“Had he recorded nothing but the 10-minute Maggot Brain solo, Eddie Hazel’s place in guitar history would be complete”: The 30 best guitarists from New Jersey – from Al Di Meola and Richie Sambora to Gibson's best-selling signature artist
We gone and made a list of our favorite Garden State guitar heroes... Do write in for which state you'd like to read about next. One way or another, it won't have better pizza
Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein
To complement his imposing body builder’s frame and his ghostly “devilock” stage image, Paul Caiafa – best known as the longtime guitarist for horror punk pioneers the Misfits – gave himself an equally memorable professional name: Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein.
Born and raised in Lodi, Doyle is the brother of Misfits bassist Gerald Caiafa Jr. (better known as Jerry Only), who along with fellow townie Glenn Danzig, formed the band in 1977.
While attending Lodi High School, Doyle worked as a roadie for the band and learned how to play guitar by jamming with Danzig and Jerry. When the group’s second guitarist, Bobby Steele, bailed before a studio session, Doyle – who was all of 16 at the time – was brought in as a replacement. He made his recording debut on the 1981 EP, 3 Hits from Hell.
Nobody will mistake Doyle for a virtuoso soloist, but like the Ramones’ Johnny Ramone, he favors barre chords, downstrokes and maximum overdrive power.
In addition to the Misfits, he’s performed with a number of outfits (most notably Danzig’s eponymous band), as well as his own groups, Gorgeous Frankenstein and Doyle. After breaking up in 1983, the Misfits reunited in 2016 with a lineup that included Doyle and Jerry.
Ben Weinman
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Black Bubblegum (live on Conan O'Brien, 06 feb '08) HD - YouTube
After receiving degrees in psychology and corporate communications, Ben Weinman was on his way to take the business world by storm. But when his extreme metal band Dillinger Escape Plan started to take off, he left the suit-and-tie world behind to concentrate on music.
It wouldn’t be long for the Morris Plains-based group to be hailed as one of the most adventurous outfits around, and Weinman – the band’s lead guitarist and chief songwriter – would go on to win numerous accolades (in 2008, GW named him one of the 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time – and he even made an appearance on one of two September 2013 GW covers).
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The Morris Plains native grew up jamming to blues-based players like Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, but his playing style took on wider dimensions with influences that included John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp and Marty Friedman. In 1996, Weinman formed the hardcore punk band Arcane, which eventually morphed into the Dillinger Escape Plan.
On records that mixed wildly aggressive progressive metal with elements of electronic music and jazz, his outlandish, sometimes nerve-fraying playing proved impossible to copy (try to get a handle on 43% Burnt, from Calculating Infinity, if you dare).
After the Dillinger Escape Plan disbanded in 2017, Weinman formed Giraffe Tongue Orchestra (which includes members of Alice In Chains, the Mars Volta and Zappa Plays Zappa), joined Suicidal Tendencies and performed with acts such as Nine Inch Nails and the Prodigy. Best of all – as mentioned in our June issue – the Dillinger Escape Plan have regrouped for a handful of shows this year.
Bucky Pizzarelli
Good ol’ Bucky Pizzarelli was a Jersey boy from start to finish. Born in Paterson in 1926 to a music-loving family that included his uncles Pete and Bobby Domenick, who were professional guitarists and banjo players, Pizzarelli was predestined for musical greatness – or, at the very least, a career via six-strings.
By the Fifties, Pizzarelli was recording with Joe Mooney and soon became a staff musician alongside pianist Skitch Henderson. But things really got cookin’ when Pizzarelli became a member of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson band, providing a backdrop for Carson’s humor and some of the greatest musicians of his day. In the years that followed, Pizzarelli became a band leader and even performed with Benny Goodman at the White House.
Pizzarelli became a member of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson band, providing a backdrop for Carson’s humor and some of the greatest musicians of his day
Later in his career, he participated in the 1985 Jersey Jazz Guitars concert at Rutgers University alongside Les Paul and Tal Farlow, aired on New Jersey public radio as part of a three-part Summerfare Series.
Toward the end of his life, Pizzarelli slowed down but remained active before passing away in Saddle River on April 1, 2020, at age 94. He and his Gibson and Epiphone archtop-loving spirit are kept alive by his two sons, guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli.
Tal Farlow
Known for his massive hands, which engulfed the entirety of the fretboard of his various Gibson jazz boxes, Tal Farlow wasn’t born in New Jersey, though he did spend a large chunk of his life there. Farlow was born in North Carolina, not that it mattered – because after moving to Sea Bright, he became known as the proverbial dean of the Jersey Shore jazz scene.
