Spoiler : Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma 10/16/1923; died 5/6/2004 of a malignant brain tumor in San Diego, California. Kessel had been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 1992. As a teenager, he performed in Ellis Ezell's band. He was a standout in 1937 at age 14, not only because of his youth, but because he was the only white musician in an all-black band playing black clubs throughout Oklahoma. He moved to Los Angeles in 1943, playing in bands of Chico Marx, then bands of Charlie Barnet and Artie Shaw. Kessel was a jazz guitarist who was a wonderful lyrical and melodic player. From 1947 to 1960, Kessel was rated the number one guitarist in many of the music polls in Esquire, Down Beat and Playboy magazines. During the 1950s he recorded several albums and performed with drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Ray Brown in a groundbreaking piano- less trio. Kessel also performed and recorded with Charlie Byrd and Herb Ellis as "The Great Guitars." On screen in Hot Rod Girl (1956); The Wild Party (1956). From 1967 to 1970 he operated Barney Kessel's Music World in Hollywood, but in 1972 returned to stage work until a 1992 stroke curtailed his career.

Spoiler : Music director for The Bob Crosby Show on NBC-TV (1958). Probided music for television series including Perry Mason on CBS (1957); Johnny Staccato on NBC (1959-1960). Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999.