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I dunno I think any of the Parisian guys could play solo any day of the week. Would it be "GJ" specifically, maybe not but Django played solos and I'm sure he could have played tunes.
Not easy at all but why would it not be possible?
Yeah, plenty of guitar players can play solo guitar gigs no problem. And getting good as the Parisian guys is the goal.
Very well possible...
Here's Jon Delaney (now deceased) playing Menilmontant at a solo gig .
https://youtu.be/y4xmCD-I5Nk?si=km4ss1DHpydOCHTf
You can see how he has a rubato intro, then plays in-tempo, alternating chords, solo lines, and extended rhythm playing. Seems he fills out the time with rhythm chords -- until there would be an anxiety that he's just playing rhythm guitar, when he switches to leads, etc. Sometimes he sort of "trades" twos, fours, eights, whatever -- i.e., as if his rhythm playing were another soloist.
I remember a few years ago I learned Jon's solo version of Chez Jacquet from @geese_com 's Soundslice channel. It's on Jon's youtube channel too, but I have to post this version of All of Me just for @wim 's hilarious comment. Buco and I were just talking about Jon at practice last week. Excellent musician, sorely missed.
Having no players in my area, I've been struggling with this for a while..
Solo jazz guitar is a great sound, but there is something extra challenging about getting that GJ energy without some sort of accompaniment.
Backing tracks and loopers are a mistake though...
Please explain why you think they're a mistake.
They are a crutch, at best.
You are robbing yourself of an opportunity to grow musically. I've experimented with both, and they only helped to prolong my mediocrity by filling in the gaps of my musicianship.
Talented people can make art with loopers and sequenced arrangements, no argument there. Just doesn't work for this tradition, IMHO
I've watched friends perform with loopers before and they always worked pretty well, imo. Of course, these are more casual gigs like at bars or coffee shops where the playing is more for background and not a focal point.
That might also be an important distinction for this thread, playing solo at a casual gig of background music for the easily entertained vs. a concert setting where you're the entire focal point of an audience; in my experience, the former can be pretty much anything goes while the latter requires an almost entirely different skillset that many of us either don't have or are willing/able to devote the amount of time that's required for it