In March of 1982 I presented Joe at the Peachtree Playhouse in Atlanta solo. When I picked him up at the airport he had his guitar with him, and a a roller bag, and nothing else. He carried his "Walter Wood" amp in the roller bag, along with whatever other personal items he needed for his overnight trip to Atlanta from LA. As he requested in his contract, I provided him with a straight chair, and a suitable speaker cabinet as well as a connection to the audio board. We did a sound check and I dropped him off at the Colony Square Hotel across the street from the venue. As I introduced him to the first show audience of about 700, he walked on stage, took his seat, plugged his guitar in and began playing. That first show started at 8:30, and Joe played jazz standards, one off the end of the other, for an hour and a half, a half hour longer than I had contracted. He played, as he does in this video, without a break other than to take a drink of water once in a while. The audience was completely in his hands. The second show started late, at 11, and Joe played until 1AM without stopping. He repeated a few of the tunes from his first show, but not many. What an artist! I had been operating a jazz supper club named e.j.'s for about seven years, which had just been sold. During that seven year period I presented many of my favorite artists including Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd, John Abercrombie with Ralph Towner, Jack Wilkins, and Chuck Wayne and other jazz masters including, Dexter Gordon, Phil Woods, Milt Jackson, Clark Terry, Lyle Mays, Bobby Hutcherson, Teddy Wilson, Johnny O'Neal and many other well recognized jazzmen of the time, most of them gone now. I wish I could do it all over again.
That's a beautiful and precious story about the great man; thank you for sharing your memories Steve. If, in this crazy world, fame was proportional to talent, Joe would be a megastar second to none.
Steve, you should talk to my brother, who had a jazz club in St. Pete FL (Tierra Verde) around the same time, and had the same level of talent coming through, which thrilled me, a jazz fan. Like you, he has great stories, and all say he should write a book. One night, he had Johnny Hartman at his club at my request, and I rushed from my late night job to catch the second show. I asked him to do "My One And Only Love" and "Lush Life". He said he'd already done both but he'd do them again and he did, and man, I felt like I was in the company of the gods. That voice, those songs. It made a life for me.
Joe Pass. Coolest jazz cat in the jazz guitar world. What a legacy. I miss the guy. I could never play like him. No one can. He stands alone as a jazz-god. At 63 I'm still learning his rudimentary stuff.
Hey Freddie. As a 78 year old guitarist, I can certainly relate. It was such a pleasure to present Joe, Herb, Barney and the rest. Emily Remler kept up with the best of them. Drugs did her in. RIP to all of them.
An amazing performance! Here's a bit of a track listing, as I saw none: 0:12 - "Indian Summer" 4:24 - "Wave" 8:42 - "Paco de Lucia" (the rest of the band joins in here) 13:22 - "Belleville" 20:31 - "Nica's Dream" 27:51 - "Douce Ambiance" 33:39 - "The Song Is You" - drum solo at 36:37 until 38:40 40:41 - "Blues in G" 48:11 - "Summer Nights"
Here is the difference between an artist that plays what he or she hears compared to pre-rehearsed stuff to show off a bunch of technique that is designed to curry favor or be some kind of star. Wonderful.
Jazz is never about showing off. It's about playing what you feel/hear and hoping your audience feels it too. Showing off is for the genres that focus on flash rather than substance.
Just had a kind of double take as I thought he dropped in a bar or so of Poinciana at 6:54. Sure enough there it is, seamless, tasteful, and from the heart.
Far out man. he plays as if he just makes love to the guitar. you'll think he is just randomly playing the fretboard but not really cos what he plays makes musical sense.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that John Pisano is the other guitarist and Jim Hughart is on Bass. I'm not sure who the drummer is; maybe Colin Bailey?
évidemment le guitariste est grandiose , mais on ne parle pas du tout de la section rythmique qui l'accompagne ,le guitariste qui fait la rythmique est sans reproche , un jeu complet et subtile , il est à l'écoute et suit toutes les explorations de joe , le bassiste et le batteur sont aussi excelent , dommage qu'il n'y ai pas leur nom " en tout cas je ne l'ai pas vu " . pour moi la qualité de ce concert passe par la qualité de l'ensemble des musiciens qui était avec lui mais ici les autres ne sont jamais mis en avant alors qu'ils le meriteraient ....
When I see these lists come out about alleged best guitarist ever a name thrown around like Jimi Hendrix Jack White and other players I usually laugh and try to explain to people players like Joe pass and Jimmy Bruno anan with the jazz guitarist another great players like Tommy Emmanuel etcetera and explain there are tens of thousands better than Hendricks etc and they just don't understand but I do Joe pass, Ted green Kenny Burrell and even Stanley Jordan James Burton so many Masters and they are missing out confusing showmanship with some of them understand when I introduced them 2 Joe pass e t a l this is about music and Joe pass represents the best of the best let's not forget Les Paul sorry about the r a n t but just have to say my feelings and understand of the instrument and what real music and ability are. Joe pass represents this whole group of players, the true Best of the Best
Joe pass incontestablement le plus grand guitariste jazz génie absolu, Jimmy raney Chuck Wayne ,hank garland, lenny breau ,erb ellis ,Howard roberts, tal farlow ,george VAN eps ,jhonny smith ,René thomas, billy bauer, Oscar moore bon nombre d'excellents guitariste mais joe pass était à part comme l'était art tatum, Charlie parker .👍🎸🎻🎺🎷🥁🥁🎸🎼❤❤❤
I would pay big bucks to hzve this genius play...henryk gorecki?...his 3 sorrowful symphonies....bliss??.oh..I hate satan..who eats my capophragia...mmm
