Pat Martino

Pat Martino
Photo by Tom Beetz
Background information
Birth name	Pat Azzara
Born	August 25, 1944 (1944-08-25) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Post bop, jazz fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz, hard bop
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1959–present
Labels	Prestige, Muse, Cobblestone, Warner Bros., 32 Jazz, Evidence, Mythos, Camden, Blue Note, APM Records
Website	http://www.patmartino.com

Pat Martino (born August 25, 1944) is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz and hard bop idioms.

Biography

Martino was born Pat Azzara in South Philadelphia. He began playing professionally at age 15. Martino played and recorded early in his career with musicians such as Willis Jackson and Eric Kloss. He also worked with many jazz organists, such as Charles Earland, Jack McDuff, Trudy Pitts, Jimmy Smith, Gene Ludwig, Don Patterson, Richard "Groove" Holmes. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Martino made many recordings as a sideman and also under his own name.

In 1980, Martino underwent surgery as the result of a nearly fatal brain aneurysm. The surgery left him with amnesia, leaving him, among other things, without any memory of the guitar and his musical career. With the help of friends, computers, and his old recordings, Martino made a recovery [1], and learned to play the guitar again.

His improvisation method, "Conversion to Minor", is often mistakenly thought to be based upon using exclusively minor systems for soloing. In fact, the system involves conceptualising chord progressions in terms of the relative minor chord/scale, but in practice this seems to be more a way for organising the fretboard, rather than justifying playing certain tones in terms of whether they are "correct" or not. Martino's lines contain chromatic notes outside any particular IIm7 chord that might be conceptualised over a chord progression; even in the examples he provides in his books and instructional videos. Indeed, on his bulletin board he has stated that he formulated the system more as a way to explain his playing, rather than as something to use to create music. In his own words, "although the analysis of some of my recorded solos have been referred to as modal, personally I’ve never operated in that way. I’ve always depended upon my own melodic instinct, instead of scale like formulas".

Martino's return to music started once again with the 1987 recording The Return. In 2006, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued Martino's album East! on Ultradisc UHR SACD. Martino tours worldwide. He was awarded 2004 Guitar Player of the Year, Downbeat Magazine's 2004 Reader's Poll.

Martino's new release "Live at Blues Alley" (on APM Records, executive producer Darryl J. Brodzinski) was released on October 11, 2011.

Discography

Albums

• Pat Martino (1966), Vanguard - unreleased LP
• El Hombre (1967), Prestige
• Strings! (1967), Prestige
• East! (1968), Prestige
• Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) (1968) , Prestige
• Desperado (1970), Prestige
• Footprints (1972), 32 Jazz
• The Visit (1972), Cobblestone
• Live! (1972), Muse
• Head & Heart: Consciousness/Live (1972), 32 Jazz
• Essence (1973), Muse
• Consciousness (1974), Muse
• Starbright (1976), Warner Bros.
• Joyous Lake (1976), Warner Bros.
• Exit (1977), Muse - MR 5075, recorded February 10, 1976
• The Return (1987), Muse
• The Maker (1994), Evidence
• Interchange (1994), Muse
• Nightwings (1996), Muse
• Cream (1997), 32 Jazz
• All Sides Now (1997), Blue Note
• Stone Blue (1998), Blue Note - with Joyous Lake
• Fire Dance (1998), Mythos
• Comin' and Goin': Exit & the Return (1999)
• First Light (1999), 32 Jazz - compilation album of Joyous Lake and Starbright
• Impressions (1999), Camden
• Givin' Away the Store, Vol. 3 (2000), 32 Jazz
• The Philadelphia Experiment The Philadelphia Experiment (2001), Ropeadope
• Live at Yoshi's (2001), Blue Note
• Think Tank (2003), Blue Note
• Timeless Pat Martino (2003), Savoy Jazz
• Starbright/Joyous Lake (2006), Collectables
• Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2006), Blue Note
• Undeniable: Live at Blues Alley (2011), HighNote/APM

External links

• Pat Martino's official website
• Pat Martino at Allmusic
• Pat Martino on All About Jazz
• Martino Unstrung (2007)