Pat Martino

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Pat Martino

Pat Martino (* 25 August 1944 in Philadelphia as Patrick Azzara ) is an American jazz guitarist and composer . He has established himself as an influential guitarist who influenced numerous other guitarists "with perfect technique, a sense of sound and an incomparable differentiation of his percussive attack ". "Its flowing lines and unusual harmonic interpretations, its picking staccato with thick, soft plectrum and breathtaking speed make it " unmistakable "according to Martin Kunzler ."

life and work

Martino has Italian-Arab ancestry and started playing guitar at an early age. His father, who was active as a musician, took him to concerts at an early age. Pat Martino bears the stage name Martino in honor of his father Carmen "Mickey" Azzara, who also performed with the stage name Martino. After taking lessons from a cousin and later from Dennis Sandole , he was already working as a professional guitarist at the age of 15. He went on tour with Red Holloway . Then he worked with Sleepy Henderson, Lloyd Price , Benny Golson , James Moody , and Willis Jackson , with whom he also recorded various albums from 1963. Then he belonged to Eric Kloss's band . He also played with the organists Jimmy Smith , Jimmy McGriff , Don Patterson , Jack McDuff and Richard Holmes . In 1966 he became known to a wider audience as a member of John Handy’s band and recorded several of his own albums from 1967 onwards. From 1979 he taught as a visiting professor at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles; he also began to write textbooks.

Martino often used the twelve-string electric guitar and experimented with guitar synthesizers, for example.

In 1980, two emergency operations on a brain aneurysm saved his life, but left a widespread memory loss, which meant that he had temporarily lost interest in playing guitar and completely lost access to his musical skills. That Pat Martino had to learn to play the guitar from scratch is a common but false legend.

In 1984 Martino performed live for the first time in a club in Philadelphia, but under his maiden name Pat Azzara, as he did not want to prove that he was "the old man" again. In 1987 he played the album The Return with Steve LaSpina and Joey Baron - now again as Pat Martino - in order to meet contractual obligations. However, he only made a real comeback after he had a brain tumor removed in an operation in 1994. He performed in New York and recorded several albums, including a. with Les Paul and Mike Stern . He has also worked on recordings by Woody Herman , Stanley Clarke , Barry Miles , Charles McPherson , Sonny Stitt , Trudy Pitts , Jimmy Heath , Joe Pesci , Eric Alexander , Joey DeFrancesco , Royce Campbell and Lee Ritenour .

Selection discography

This list contains recordings under your own name, which are either regularly mentioned by other musicians as being very influential for their own musical development or which are relatively popular (airplay, sales figures). A detailed list of Pat Martino's recordings can be found in

.

  • El Hombre (1967), Prestige
  • Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) (1968), Prestige
  • The Visit (1972), Cobblestone (also reissued under Footprints )
  • Live! (1972), Muse (also reissued under the title Head & Heart )
  • Consciousness (1974), Muse (also reissued under the title Head & Heart )
  • Exit (1976), Muse (also reissued as Comin '& Goin' )
  • We'll be together again (1976) Muse
  • Joyous Lake (1976), Warner Bros.
  • Stone Blue (1998), Blue Note
  • Live at Yoshi’s (2001), Blue Note
  • Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2006), Blue Note

Fonts

  • Pat Martino Linear Expressions , REH 1983
  • Pat Martino Jazz for Guitar , Hal Leonard 1984/96
  • Pat Martino, Bill Milkowski: Here and Now !: The Autobiography of Pat Martino , Backbeat Books 2011

Video albums

  • Pat Martino Creative Force: Complete , Alfred 2007 (republication of the REH instructional videos from 1987)
  • Ian Knox, Paul Brox Martino Unstrung - A Brain Mystery , Sixteen Films 2008

literature

  • Alexander Schmitz jazz guitarist , Oreos 1992.
  • Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 .

Web links

Commons : Pat Martino  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Kunzler: Jazz Lexicon. P. 813.
  2. ↑ Autobiography, 11
  3. ↑ Alexander Schmitz: The guitar in jazz. Supplementary considerations on JE Berendt's article. In: Guitar & Laute 5, 1983, Issue 1, pp. 82-84; here: p. 83.
  4. ↑ Autobiography, page 79
  5. ↑ The Return (review at Allmusic) at Allmusic (English)
  6. ↑ Autobiography, 83
personal data
SURNAME Martino, Pat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Azzara, Patrick (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia