Interesting that he initial poster does not name a style of playing for Joe Pass, but in the 5th post Frank Hamilton declares him to be Jazz, then it is off to the races as a Jazz thread.

Not all Jazz is improvised and not all improvised music is Jazz. Also, I don't see what extremely complex electric guitar work by trained musicians has to do with the brass-based dance music of New Orleans in, say, 1922.

Jerry Garcia and Tony Rice are/were fine improvisational players and rate in my TOP 10 guitarists of all-time. If others want to stick them in a category (other than "great"), that's up to them.