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. Style Wayne was known for a bebop style influenced by saxophone players of his time, especially Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins. In an era when many guitarists used four-square, mandolin-style picking, with rigid up-down stroke articulation, Wayne developed a technique not widely adopted by others until decades later. He also developed a comprehensive approach to guitar chords and arpeggios – based on generic tetrad forms spanning all possible inversions, in varying degrees of open voicing. This highly analytic approach to the fretboard was later documented in a series of theory books, some released posthumously. Life and work Chuck Wayne was born Charles Jagelka in New York City to a Czechoslovakian family. As a boy, he learned banjo, mandolin, and balalaika. In the early 1940s he began playing in jazz bands on 52nd Street. After two years in the Army, he returned to New York City, joined Joe Marsala's band, and settled in Staten Island (until a 1991 move to New Jersey). He changed his musical style after hearing Charlie Parker, recording with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. Bill Crow writes that Wayne was one of the first jazz guitarists to learn bebop. Two examples are "Groovin' High" and "Blue 'n' Boogie" recorded with Dizzy Gillespie. Wayne was a member of Woody Herman's First Herd and worked with Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Bud Powell, Jack Teagarden, George Shearing, Lester Young, and Barbara Carroll. During the 1950s, he worked with Tony Bennett, Gil Evans, Brew Moore, Zoot Sims, and George Wallington. He was employed as staff guitarist for CBS in the 1960s. For the next two decades, he played on Broadway, accompanied vocalists, and performed in guitar duos with Joe Puma and Tal Farlow. Wayne wrote "Sonny" in honor 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. He died of emphysema in Jackson, New Jersey, aged 74. Recordings Wayne recorded his debut 10"LP (reissued on