George Van Eps

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American swing and jazz guitarist (1913–1998)

title: "George Van Eps" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1913-births", "1998-deaths", "musicians-from-plainfield,-new-jersey", "american-jazz-guitarists", "american-seven-string-guitarists", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "mainstream-jazz-guitarists", "swing-guitarists", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-california"] description: "American swing and jazz guitarist (1913–1998)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Van_Eps" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American swing and jazz guitarist (1913–1998) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

FieldValue
nameGeorge Van Eps
imageGeorge Van Eps In 1949 Photograph.jpg
captionGeorge Van Eps in 1949
backgroundnon_vocal_instrumentalist
birth_nameGeorge Abel Van Eps
birth_date
birth_placePlainfield, New Jersey, U.S.
death_date
death_placeNewport Beach, California, U.S.
genreJazz, swing
occupationMusician
instrumentSeven-string guitar
years_active1924–1998
labelEuphoria, Capitol, Concord Jazz
associated_actsFreddy Martin, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Howard Alden
::

| name = George Van Eps | image = George Van Eps In 1949 Photograph.jpg | caption = George Van Eps in 1949 | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = George Abel Van Eps | birth_date = | birth_place = Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Newport Beach, California, U.S. | genre = Jazz, swing | occupation = Musician | instrument = Seven-string guitar | years_active = 1924–1998 | label = Euphoria, Capitol, Concord Jazz | associated_acts = Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Howard Alden

George Abel Van Eps (August 7, 1913 – November 29, 1998) was an American swing and mainstream jazz guitarist.

Biography

George Van Eps was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, into a family of musicians. His three brothers – Fred Abel Van Eps, Jr. (1907–1980), Robert B. Van Eps (1909–1986), and John A. Van Eps (1912–1945) – were musicians. His mother, Louise Abel, was a classical pianist and his father, Fred Van Eps, was a ragtime banjoist and sound engineer. George Van Eps began playing banjo when he was eleven years old. After hearing Eddie Lang on the radio, he put down the banjo and devoted himself to guitar. By the age of thirteen, in 1926, he was performing on the radio. Through the middle of the 1930s, he played with Harry Reser, Smith Ballew, Freddy Martin, Benny Goodman, and Ray Noble.

Van Eps moved to California and spent most of his remaining career as a studio musician, playing on many commercials and movie soundtracks.

In the 1930s, he invented a model of guitar with another bass string added to the common six-string guitar. The seven-string guitar allowed him to play basslines below his chord voicings, unlike the single-string style of Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. He called his technique "lap piano". It anticipated the fingerpicking style of country guitarists Chet Atkins and Merle Travis and inspired jazz guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, and Howard Alden to pick up the seven-string.

Dixieland had a following in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s, and he played in groups led by Bob Crosby and Matty Matlock and appeared in the film Pete Kelly's Blues. He played guitar on Frank Sinatra's 1955 album In the Wee Small Hours.

Van Eps played guitar into his eighties, having built a career that lasted over sixty years. He died of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California, on November 29, 1998, at the age of 85.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

  • 1949 Jump Presents George Van Eps (Jump)
  • 1957 Mellow Guitar (Columbia)
  • 1966 My Guitar (Columbia)
  • 1967 George Van Eps' Seven-String Guitar (Capitol)
  • 1967 Soliloquy (Capitol)
  • 1991 Thirteen Strings with Howard Alden (Concord)
  • 1992 Hand-Crafted Swing with Howard Alden (Concord)
  • 1993 Seven & Seven with Howard Alden (Concord)
  • 1994 Keepin' Time with Howard Alden (Concord)
  • 1994 Legends (Concord) with Johnny Smith
  • 2003 George Van Eps, Eddie Miller, and Stanley Wright (Jump)

As sideman

Bibliography

References

References

  1. (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
  2. (2013). "The Great Jazz Guitarists". Backbeat.
  3. (2002). "The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz". Grove's Dictionaries Inc..
  4. "George Van Eps".
  5. Watrous, Peter. (7 December 1998). "George Van Eps, 85, Musician Who Popularized 7-String Guitar". [[The New York Times]].
  6. "George Van Eps {{!}} Album Discography".
  7. "George Van Eps {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic".
  8. (December 29, 1945). "Obituaries: John A. Van Eps Dies of Injuries".

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1913-births1998-deathsmusicians-from-plainfield,-new-jerseyamerican-jazz-guitaristsamerican-seven-string-guitarists20th-century-american-guitaristsmainstream-jazz-guitaristsswing-guitaristsdeaths-from-pneumonia-in-california