Joe Pass | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Pass in 1975 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua (1929-01-13)January 13, 1929 |
| Origin | Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 23, 1994(1994-05-23) (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Guitarist,composer |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1943–1994 |
| Labels | Pacific Jazz,Concord,Pablo |
Joe Pass (bornJoseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an Americanjazz guitarist.[1][2] Pass recorded and performed live with pianistOscar Peterson, composerDuke Ellington, and vocalistElla Fitzgerald, and he is generally esteemed as one of the most notable jazz guitarists of the 20th century for his solo guitar playing, found on recordings such asVirtuoso.[3]
Pass was born inNew Brunswick, New Jersey,[4] on January 13, 1929. His father, Mariano Passalacqua, was a steel-mill worker who was born inSicily. The family later moved toJohnstown, Pennsylvania. Although it is commonly believed that Pass became interested playing guitar after seeingGene Autry perform in the Western filmRide, Tenderfoot, Ride (an account that had been given by Pass himself),[5] Pass later stated he did not remember who or what inspired him to pursue music.[6]
Pass received his first guitar and started creating music when at age 9. Pass stated his first guitar was a Harmony, and that he had asked for a guitar for his birthday. He began playing for neighbors, and learned chords from his father's Italian friends.[7] He attended guitar lessons every Sunday with a local teacher for six to eight months and practiced for up to six hours per day, rapidly advancing in skill level.[8] As he improved his craft, he participated in the local music scene ofJohnstown, where he would enjoy the company of other guitarists and listen to the music that was being created.[9]
Pass was finding paying gigs at dances and weddings in Johnstown as early as age 14, playing with bands led byTony Pastor andCharlie Barnet,[10][11] honing his guitar skills while "learning the ropes" in the music industry. He began traveling with small jazz groups and moved from Pennsylvania to New York City.
Pass would continue to perform with big bands until 1947, when he enlisted and served in theUS military.[12]
Pass developed anaddiction toheroin after his tenure in the military had ended.[13] He lived in New Orleans for a year, playing bebop atstrip clubs. Pass later revealed that he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" in New Orleans due to virtually unlimited access to drugs that enabled the musician to engage in severe benders. Pass recalled, "I would come to New York a lot, then get strung out and leave."
Pass spent much of the 1950s in and out of prison for drug-related convictions.[14] Pass said, "Staying high was my first priority; playing was second; girls were third. But the first thing really took all my energy." He recovered after a two-and-a-half-year stay in theSynanon rehabilitation program, largely putting his music on hold during his prison sentence.[15][16]
Pass released his studio debutSounds of Synanon on July 1, 1962.[17][18]
Pass recorded and released a series of albums during the 1960s underPacific Jazz Records, includingCatch Me,12-String Guitar,For Django, andSimplicity. In 1963, he receivedDownBeat magazine's New Star Award.[19][20] He also played on Pacific Jazz recordings byGerald Wilson,Bud Shank, andLes McCann. Pass was a member of theGeorge Shearing Quintet from 1965 through 1967.[21]
Throughout the 1960s, Pass primarily performed TV and recording session work in Los Angeles, including performing in television orchestras.[22]Norman Granz, the producer ofJazz at the Philharmonic and the founder ofVerve Records, signed Pass toPablo Records in December 1973.[23][22]
In December 1974, Pass released his solo albumVirtuoso on Pablo.[24] Also in 1974, Pablo released the albumThe Trio with Pass,Oscar Peterson, andNiels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He performed with them on many occasions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the Grammy Awards of 1975,The Trio won theGrammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group. As part of the Pablo roster, Pass recorded withBenny Carter,Milt Jackson,Herb Ellis,Zoot Sims,Duke Ellington,Dizzy Gillespie,Ella Fitzgerald, andCount Basie.[25][12]
Pass and Ella Fitzgerald recorded six albums together on Pablo 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), andEasy Living (1986).[26][12]
Pass was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1992.[12] Although he was initially responsive to treatment and continued to play into 1993, his health eventually declined, forcing him to cancel his tour withPepe Romero,Paco Peña, andLeo Kottke. Pass performed for the final time on May 7, 1994, with fellow guitaristJohn Pisano at a nightclub in Los Angeles. Pisano toldGuitar Player that after the performance Pass said "I can't play anymore", an exchange that Pisano described as "like a knife in my heart." Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles 16 days later, at the age of 65.[27][28] Prior to his death, he recorded an album ofHank Williams songs with country guitaristRoy Clark.[29]
Speaking aboutNuages: Live at Yoshi's, Volume 2,Jim Ferguson wrote:
The follow up to 1993'sJoe Pass & Co. Live at Yoshi's, this release was colored by sad circumstances: both bassistMonty Budwig and Pass were stricken with fatal illnesses. Nevertheless, all concerned, including drummerColin 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 sinceWes Montgomery.[30]
Pass's playing style was particularly recognizable for his ability to play melody,harmony andbasslines simultaneously orcontrapuntally, both in-tempo and in an “un-metered” style.[31] Pass's single-note playing style is similar to the instrumental stylings of classicbebop andhard bop, drawing comparisons to the tones and timbres ofwind instruments used in jazz music, such as thesaxophone andtrumpet, as well as other string instruments such as thepiano.Jazz educator Wolf Marshall said Pass's musical flavorings were "hornlike and on par with his wealth of ideas and immense vocabulary, allowing single-note improvisations to flow like a saxophonist'sstream of consciousness."[32]
As Pass's career progressed, he developed an increasingly harmonic approach to improvisation that made extensive use of chord-melody solos, which produced a similar effect to that of a piano. He also employed a variety of different picking techniques such asfingerpicking,hybrid picking and "flat picking".[33]
Pass's style was also said to have exhibited a "tougher funky aspect" by incorporating string bends, double stops and partial chords that variously borrow fromblues,R&B andswing styles.[34]
Throughout the 1940s, Pass became interested in modern jazz sounds that were emerging from New York City, where he would jam with many quintessential bebop musicians. Pass citedDizzy Gillespie,Charlie Parker,Art Tatum andColeman Hawkins as influences during this time. Pass was later influenced by the piano stylings ofOscar Peterson. Ironically, only three of the various jazz musicians he had cited as influences on his playing were actually guitarists; he citedCharlie Christian,Django Reinhardt andWes Montgomery as instrumental in his development as a musician.[35]
On Pass's early recordings, he playedFender solid-body electric guitars, such as theJaguar andJazzmaster. Additionally, Pass experimented with a Fender Bass VI 6-string bass on his 1963 albumCatch Me.[36] In 1963, Pass was given as a gift aGibson ES175D arch-topelectric-acoustic guitar that had twinhumbucking pickups.[37][38]
New York magazine wrote: "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]
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 sections with fast-moving interludes, sometimes by switching mood from wistful to lightly swinging, sometimes by alternating single-note lines with chords or simultaneous bass line and melody – the possibilities seem endless.
Veteran jazz writerScott Yanow has conferred the titles of "the ultimatebebop guitarist", "the epitome of virtuoso guitarists", and "one of the top jazz voices of his generation" on Pass.[40][41]
Internet personality and music analystRick Beato describes Pass as an early influence, and in several interviews has noted that among his adolescent achievements on the guitar was the performance of songs from Virtuoso at the encouragement of his father.[42]
His technique was conventional (no tapping) but was at such a high level that he could play melody, harmony and bass lines simultaneously at blazing tempos.
