The New Orleans Guitar Masters

Jazz Fest ensemble — John Rankin · Jimmy Robinson · Cranston Clements

The New Orleans Guitar Masters is a Jazz Fest ensemble in the truest sense: a trio of veteran guitarists — John Rankin, Jimmy Robinson, and Cranston Clements — who bring original compositions from each member and inventive arrangements of cover material to the festival stage, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and club dates around town. Called “guitarists’ guitarists,” the three have earned the respect of musicians, audiences, and critics over long careers — and each year’s Jazz Fest set lives on through Munck Music’s official live releases.

Never heard The New Orleans Guitar Masters before?

🎵 Signature

“Cissy Strut” (2024 Jazz Fest)

⚜️ Known For

Three-guitar NOLA arrangements

🎺 Plays

Originals & inventive covers

“Guitarists’ guitarists, [who] have earned the respect of musicians, audiences and critics during their long careers.”

— New Orleans Jazz Museum

Why We Love The New Orleans Guitar Masters

Three guitars could be a traffic jam; in these hands, it’s a conversation. Rankin, Robinson, and Clements bring a combined lifetime of fretboard craft to every set — trading solos, weaving rhythm parts, and reinventing New Orleans standards with the ease of players who have nothing left to prove. In a festival landscape built for spectacle, the Guitar Masters are a quieter thrill: pure musicianship, up close, in a city that still knows how to listen. Their annual Jazz Fest set has become a local rite — and thanks to Munck Music, you can take it home.

Biography

Three Guitars, One New Orleans

The New Orleans Guitar Masters is a collaboration between three journeyman musicians: John Rankin, Jimmy Robinson, and Cranston Clements. Robinson — recording and touring for over 40 years — studied classical guitar and composition at Loyola University in New Orleans and the Eastman School of Music in New York, forging a virtuoso solo acoustic style across three solo albums (Vibrating Strings, Guitarworks, and Three). He has opened concerts for John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea’s Elektrik Band, and the Neville Brothers, and played the Jazz & Heritage Festival for more than 25 years.

The trio’s concerts mix original compositions from each member with inventive arrangements of cover material — from funk standards to classical-tinged pieces. They are Jazz Fest regulars (back on the 2026 lineup), play the New Orleans Jazz Museum’s performance center and its livestream series, and appear at events like the Big Easy Guitar Fest, occasionally joined by special guests such as Vienna-based songwriter Mira Kovacs.

“The trio has been performing together in New Orleans for several years, and include in their concerts original compositions from each member, and interesting arrangements of cover material.”

— New Orleans Jazz Museum

Munck Music — the label behind the official Jazz Fest live recordings — documents the band year after year: Live at Jazzfest 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024. The compilations capture highlights too: their take on “Come Together” from the 2023 festival and a scorching “Cissy Strut” from 2024.