Few guitarists in jazz history more completely assimilated the innovations of Charlie Christian, the pioneer of the amplified guitar, than Barney Kessel. He grew up in Oklahoma, the state where the self-taught Christian made his reputation, and in 1938, the year before Christian joined Benny Goodman, the teenage Kessel spent two intensive days studying and jamming with his idol. “He showed me a lot, and was a great help,” recalled Kessel, “but even then, I realised that if I was going to make it, it was no use copying Charlie.” In time, he developed his own style, but it was one built firmly on the dexterous melodic lines and adventurous harmonies of Christian’s playing.

Kessel went on to record with musicians as varied as the New Orleans pioneer Kid Ory and the bebop innovator Charlie Parker, but he became internationally famous as the original guitarist in the Oscar Peterson trio, demonstrating extraordinary rapidity of thought, and the ability to improvise simultaneous melodies and countermelodies with almost the same speed and complexity as Peterson himself.

Barney Kessel was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and with the proceeds of a paper round, bought his first guitar for a dollar at the age of 12. He taught himself to play it, imitating records and radio broadcasts, until he began working locally as the only white member of a semi-professional band.

In his late teens he moved to Los Angeles, where he supported himself by washing dishes, before joining the backing group for the film star and entertainer Chico Marx.

The band’s singer Mel Tormé was his room-mate, and Kessel soon became totally immersed in the world of professional music, with colleagues including the drummer George Wettling and the pianist Marty Marsala. He learnt the art of bandleading at first hand, from Marx’s music director, the veteran swing musician Ben Pollack. Kessel always maintained that he had the edge over fellow West Coast guitarists in the late 1940s because he had started out on the electric instrument, whereas other players such as Allan Reuss and Oscar Moore were still making a slow transition from the acoustic guitar. This fashionable skill secured Kessel some high-profile work, and he played for Charlie Barnet and then Artie Shaw, becoming a key member of Shaw’s small group The Gramercy Five. He also appeared alongside Illinois Jacquet and Harry “Sweets” Edison in Gjon Mili’s atmospheric film Jammin ’ The Blues, made in 1944.

He soon found his talents were much in demand in the studio world of Los Angeles, and he spent much of the 1950s and 1960s as a commercial player, adding his distinctive sound to countless film and television scores and playing on dozens of jazz recordings.

These not only included a series under his own name for the Contemporary label, but notably encompassed his tasteful backings for such singers as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. His support for Julie London’s famous 1955 disc of Cry Me A River was much celebrated, but by this time he had honed his jazz skills by spending a year in Peterson trio, alongside the bassist Ray Brown.

“When I joined the trio, it was as if I was capable of driving a sports car at 60,” he recalled. “But Ray and Oscar just kept pressing the pedal down, and I was trying to control the car at 80!” His discs with Peterson, and lengthy tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic, brought his playing to a significant international audience for the first time.

Although he left the trio in 1953, he was often to feel the lure of the road again, and he set out to lead several of his own groups in the 1960s, as well as becoming a frequent member of George Wein’s Newport All Stars, a touring offshoot of the famous Rhode Island jazz festival that celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in July.

In 1969 he settled briefly in London, and his numerous BBC television broadcasts included a marvellous solo version of Stella By Starlight. He was perhaps less keen to be remembered for his anthology album based on London’s cult musical of the time, Hair is Beautiful, but in other respects he contributed greatly to the musical life of the capital, appearing at the famous “Jazz Expo” concerts, and playing often at Ronnie Scott’s.

After his return to the United States, he formed the group Great Guitars (which also featured Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd), with which he toured regularly for almost 20 years until he was incapacitated by a stroke in 1992. Although this ended his playing career, he worked doggedly to improve his speech and movement to the extent that he became a sought-after teacher, despite being confined to a wheelchair.

He died from the effects of a brain tumour, which had been diagnosed in 2001, but which he bore bravely, supported by messages from his many fans and pupils around the world.

Barney Kessel, jazz guitarist, was born on October 17, 1923. He died on May 6, 2004, aged 80.