Charlie Byrd

Date of birth : 09/16/1925

Date of death : 11/30/1999

City of birth : Suffolk, Virginia, USA

Jazz composer and guitarist, noted for using his fingers in the classical style, rather than a flat pick in the typical jazz style, to play his instrument. Inspired by the Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt, he later studied classical guitar under the self-trained Spanish maestro Andrés Segovia. In the early 1960's he was among the first musicians to popularize Brazil's soulful Bossa Nova sound in the United States.