Joe Pass

Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13,

Joe Pass
1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist of Sicilian
descent. He is considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th
century.[1][2] He created possibilities for jazz guitar through his style of
chord-melody, his knowledge of chord inversions and progressions,
and his use of walking basslines and counterpoint during
improvisation. Pass worked often with pianist Oscar Peterson and
vocalist Ella Fitzgerald.

Contents Joe Pass in 1975

Early life Background information

Discovery and career Birth name Joseph Anthony Jacobi
Legacy Passalaqua
Discography Born January 13, 1929
Selected bibliography New Brunswick, New Jersey,
References U.S.
External links Origin Johnstown, Pennsylvania,
U.S.
Died May 23, 1994 (aged 65)
Early life Los Angeles, California

Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey,[3] Joe Pass, the son of Mariano Genres Jazz
Passalaqua, a Sicilian-born steel mill worker, was raised in Johnstown, Occupation(s) Guitarist, composer
Pennsylvania. He received his first guitar, a Harmony model bought Instruments Guitar
for $17, on his 9th birthday. Pass' father recognized early that his son
Years active 1943–1994
had "a little something happening" and pushed him constantly to pick
up tunes by ear, play pieces not written specifically for the instrument, Labels Pacific Jazz, Concord, Pablo
practice scales and to not "leave any spaces" - that is, to fill in the Associated acts Oscar Peterson, Niels-
sonic space between the notes of the melody
. Henning Ørsted Pedersen,
Ella Fitzgerald,
As early as 14, Pass started getting gigs and was playing with bands
fronted by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills and learning the music business. He began traveling with small
jazz groups and eventually moved from Pennsylvania to New York City. In a few years, he developed a heroin addiction and spent
much of the 1950s in prison. Pass managed to emerge from narcotics addiction through a two-and-a-half-year stay in the Synanon
rehabilitation program. During that time he "didn't do a lot of playing".[4] In 1962 he recorded Sounds of Synanon. It was about this
time that Pass received his trademark Gibson ES-175 guitar as a gift, which he subsequently used for touring and recording for many
years.

Discovery and career

 Pass recorded a series of albums during the 1960s for the Pacific Jazz label,
including the early classics Catch Me, 12-String Guitar, For Django, and Simplicity.
In 1963, Pass received Downbeat magazine's "New Star Award." Pass was also
featured on Pacific Jazz recordings by Gerald Wilson, Bud Shank, and Les McCann.
Pass toured with George Shearing in 1965. During the 1960s however, he did mostly
TV and recording session work inLos Angeles.

Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, 1974
He was a sideman with Louis Bellson, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams,
Della Reese, Johnny Mathis, and worked on TV shows including The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, The Steve Allen Show, and others.
In the early 1970s, Pass and guitarist Herb Ellis were performing together regularly
at Donte's jazz club in Los Angeles. This collaboration led to Pass and Ellis
recording the very first album on the new Concord Jazz label, entitled simply
Jazz/Concord (#CJS-1), along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jake Hanna. In
the early 1970s, Pass also collaborated on a series of music books, and his Joe Pass
Guitar Style (written with Bill Thrasher) is considered a leading improvisation
textbook for students of jazz.

Norman Granz, the producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve
Records signed Pass to Granz's new Pablo Records label in 1970. In 1974, Pass released his landmark solo album Virtuoso on Pablo
Records. Also in 1974, Pablo Records released the album The Trio featuring Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted
Pedersen. He performed with them on many occasions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the Grammy Awards of 1975, The Trio
won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. As part of the Pablo Records "stable," Pass also recorded withBenny
Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and others.

Pass and Ella Fitzgerald recorded six albums together on Pablo Records, toward the end of Fitzgerald's career: Take Love Easy
(1973), Fitzgerald and Pass... Again(1976), "Hamburg Duets - 1976" (1976), "Sophisticated Lady" (1975, 1983),Speak Love (1983),
and Easy Living (1986).

In 1994, Joe Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age of 65. Prior to his death, he had recorded an album of
instrumental versions ofHank Williams songs with country guitaristRoy Clark.

