Chuck Wayne (February 27, 1923 – July 29, 1997) was an American jazz guitarist. He came to prominence in the 1940s, and was among the earliest jazz guitarists to play in the bebop style. Wayne was a member of Woody Herman's First Herd, the first guitarist in the George Shearing quintet, and Tony Bennett's music director and accompanist. He developed a systematic method for playing jazz guitar.
Chuck Wayne was born Charles Jagelka in New York City to a Czechoslovakian family. As a boy, he learned banjo, mandolin, and balalaika which he played in a Russian balalaika band. When his mandolin began to warp, he reportedly tossed it into the furnace and bought a guitar. To earn a living, Wayne worked as an elevator operator. In the 1941 he played with Clarence Profit.
After military service (1942 -4) he worked on 52nd Street with Joe Marsala's band. During the mid 40’s he became involved with the bop movement and played on several important early recordings with Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Harris. Bill Crow writes that Wayne was one of the first jazz guitarists to learn bebop. Two examples with Gillespie are Groovin' High" and "Blue 'n' Boogie."
Wayne was a member of Woody Herman's First Herd (1946-7) and worked with Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Bud Powell, Jack Teagarden, George Shearing (1949 – 52), Lester Young, and Barbara Carroll. During the 1950s, he worked as a freelance in New York, and from 1954 -1957 he touted with Tony Bennett. He also played with Gil Evans, Brew Moore, Zoot Sims, and George Wallington. Wayne also wrote and performed the music for a production on Broadway of the play Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams (1957).
Thereafter he was employed as staff guitarist for CBS in 1959 and from that time he has appeared frequently on television and continued to play occasionally at clubs and accompanied vocalists. He was also an accomplished banjo player and he included a banjo piece on his recording Tapestry. From 1972 -1976 he performed and recorded with Joe Puma and Tal Farlow, and in the mid 80’s he was active as a teacher at Westchester Conservatory of Music, White Plains, New York.
His CD Alberta Clipper was released in 1990's. He was also an accomplished banjo player and he included a banjo piece on his recording Tapestry. He died of emphysema in Jackson, New Jersey, July 29, 1997,aged 74.
Wayne's distinctive single string style stood out on his early bebop recordings -- a style marked by clear articulation, blazing speed and wonderful melodic structures. In Wayne's later playing he mastered a method of playing chord melody with a pick and three fingers on this right hand. This style dominates his later recordings, but can also be a heard on his early 1957 album String Fever.
Wayne wrote "Sonny" in honour of Sonny Berman. Years later, Miles Davis took the song, renamed it "Solar", and claimed he wrote it. Wayne's "Butterfingers" and "Prospecting" have been incorrectly attributed to Zoot Sims.
(Edited from The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Wikipedia & Classical Jazz Guitar)