George Van Eps

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George Abel Van Eps (born August 7, 1913 in Plainfield , New Jersey , † November 29, 1998 in Newport Beach , California ) was an American jazz guitarist . He was the first jazz musician to play the electric guitar and developed a seven-string guitar as early as 1939.

Live and act

Van Eps comes from a family of musicians; his father was the banjo virtuoso Fred Van Eps, who also appeared with George Gershwin . George Van Eps also played the banjo before he switched to guitar at the age of 13 under the influence of Eddie Lang . In 1927 he recorded his first records with two of his brothers as " Brunswick Recording Artists". He then worked with Harry Reser and Smith Ballew , where he worked with his idol Eddie Lang for six months. Then he played with Freddy Martin in 1933 , with Benny Goodman in 1934/35 and with Ray Noble in 1935/36 , whose orchestra he belonged again from 1939 to 1941 after working as a studio musician in Hollywood .

For the next few years he ran an acoustics laboratory with his father and gave concerts for the first time with the 7 -string guitar he developed in 1939 (with an additional A-string as a bass string for his own solo accompaniment). Then again he worked for years mainly as a studio musician. During this time he recorded with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey , Paul Weston and Matty Matlock and also starred in the film " Pete Kelly's Blues ". Van Eps has also appeared on various radio shows, including all episodes of Pete Kelly's Blues , and in television orchestras. Occasionally he also made jazz records, such as "Mellow Guitar" in 1956, "My Guitar" in a duo with Frank Flynn in 1966 and the solo album "Soliloqui" in 1968. Due to illness, he paused for a longer period. In 1986 he was on a European tour with Peanuts Hucko .

In the 1990s he made frequent appearances with his student Howard Alden and made several albums for Concord Records . He can also be heard on recordings by Adrian Rollini , Louis Prima , Judy Garland , Frank Sinatra , Red Norvo , Frank Trumbauer and Ralph Sutton .

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait (WMNF)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.wmnf.org  
  2. ↑ Alexander Schmitz: The guitar in jazz. Supplementary considerations on JE Berendt's article. In: Guitar & Laute 5, 1983, Issue 1, pp. 82-84; here: p. 83 f.
  3. ^ Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X , p. 701.
personal data
SURNAME Van Eps, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Van Eps, George Abel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Plainfield, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1998
Place of death Newport Beach , California