Speaking about Nuages: Live at Yoshi's, Volume 2, Jim Ferguson wrote:

The follow up to 1993's Joe Pass & Co. Live At Yoshi's, this release was colored by sad circumstances: both bassist
Monty Budwig and Pass were stricken with fatal illnesses. Nevertheless, all concerned, including drummer Colin
Bailey and second guitarist John Pisano, play up to their usual high levels.... Issued posthumously, this material is
hardly sub-standard. Bristling with energy throughout, it helps document the final stages in the career of a player
who, arguably, was the greatest mainstream guitarist since Wes Montgomery.[5]

Legacy
In addition to his ensemble performances, the jazz community regarded Joe Pass as an influential solo guitarist. New York Magazine
said of him, "Joe Pass looks like somebody's uncle and plays guitar like nobody's business. He's called 'the world's greatest' and often
compared to Paganini for his virtuosity. There is a certain purity to his sound that makes him stand out easily from other first-rate jazz
guitarists."[2] His solo style was marked by an advanced linear technique, sophisticated harmonic sense, counterpoint between
improvised lead lines, bass figures and chords, spontaneous modulations, and transitions from fast tempos to rubato passages. He
would regularly add what he called "color tones" to his compositions, to give what he believed was a more sophisticated and
"funkier" sound. He would often use melodic counterpoint during improvisation, move lines and chords chromatically or play
melodies by solely shifting chords, and descending augmented arpeggios at the end of phrases.
Pass' early style (influenced by guitarist Django Reinhardt and saxophonist Charlie
Parker), was marked by fast single-note lines. Pass would break his guitar picks and
playing only with the smaller part. As Pass made the transition from ensemble to
solo guitar performance, he preferred to abandon the pick altogether, and play
fingerstyle. He found this enabled him to execute his harmonic concepts more
effectively.

"He weaves his own fast-moving chords and filigree work so nimbly
that it is hard to believe fingers can physically shift so quickly
. Slight
moustached, fairly balding, he frowns over his fretwork like a
worried head waiter with more guests than tables but the sound that
comes out could only be the confident product of years of devotion
to the instrument... But it is when he plays completely solo, which he
does for half of each set, that he comes into his own, because
without hindrance of the rhythm section he can completely
orchestrate each number. Sometimes it is by contrasting out of tempo
Joe Pass in concert in 1974 playing
sections with fast-moving interludes, sometimes by switching mood his Gibson ES-175 guitar
from wistful to lightly swinging, sometimes by alternating single-
note lines with chords or simultaneous bass line and melody-the
possibilities seem endless. Luckily, there is a new L.P. by him which
captures all this on vinyl, as someone has had the unusual good
sense to record him all alone. It is called Virtuoso and rightly so." -
Miles Kington on Pass in an October 1974 article inThe Times.[6]

Epiphone has produced an edition of the Emperor line of archtop electric-acoustic guitar in his honor. Previously Ibanez had a Joe
Pass model jazz guitar.

Discography

Selected bibliography
Mel Bay Presents Joe Pass "Off the Record."Mel Bay, 1993. ISBN 1-56222-687-8
Complete Joe Pass. Mel Bay, 2003. ISBN 0-7866-6747-8
Miyakaku, Takao. Joe Pass. Tokyo: Seiunsha, 2000.ISBN 4-434-00455-7 (photograph collection)

References
1. Holder, Mitch (16 January 2006).The Jazz Guitar Stylings of Howard Roberts(https://books.google.com/books?id=D
9GRIUU83C8C&pg=PA2). Mel Bay Publications. p. 2.ISBN 978-0-7866-7409-1. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
2. New York Media, LLC (17 September 1979).New York Magazine (https://books.google.com/books?id=--ACAAAAMB
AJ&pg=PA62). New York Media, LLC. p. 62.ISSN 0028-7369 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0028-7369). Retrieved
23 November 2011.
3. "Joe Pass, 65, a Jazz Guitarist Who Performed With the Stars - New ork
Y Times" (https://www.nytimes.com/1994/0
5/24/obituaries/joe-pass-65-a-jazz-guitarist-who-performed-with-the-stars.html)
. Nytimes.com. 1994-05-24. Retrieved
2011-09-16.
4. "Joe Pass - Interview" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140903063915/http://www .gould68.freeserve.co.uk/Joe%20Pa
ss%20Int_view.html). Archived from the original (http://www.gould68.freeserve.co.uk/Joe%20Pass%20Int_view.html)
on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
5. JazzTimes review of Nuages: Live at Yoshi's, Volume 2 (Joe Pass Quartet) (http://jazztimes.com/articles/10088-nuag
es-live-at-yoshi-s-volume-2-joe-pass)by Jim Ferguson (retrieved 3 October 2011)
 6. Miles Kington. "Joe Pass."The Times (London, England) 18 October 1974: p.14. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

Joe Pass Unedited article by Jim Ferguson

External links
Joe Pass guitar tab
Joe Pass Memorial Hall
A 1974 interview on his early guitar development

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