Four musicians with different styles have been named on the list of Rolling Stone Magazine’s 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, which was published last week.
The eclectic Stephen “Cat” Coore of Third World, jazz maestro Ernie Ranglin, session ace Earl “Chinna” Smith, and rocksteady maverick Lynn Taitt made the list. Jimi Hendrix is at number one, with the top five completed by Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Eddie Van Halen and Jeff Beck.
Coore ranks at number 91, with Ranglin coming at 179, Smith at 182 and Taitt at number 204.
The Rolling Stone reggae dossiers were written by Michael Goldwasser of Easy Star Records, himself a musician.
He said of Coore, “Practically redefined the heights that reggae guitar could soar to, with searing solos that can stand alongside those of the most acclaimed rock guitar gods — check out his string work on 1982’s Try Jah Love for an example of why his lead playing is sometimes compared to that of Carlos Santana. But Coore’s appreciation of the importance of rhythm is essential to his style, and his pick accompaniments often help drive the engine of Third World’s best. He’s also a master on the acoustic guitar, not always associated with Jamaican music — his fretwork on 1865 (96 Degrees in The Shade) helped open the minds of Jamaican listeners and other Jamaican guitarists as to the possibilities of the acoustic in reggae.”
Golding noted that Smith is “perhaps the most recorded guitarist of the classic reggae era, playing on seminal works by Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Bunny Wailer, Sugar Minott, Jacob Miller, Black Uhuru, Mighty Diamonds, Augustus Pablo, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor — the full list would take up this entire page. As a member of Bunny Lee’s Aggrovators, and later the Soul Syndicate, Smith influenced a generation of Jamaican players. Aside from his tight rhythm and riff playing, he was also known for coming up with guitar intros for songs such as Marley’s Rat Race and Dennis Brown’s Cassandra — before this innovation, almost all reggae was started with a drum fill.”
The Trinidadian-born Taitt is credited with creating rocksteady around his laid-back riffs, which can be heard on songs like (007) Shantytown by Desmond Dekker And The Aces, and Alton Ellis’ Girl I’ve Got a Date. Goldwasser said Taitt’s lines are “some of the most recognizable guitar in Jamaican music history, and though he was active in the scene for just a few years, leaving for Canada in 1968, his influence and importance were cemented when his student Hux Brown honed Taitt’s playing style to help create the sound of reggae guitar.”
Like Rolling Stone‘s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, released last January, the guitar table has been strongly criticized by fans and musicians. Many questioned the low placings of The Police’s Andy Summers (250), ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons (102) and Johnny Winter (166).
Eric Clapton, one of the original guitar gods, comes in at number 35. Blues titan Stevie Ray Vaughn, who with Van Halen put guitar in the spotlight during the 1980s, is number 20.
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