And there is (sadly now was) Ted Greene. Not particularly famous, I think, probably because he didn't want to be - seems to have been a shy, quiet, unassuming kind of guy who probably liked the quiet life. But you don't have to do much in the way of Google searching to discover how much his students loved and respected him.
John McLaughlin loved him, too. Here is an excerpt cribbed from Robert Fripp's interview with McLaughlin:
Fripp: And when Mahavishnu began, I deliberately didn't listen to it, because I would've followed it and I...I was so attracted to it, I thought,"No, this will seduce me." You know what I mean?
McLaughlin: Yeah, I understand that. But I like to listen to people who I like. I like to, I want to let them influence me. Because I think I learn always. And I'm never going to sound like them anyway.
Fripp: No, but if you were 21, 22...
McLaughlin: Ah, well, when I was 21, 22, unfortunately for me, there were no guitar players that were up to the caliber of Coltrane or Miles or Bill Evans or Red Garner. In fact, I was more influenced by the horn players and the piano players.
Fripp: You were the first guitar player for me that had the chops to meet these people on the same terms. I could hear jazz guitarists kind of taking the easy way, simply because the couldn't go for what the horn player could get.
McLaughlin: Yeah, yeah. I think it's a curse and a blessing. The same thing with piano. It's so difficult to move around on a guitar in the harmonic way one can do on a keyboard. I mean, it requires...it can't be done...except (snaps fingers) Ted Greene! (whistles) This guy is really unbelievable. He's the only guitar player who accomplishes this thing that really turns me on.
Ted does some nice Christmas stuff on a Guild:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Af0_6Bv6w
A Youtube search will provide a greater selection of his performances, some unfortunately with poor sound quality. Youtube away....
And then there are Ted's books, more of a reference nature than a guitar instruction methodology, quite overwhelming for me.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=duc0c-20&url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=ted greene
Edit: Blues on another Guild -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJSABbXwKxU
Further edit: Ted plays Gershwin on a Tele - Dude tunes better than I play -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sYAoRj_Fro
Further edit: Ted teaches at a workshop -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZAwxpco0DE
