Jim Hall playing during the 50th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in California in 2007. Photo: AP

Jim Hall, one of the leading jazz guitarists of the modern era, whose subtle technique, lyrical sound and introspective approach strongly influenced younger protégés such as Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, has died at the age of 83, his wife Jane said.

Hall died in his sleep after a short illness at his Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan, said his wife of 48 years. She described her husband as “truly beloved by everybody who ever met him”.

Hall, who had led his own trio since the mid-1960s, remained active until shortly before his death. Last month, his trio performed a concert at Jazz at Lincoln Centre’s Allen Room with guest guitarists John Abercrombie and Peter Bernstein. He had been planning a duo tour in Japan in January with bassist Ron Carter, a long-time partner.

In 2004, Hall became the first modern jazz guitarist to be named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, America’s highest jazz honour.

“Jim was one of the most important improvising guitarists in jazz history. His musical generosity was an exact reflection of his deep humanity,” Metheny, who performed and recorded in a duo with Hall, said.

Jim was an essentially beautiful human being

In the mid-1950s, as a member of pianist Jimmy Giuffre’s innovative trio and drummer Chico Hamilton’s chamber jazz quartet, Hall transformed the role of the guitar in jazz with his understated melodic and minimalist approach.

German jazz writer Joachim-Ernst Berendt once described Hall as “the perfect musical partner”. The guitarist was known for his duo and small group recordings with some of the greatest names in jazz during the past 60 years, including saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman and Paul Desmond, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Red Mitchell and singer Ella Fitzgerald.

As a member of Rollins’s quartet in the early 1960s, Hall appeared on the landmark 1962 album The Bridge, which was the tenor saxophonist’s first recording after a three-year hiatus during which he practised his chops on the Williamsburg Bridge.

“Jim was an essentially beautiful human being,” Rollins said in an e-mail. “He was the consummate musician and it was a privilege to work with him.”