Pat Martino

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Pat Martino
Pat Martino.jpg
Photo by Tom Beetz
Background information
Birth name Pat Azzara
Born (1944-08-25) August 25, 1944 (age 68)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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,HighNote 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.

Contents

Biography [edit]

Martino was born Pat Azzara in South Philadelphia. He began playing professionally at the age of 15 after moving to New York City. Martino played and recorded early in his career with musicians such as Willis Jackson and Eric Kloss. He also worked with jazz organists, including 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 some memory of the guitar and his musical career. With the help of friends, computers, and his old recordings, he 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".[2]

The 1987 recording The Return marked Martino's return to music. In 2006, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued his album East! on Ultradisc UHR SACD. Martino tours worldwide. He was awarded 2004 Guitar Player of the Year, Down Beat magazine's 2004 Reader's Poll.

Martino's album Undeniable: Live at Blues Alley (on HighNote Records, executive producer Darryl J. Brodzinski) was released on October 11, 2011, and hit No. 1 on the jazz charts in mid-November. The newest Pat Martino release, Alone Together with Bobby Rose (on HighNote Records, executive producer Darryl J. Brodzinski, associate producer Zelda Francena), was released on August 14, 2012.

Discography [edit]

Albums [edit]

  • Pat Martino (Vanguard, 1966) - unreleased LP
  • El Hombre (Prestige, 1967)
  • Strings! (Prestige, 1967)
  • East! (Prestige, 1968)
  • Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) (Prestige, 1968)
  • Desperado (Prestige, 1970)
  • Footprints (1972), 32 Jazz
  • The Visit (1972), Cobblestone
  • Live! (1972), Muse
  • Head & Heart: Consciousness/Live (1972), 32 Jazz
  • Essence (1973), Muse
  • Consciousness (1974), Muse
  • We'll Be Together Again (1976), 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
  • Alone Together with Bobby Rose (2012), HighNote

As sideman [edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (January 2013)

With Richard "Groove" Holmes

With Willis Jackson

With Eric Kloss

With Jack McDuff

With Charles McPherson

With Don Patterson

With Trudy Pitts

With Sonny Stitt

References [edit]

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ "Jazz Bulletin Board - View Single Post - Pat Martino". Forums.allaboutjazz.com. 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2013-02-19. 

External links [edit]

Authority control
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