Denny Ilett

Denny Ilett

Denny Ilett has been a professional guitarist, bandleader, teacher and writer for nearly 40 years. Specializing in Jazz and Blues, Denny has played all over the world with New Orleans artist Lillian Boutté. Also an experienced teacher, Denny regularly contributes to JTC and Guitarist magazine and is founder of the Electric Lady Big Band, a 16-piece ensemble playing new arrangements of the music of Jimi Hendrix. Denny has also worked with funk maestro Pee Wee Ellis and is the co-founder of Bristol Jazz & Blues festival. 

Articles by: Denny Ilett

Joe Pass

“He showed complete mastery of the bebop jazz language – a language invented on horns”: Celebrating Joe Pass, jazz guitar’s great re-inventor – and a player who had the rare ability to nail sax lines on a six-string

By Denny Ilett published

Bona-fide jazz legend Joe Pass had it all. Here we celebrate the life and career of on of jazz guitar's most fluid and fluent players

Big Bill Broonzy

“I don’t want the old blues to die – if they do, I’ll be dead, too”: John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood all followed in the footsteps of Big Bill Broonzy, the blues pioneer with a guitar style that’s impossible to copy

By Denny Ilett published

William ‘Big Bill’ Broonzy picked up a guitar in Chicago around 1920, and became the first of the original blues masters to tour Europe. His powerful voice and unique country-blues guitar style would shape the future of the genre in the US and the UK

Carol Kaye plays bass guitar in a Los Angeles recording studio in the mid 1960's

“I was in my sixth year as a studio guitarist when one day the bass player didn’t show up. The producer asked me...” How Carol Kaye became a session bass icon

By Denny Ilett published

If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordings

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Keith Richards and Eric Clapton worshipped her solos, and Elvis idolized her sound: how Sister Rosetta Tharpe became an electric guitar trailblazer

By Denny Ilett published

The story of the Gibson-toting guitarist who lit the fire on a six-string revolution that paved the way for rock ’n’ roll

Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt's legacy: 6 guitarists on what makes his guitar playing so important, relevant and vital in the 21st century

By Denny Ilett published

Six modern-day Gypsy jazz disciples salute one of the greatest players of all time