Sal Salvador was born in Monson, Massachusetts. on november 21, 1926. his family moved to stafford springs, connecticut in 1927. his father gave salvador his first guitar. His main musical interest early on, which he had in common with many of his friends, was playing hillbilly music. In the early 1940s, Sal became interested in jazz music primarily through the recordings of trumpeter Harry James.
Sal Salvador began playing jazz on an acoustic guitar in the style of Dick McDonough, Carl Kress and George Van Eps. After listening to some recordings of Charlie Christian playing with Benny Goodman, he decided to switch to electric guitar. From 1945 to 1946 he took correspondence courses with Oscar Moore, who was a guitarist for Nat King Cole as well as Hy White.
Sal was also studying jazz guitar with Eddie Smith at this point in his career. In 1949, Mundell Lowe, with whom Salvador was a friend, recommended him for the position of staff guitarist at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Sal also studied and developed a close friendship with jazz guitar giant Johnny Smith, who was on the musician’s staff at NBC in New York City at the time.
After leaving his Radio City Music Hall gig, Sal Salvador went on tour, initially with vibraphonist Terry Gibbs’s band, then with trombonist Eddie Bert, and finally with a group called “The Dardanelles.” On his return trip to New York, Salvador formed a jazz quartet with Mundell Lowe. For the next two years, he worked primarily as a studio musician for Columbia Records playing backup guitar for such vocalists as Marlene Dietrich, Frankie Laine, Tony Bennett, and Rosemary Clooney.
In 1952, Salvador gained international fame after joining “The Stan Kenton Big Band”. For the next two years he was a prominent member of this well-known gang. In 1954 he formed his own quartet with pianist Eddie Costa. They recorded and played in the best jazz clubs in the US In 1958, Sal was a featured soloist at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Sal Salvador then toured and recorded for a time with his own great band “Colors In Sound”. The latter venture accompanied the decline of the theater band scene, and was eventually disbanded as a result. Sal also had a long association with the Gretsch Guitar Company. He helped design and eventually played the Gretsch “Sal Salvador Model” jazz guitar for several years.
Salvador eventually settled in the New York area, where he ended up involved in teaching, writing jazz guitar instruction books, and for several years played in a successful jazz guitar duo with the late Allen Hanlon. In later years, Sal stayed in Connecticut, where he divided his time between directing the guitar departments at the University of Bridgeport and Wesconn State University, private teaching, and playing with various jazz groups.
In 1978, Sal Salvador resurfaced by releasing some new recordings and had a higher profile as a jazz guitarist during his last 20 years, leading an adventurous quintet called “Crystal Image” while maintaining his roots in creative mainstream jazz.
Similarly, around 1978, Connecticut luthier Carl Barney developed and built a new “Sal Salvador Model” jazz guitar according to Sal’s specific requirements. This particular guitar design featured a suspended pickup and is still available today. today as custom order. Sal died on September 22, 1999 at the age of 73.