Despite becoming a national name, Tal Farlow first picked up the instrument when he was 22 and was entirely self-taught
With his immeasurable jazz chops, love for the genre and a gorgeous array of Gibson ES-350s, Farlow was indeed the man for the job. Still, it’s crazy to think about, given that despite becoming a national name, he first picked up the instrument when he was 22 and was entirely self-taught.
But it’s a good thing it went down that way, as Farlow’s oddball style, which found him using the higher four strings for the melody and chord structure and the bottom two for the bass counterpoint (played with his thumb), was utterly unique.
Tal Farlow - The Tal Farlow Album (Full Album) - YouTube
That, along with his use of artificial harmonics and tapping on his guitar for percussion, are just a few reasons why the man known as “The Octopus” owned the New Jersey jazz circuit while in residency.
Farlow’s records Autumn in New York (1954) and Tal Farlow Quartet (1954), released on Verve and Blue Note, are the stuff of legend. But don’t sleep on his latter work or his many collaborations with Buddy DeFranco, Red Norvo, Sonny Criss, Gil Melle, Sam Most, Anita Day, Clark Terry and Mary Lou Williams, either.
Farlow remained relatively active until the end, but on July 25, 1998, esophageal cancer did him in. He passed away at age 77 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. If you can find Gibson’s Tal Farlow model, released in ’62 – grab it. We’d also direct you to the dozens of albums’ worth of music he left behind to catch the “Octopus’s” vibe fully.
Marc Ribot
Born in Newark in 1954 and raised in South Orange, Marc Ribot grew up a music-loving kid who, despite admitted limited technical aptitude, went on to become one of the more sought-after and off-kilter session guitarists… ever.
You probably don’t know Ribot by name, but you’ve more than likely heard him play. He’s been an integral part of iconic records by Tom Waits, John Zorn, Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, the Black Keys, Mike Patton, Neko Case and more. How’s that for eclectic?
If you’ve dug on Tom Waits albums like Rain Dogs (1985) and Franks Wild Years (1987), Elvis Costello’s Spike (1989) or Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand (2007), you probably know how Ribot likes to approach the fretboard. Those albums are great; but if you want to experience Ribot in his full-on, 69-year-old glory, his latter work with Ceramic Dog, who dropped Connection in 2023, is where it’s at.
Blues bruiser Walter Trout lives in California these days – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still think about his New Jersey roots. The title track to his 2022 album, Ride, was inspired by the train that went past his childhood home.
The Strat-packing 73-year-old guitarist – who was born in Ocean City but also spent time in Laurel Springs and Moorestown – spent the first quarter century of his life in the Garden State. Since then, he’s been on one hell of a train ride that has led to more than 30 albums, regular triumphs at awards ceremonies (including the Blues Music Awards, SENA European Guitar Awards and British Blues Awards), prized gigs with Big Mama Thornton and the great John Lee Hooker and memberships in Canned Heat and – coolest of all?
Yes, coolest of all! – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, which is an elite club, to be sure. (You can even hear Trout – paired with guitar great Coco Montoya – on Mayall’s most beloved Eighties album, Chicago Line.)
Trout’s latest album – 2024’s excellent Broken – is out now.
Criss Oliva
The tale of Criss Michael Oliva is a tragic case of what might have been. Oliva, born in Pompton Plains in 1963, came of age alongside guitarists like George Lynch and Warten DeMartini. And despite his lack of name recognition outside of metal circles, there’s an argument to be made that he was at least just as great as any of them.
That’s high praise, but if you ask some of Oliva’s contemporaries, such as Dave Mustaine and Alex Skolnick, who have perpetually showered praise on Oliva, the argument for his greatness comes into clearer focus. But let’s say you’re not the type who is easily swayed; all you have to do is dig into any of the eight records Oliva made with Savatage, such as 1983’s Sirens, 1986’s Fight for the Rock or 1993’s Edge of Thorns, and you’ll see what the deal is.
On October 17, 1993, in the wee hours of the morning, Oliva and his wife Dawn were traveling to the Livestock Festival in Florida (where they lived at the time), and an oncoming car hit Oliva’s Mazda RX-7, killing him instantly. Dawn survived, as did the other driver. The metal community mourned, with New Jersey thrash metal outfit Overkill paying homage with their 1994 track R.I.P. (Undone).
Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.
