Fred Guy was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 player and guitarist.

Guy was raised in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He played guitar and banjo with Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra, and in 1925 he joined Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

's Washingtonians, replacing Elmer Snowden

Elmer Snowden

Elmer Snowden was a banjo player of the jazz age. He also played guitar and, in the early stages of his career, all the reed instruments. He contributed greatly to jazz in its early days as both a player and a bandleader, and is responsible for launching the careers of many top musicians...

. Guy played with Ellington for 24 years, including his years at the Cotton Club

Cotton Club

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith,...

.

Early on he played only banjo but in the 1930s started playing more and more guitar with the band as the rhythm section in jazz changed rapidly. He played a Gibson banjo and an L5 or L7 Gibson guitar.

On Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" he plays a moving line with chords using inversions and on "Black and Tan Fantasy" he plays backwards fan strokes which are difficult to hear on the recording. He did not solo, and his guitar work is often difficult to hear on record. After he left Ellington's band in 1949, he was not replaced.

He went on to manage a ballroom in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He appeared in the 1929 film Black and Tan

Black and Tan

Black and Tan is a drink made from a blend of pale ale, usually Bass Pale Ale, and a dark beer such as a stout or porter, most often Guinness. Sometimes a pale lager is used instead of ale; this is usually called a half and half. Contrary to popular belief, however, Black and Tan as a mixture of...

with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.