Joe Pass is one of the greatest guitarists in the history of jazz! A genuine master of all the idioms of jazz guitar music, he was equally at home with a burning bebop line, a down home blues groove, a sensitive "rubato" ballad, or a gentle chord melody solo.
Pass was also highly sought after as a sideman in many diverse ensembles - including a surprisingly successful set with Roy Clark covering Hank Williams tunes.
He also served as an accompanist to singers like Ella Fitzgerald and instrumentalists like pianist Oscar Peterson and J.
J.
Johnson.
Since the early 1960s, the name Joe Pass has been synonymous with jazz guitar and Joe's effect on his contemporaries and subsequent generations of players is undeniable.
He was a favorite performer of Wes Montgomery during the hight of Wes's popularity and along with Howard Roberts, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis he defined the West Coast jazz guitar school.
Pass was also an important and influential paternal figure to emerging players like Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Jack Wilkins, Emily Remler, and Mark Whitfield.
A great deal of attention is devoted to his Pacific Jazz Record Company years - often acknowledged as his "classic" years - when he was hot, hungry and ready to show the world what he could do! For many years these recordings - seminal masterworks and essential listening for previous generations of guitarists - were unavailable on CD.
Consequently they languished in obscurity and their relevance and inclusion in a Joe Pass jazz guitar music compilation was problematic - despite the excellence, profundity and importance of the music.
Today these classic Pass albums have been rightfully given a new lease on life through the laudable re-issue efforts of companies like Blue Note, Eupohoria, and most of all Mosaic Records.
Joe wrote several instructional jazz guitar music books with the goal of sharing his expertise with neophytes and seasoned guitarists alike, but often mentioned that learning as many tunes as possible was the most valuable lesson for a player.
He hoped that aspiring guitarists, regardless of style, would find that spark of individuality and creativity that he discovered in his youth and cultivated in his earliest playing experiences.
Joe's improvisation approach, advanced harmonic concepts, and solo jazz guitar chord melody style are subjects he was eager to discuss and share - yet his mode of expression was hardly disciplined, pedantic, or scholarly.
Nonetheless Joe was a great communicator - if you listened.
He spoke as in performance through his instrument - spontaneously, casually, with humor and great feeling - punctuating his musical discourse with a favorite comment: "Stop me when you hear something you like".
Needless to say, he got stopped a lot! Fortunately for aspiring guitarists, Joe Pass released numerous instructional jazz guitar tab books and DVD courses that teach his single note improvised solos and chord melody solos as well as the pickstyle and fingerstyle guitar techniques he used to play them.