George Van Eps (7 August 1913 – 29 November 1998) (often called "the Father of the Seven String Guitar") was an American swing and Mainstream jazz guitarist noted both for his recordings as a leader, and for his work as a session musician. He was also the author of instructional books that explored his approach to guitar-based harmony. He was well known as a pioneer of the seven-string guitar, which allowed him to incorporate sophisticated bass lines into his improvisation. He was a strong influence on later seven-string players such as Howard Alden (with whom he recorded four CDs for Concord Records in the early 1990s), Bucky Pizzarelli, and John Pizzarelli (Bucky's son). He is the son of the legendary classic banjo player Fred Van Eps.
Famous quotes containing the words george and/or van:
“Five hundred men, ordinary men, chosen accidentally from among the unemployed.”
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945)
“His reversed body gracefully curved, his brown legs hoisted like a Tarentine sail, his joined ankles tacking, Van gripped with splayed hands the brow of gravity, and moved to and fro, veering and sidestepping, opening his mouth the wrong way, and blinking in the odd bilboquet fashion peculiar to eyelids in his abnormal position. Even more extraordinary than the variety and velocity of the movements he made in imitation of animal hind legs was the effortlessness of his stance.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)