Charlie Lee Byrd (September 16, 1925 - November 30, 1999), better known as Charlie Byrd, was a famous American jazz guitarist, born in Suffolk, Virginia. He was the first jazz guitarist of his era whose primary instrument was the classical guitar. This gave him his uniquely identifiable sound. Byrd's earliest influence was the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. He was taught acoustic guitar by his father and played in an Army Special Services band during WWII. He lived briefly in NYC where he played jazz on an electric guitar. He then moved to Washington, D.C., to study classical guitar with the renowned Sophocles Papas. He later visited Italy where he studied briefly with Andrés Segovia. In the early 1960s he was on a State Department tour in South America where he was introduced to a new music, the bossa nova, which was the musical passion of Brazil beginning in the late 50's. On his return from this trip he contacted jazz saxophonist Stan Getz and suggested the idea that they collaborate on a bossa nova album. That album entitled "Jazz Samba" was the introduction of bossa nova to North America and then the world. He is perhaps most well known as a collaborator with Stan Getz on the Jazz Samba album, which featured many themes of bossa nova, and of course, samba. Byrd went on to be a featured performer on the following labels during his 40 year career: Riverside, Columbia, Fantasy and Concord Jazz. While living in Washington, DC, from the early 1960 until 1973, Byrd and his trio were featured performers at the "Showboat Lounge" located in Adams Morgan. His home base from 1973 until his death was Annapolis, Maryland where he was "at home" at the King of France Tavern of the Maryland Inn. From 1980 through 1996, he released several of his arrangements to the jazz and classical guitar community through Guitarist's Forum (gfmusic.com) including Charlie Byrd's Christmas Guitar Solos, Mozart: Seven Waltzes For Classical Guitar, and The Charlie Byrd Library featuring the music of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. His earliest trios included bassist Keeter Betts and drummers Buddy Deppinschmidt and Bertel Knox. In the early 1960s Betts joined Ella Fitzgerald and Byrd's brother Gene H. (Joe) Byrd became bassist for the group. Joe Byrd played with his brother until Charlie Byrd's death in 1999 of cancer. Byrd's trios also included drummers Billy Reichenbach for over ten years, Wayne Phillips for several years and for the last 19 years Chuck Redd. Charlie Byrd, Joe Byrd and Chuck Redd were also a part of the famous act called "The Great Guitars" with electric guitarists Herb Ellis and Barnie Kessel. This group toured and recorded albums in the 1980s. Byrd collaborated with many famous jazz players over his lengthly career. A jazz supper club in Georgetown, DC also bore his name, "Charlie's." He died December 2, 1999 after a long bout with cancer.

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