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Chuck Wayne in 11 Clips

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Fleet-fingered and an ear for the saxophone, Chuck Wayne was one of the first guitarists to play bebop. He recorded with Joe Marsala and Dizzy Gillespie in January 1945 and then with the Gillespie Sextet in February on Groovin' High and Blue 'n' Boogie with Dexter Gordon. He also was in Woody Herman's First Herd in 1946, the George Shearing Quintet in 1949 and was Tony Bennett's musical director and accompanist in the 1950s, starting in 1954. Throughout his career, Wayne was known for his enormous taste and unusual picking style. Along the way, several of his songs were hijacked by other players. For example, his Sonny, written in tribute to trumpeter Sonny Berman but unpublished, was later lifted by Miles Davis, who renamed it Solar when he published it under his name. And Wayne's Butterfingers and Prospecting were incorrectly attributed to tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. [Photo above of Chuck Wayne by William P. Gottlieb in the late 1940s]

Here are 11 YouTube clips of Wayne in action:

Here's Wayne with the George Shearing Quintet, with Don Elliott on vibes, John Levy on bass and Denzil Best on drums, playing I'll Be Around in 1950...



Here's Wayne in 1984 in Buenos Aires with guitarist Mario Andreola, Jorge Gonzalez on bass and Roberto “Junior" Casari on drums playing Blue Bossa...



Here's the same group playing On Green Dolphin Street...



Here's Wayne playing with Caesar DiMaruro on tenor saxophone, and Gary Mazzaroppi on bass at the “Dock of the Bay" in Staten Island, N.Y. playing Stella by Starlight...



Here's Wayne with trumpeter Mike Morreale playing Bernie's Tune with Earl Saul on bass and John Trentacosta on drums...



Here's Wayne with Morreale, Saul and Trentacosta playing Body and Soul...



Here's Wayne playing Butterfingers in 1953...



Here's Wayne playing Along With Me on String Fever 1954...



Here's Wayne playing Satin Doll in 1964 on Tapestry...



Here's Wayne with guitarist Joe Puma playing Baubles, Bangles & Beads off of his Interactions (1974) album...



And here's Wayne's Traveling from his 1980 album of the same name...

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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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