![]() ![]() Indeed he was now performing with the biggest names, including a spot with Lionel Hampton’s Just Jazz All Stars in 1947. His sheer love of music meant that he was playing more often than not, with many gigs recorded and broadcast. It’s safe to say a full Barney Kessel discography would be nearly impossible to complete, so vast is the amount of music he left behind. By this point, word of Kessel’s improvisational prowess had spread, leading to jam sessions, live guest spots, and short runs of dates with everyone from Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon to TV sitcom icon Ozzie Nelson. Unfortunately, due to segregation at the time, movie producers felt that having mixed-race performers on stage together might cause the film trouble in the South, so they opted to have Kessel perform in the shadows, dying his hands with beet juice to boot. Notably, in 1944, he appeared in the film Jammin’ the Blues alongside saxophonist Lester Young and other jazz legends. Bands led by Charlie Barnet (in 1944 he can be heard on the band’s hit “Skyliner”) and Artie Shaw (1944-1945), followed by a short stint with Shaw’s side group, the Gramercy Five. He joined his first in a series of combos in 1942, spending a year with the Chico Marx Band and scoring his first national airplay via live performance broadcast from Chicago’s Black Hawk Club where they had a four month residency. ![]() From that point forward Kessel’s life is a nearly unbelievable whirlwind of activity. Still a high school student, Kessel was well on his way. That same year, at a dance band show, an impressed Charlie Christian, then performing with Benny Goodman, approached Kessel and invited him to jam the following day. By 1940, at age 16, he was entertaining crowds with a band at the University of Oklahoma, the Varsitonians. By 14 he was regularly performing with area bands. Such a rigorous schedule would dampen some spirits, but Kessel’s skill grew by leaps and bounds. A quick study, he learned his chosen instrument through a WPA federal music project, studying four hours a day, six days a week. Curiosity piqued by a music shop on his paper route, he picked up the guitar. He was born on October 17, 1923, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Suffice it to say the soundtrack of our lives would be much different without Kessel’s fretwork. A resident of the University Heights neighborhood of San Diego from 1991 until his death on May 6, 2004, beyond his role as musician on countless hit recordings, television and movie soundtracks, he was also a mentor, producer, major label A&R executive, indie label owner, author, and inspiration for over 60 years. The greatest guitar player ever? There may have been flashier performers, but it’s unlikely that anyone will ever match the accomplishments of Barney Kessel. ![]()
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