore?

I love how Joe Pass and contemporaries sound like themselves despite the guitar, but I also love how modern Jazz greats like Julian Lage have embraced the Telecaster and written it's sound into their playing. It's this that I'm particularly keen to find more of. 

JezWynd

Jim Mullen played a tele in the Morrisey Mullen band in 70's.

chromatuna

I was going to mention that I saw Jim Mullen with his quartet in the late 80s and he was using the Tele

i know it's not the info that you asked for but Mike Outram can be seen using a Tele in his current work with Theo Travis as Double Talk. I saw them last year he is some amazing guitarist, highly recommended 

markj

Skipped said:

HPhillipsmusic said:

Hey there folks

I'm curious as to who might have been using Teles in jazz in the earliest days of the guitars production. I'm really drawn to players like Bill Frisell and Julian Lage who use Teles so well, I wondered if there were any jazz players in the 50s and early 60's who used them or any other solid bodied guitars.

If not then, who was the first that you can recall? 

Have a good day
Harry

George Benson playing a 'Burst in 1964.
This does not surprise me at all. A great Les Paul is a really versatile guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnR8EoLTYZ8#t=43

No its not it's Eddie Murphy.

Van_Hayden

Jimmy Bryant was very Jazz influenced so does he qualify??

Van_Hayden

Adrian Ingram would know - he plays jazz on a Tele . Pretty sure he mentioned Barney Kessel as playing a Tele early on. 

Jalapeno

Barney used the Charlie Christian model Gibson, then his own model before he fell out with Gibson (though he still played their archtops, but with the logo removed). Don't recall him ever using a Tele and there's lots of him on Youtube.

Strat54

Seemed to be more of an 80's/90's thing with Carlton and Stern both using blackguard 50's Teles. 

Strat54

Sorry, the above B&w is Bob Bain...blackguard Tele.