You may know him as Lloyd Kaplan, the clarinet and saxophone player, or the leader of the Aristocats, or from Warwick Beacon’s Kaplan’s Krazy Korner, or the jazz historian who exposed young people to jazz at CCRI and other venues. He will be giving a talk about three important guitar players at the Warwick Main Library on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.

He knows himself as a huge fan of three great 20th century guitar players: Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian who were probably the first jazz guitarists who were featured as soloists on records. For a man who considered himself too limited to be a soloist himself, Kaplan’s enthusiasm for the stellar trio of jazz guitar and a musician who came late to improvising jazz on his clarinet.

“I was mostly a reader [of musical arrangements] until the 1970s,” said Kaplan. “I simply hadn’t the confidence to improvise on a solo.”

As anyone who has tried will tell you, improvising jazz in front of an expectant audience is a harrowing experience, just as it was for Kaplan until he started. Now, when he gives talks on the history and mystery of jazz, he usually includes the story of three very special guitar players.

“I chose these guys because I don’t think people are aware of the impact these guitar players had on American music,” said Kaplan. “Eddie Lang was the first guitar player to use the instrument to play solos.”

Before Lang, banjos were used because they were louder than guitars at that time and could be heard by the audience. As luck would have it, Lang’s career coincided with the invention of the electric microphone and much improved sound recording, so many of the characteristics that Kaplan will talk about can be found on records, if you know where to look.

But Kaplan is hardly the only fan who acknowledged the significance of Lang’s career. Reams of paper have been devoted to his legacy, but he may be the only tonsillectomy patient that doctors were still writing about in 2001. One of the best brief accounts of the life and death of Lang was published in a medical journal in 2001.

“It is not every day that the performance of an otolaryngological procedure can impact the history of jazz music, but this is precisely what happened on March 26, 1933,” wrote Dr. David Weddell. “On that day, Eddie Lang, the father of jazz guitar,” died because of complications due to a tonsillectomy.

“Compared to the self-destructive tendencies of many early jazz greats, Lang was a quiet, reserved personage and a reliable worker who seldom drank,” wrote Weddell, who used the Eddie story to emphasize that there is no such thing as a simple surgery, and a too casual attitude can doom a patient in the middle of his or her career. In 1929, Lang was with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra when he met up-and-coming vocalist Bing Crosby. The close personal and professional relationship that was to develop between these two men spelled success for Lang. By 1931, Lang was working full time as Crosby’s personal accompanist and doing a lot of studio work as one of the most coveted sideman for a number of big time musicians. Bing Crosby insisted that Lang be cast in the Big Broadcast of 1932, and even bargained for a speaking part for Lang, which would have greatly increased the value of his time on camera. But Lang turned the speaking part down. His voice and his throat sounded rough and coarse on camera and he was too self-conscious of it. Crosby talked Lang into seeking medical advice and long after repeated his regret for sending Lang to the doctor.

Eddie Lang was the son of Italian immigrants and the youngest of 10 children. His name was Salvatore Massaro after he was born in South Philadelphia on October 25, 1902. The stage name “Eddie Lang” was adopted from a favorite basketball player. Before Lang became Crosby’s accompanist, he was one of the busiest jazz sidemen and studio musicians of the 1920s, playing with greats like Joe Venuti, King Oliver, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer, and Bessie Smith.

“Lang deserves more credit than he has received,” said Kaplan. “He was the father of guitar jazz and influenced a lot of players. Guitar players still listen to him.”

Kaplan said Lang’s reputation has not diminished among people who love jazz and jazz historian Kaplan’s reputation has grown as well as he continues to give talks on jazz while he is in Warwick for the summer and South Carolina in the winter. He usually brings up Django Reinhardt in his talks.

“He lost the use of his left hand in a fire and that gave him a unique sound,” said Kaplan, “and everybody listened to him.” Reinhardt’s role in jazz history is expertly discussed by Joseph Dinkins on the Red Hot Jazz Web site (www.redhotjazz.com/django). Django Reinhardt was born on the road and roamed Europe with his family until they eventually stopped and settled somewhat just outside of Paris.

When Django was twelve years old he got his first instrument from a neighbor who must have seen something special in the boy.

“He was soon astounding adults with his ability on the guitar, and before he was thirteen he began his musical career playing with popular accordionist Guerino at a dance hall on the Rue Monge, according to Dinkins.

On Nov. 2, 1928 an event took place that would forever change Django's life. A fire in his home burnt his left hand and his right side. His hand never recovered its mobility but it did not keep Django from playing.

“Django created a new fingering system built around two fingers on his left hand. His fourth and fifth digits of the left hand were permanently curled towards the palm due to the tendons shrinking from the heat of the fire. He could use them on the first two strings of the guitar for chords and octaves but movement in his fingers was impossible. His soloing was all done with the index and middle fingers,” Dinkins reports.

Dinkins said jazz recordings introduced Django to the like of

Jazz recordings of Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and, not surprisingly, Eddie Lang. Dinkins said Django made use of every last bit of mobility left in his hands and adapted his limited fingers to a unique style of playing. This new music found a place deep in Django's heart, wrote Dinkins. “It provided the perfect vehicle for his prodigious talent for improvisation. Django rarely if ever played a solo the same way twice.”

Django was an internationally known star of le jazz hot by the time he toured with Duke Ellington. He returned to Paris and played until 1951 and then retired. On May 16, 1953 Django suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and died. But Kaplan says, “The influence he had over past and present jazz guitar player is not as well known as it should be,” he said. “I enjoy introducing people to his music.”

And then there was Charlie Christian.

His meteoric rise in the world of music was at an almost breathtaking speed. Charlie Christian, with his clumsy amplifier changed forever the way jazz guitar would be played. Christian's influence on jazz and his pioneering of “bebop” remains unquestioned and universally recognized by people who know the world of jazz he helped to create in the 1940s.

“He invented bop,” said Kaplan. “Before there was Dizzy and Charlie Parker, he was playing bop.”

Born into a musical family in Texas in 1916, Charlie's skills were evident early, and he avidly absorbed the work of the many excellent southwestern blues and jazz players. Charlie Christian was one of the first to realize there was a new sound in amplified guitars. One of jazz’s earliest benefactors was John Hammond, who followed the jazz scene closer than most. Hammond found Christian's playing "unbelievable" and convinced Benny Goodman to audition the young guitarist. Christian set up his amplifier and played what Goodman requested. The band was sparked by Christian and improvised on the tune for 47 minutes. Hammond said he "never saw anyone knocked out as Benny was that night."

A month later, Christian was in New York recording with Lionel Hampton’s band, which at that time included Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Clyde Hart, Milt Hinton, and Cozy Cole. In his book, The Swing Era, Gunther Schuller wrote about Christian impeccable timing. Because of Christian's solo playing, few people recognized his solid beat.

“Occasionally one even reads implications that he was not terribly effective in this area,” wrote Schuller. “But if proof of Christian's prowess as rhythm guitarist be needed, we can find it abundantly.”

Schuller is obviously talking about the relatively few but diverse records that Christian is heard on. By 1941, Christian was playing with such future modern jazz greats as Thelonius Monk, Milt Hinton and Kenny Clarke. But, again, bad luck came to a guitar player. Christian contracted tuberculosis but refused to cut back on the alcohol, marijuana and jam sessions he lived for. He died when he developed pneumonia in addition to the tuberculosis. He died, March 2, 1942, in a Staten Island Sanitarium.

“Again, it was one of those times when a great musician died too young,” said Kaplan. “But you can still hear the influence [of the three guitar players]. You still meet people who heard them play and became fans.”

Kaplan’s talk begins at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19. The talk is made possible by the Friends of the Library and is free and open to everyone. Seating is limited, so make a reservation at 739-5440, ext. 126.