You gotta love Joe Pass - every guitar player and every interviewer is amazed by his talent and they beg for him to give them at least some explanation of how does he do it, and they try to squeeze the wisdom out of him in every possible way what is understandable ... and he's always like, just play, i don' know how i do it. Hahaha, he almost wasn't even aware that he is God among men, when it comes to guitar. Such a talent and such a cool person.
I saw Joe Pass play at Mondavi Winery in the mid 70s and then heard him interviewed by Dick Conte on KJAZ about ten years later. Very modest man with no pretense, given how genuinely gifted he was. There was something about that "group" of guitarists, such as Joe, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd, Laurindo Almeida, George Barnes, Kenny Burrell. I hear them all plus Wes Montgomery in Emily Remler, too.
Very true. The key to improvisation is not thinking. Pretty much all your experience should just flow through your fingers. The perfect analogy is when you speak, you don't really think about speaking most of the time, unless you're a stutterer. All the vocabulary you have learned through your life just flows from your mouth.
I think one of the biggest problems in jazz education is we obsess over learning language and don’t talk about the importance of having something to actually say with that language.
I saw Joe play with George Shearing and also solo. I enjoyed the solo gig much more because he just had so many ideas. Sat the next table to him one night in Venice CA watching Joe DiOrio. True heavyweights.
Had the pleasure of seeing Joe Pass twice in the late eighties and early nineties at Lite's Tavern which was situated in the Royal York hotel in Toronto. Also, Herb Ellis, and Tal Farlow at the same venue on different occasions. Also privileged to see Lenny Breau, and Barney Kessel at Toronto's now defunct Bourbon Street. I feel lucky to have seen them in person before they all pased on. So sorry not to have seen Emily Remler before she left us so soon. Ken, Toronto
Interesting that he talks about playing solo guitar concerts. I had the privilege of seeing him in concert in the '90s at a place in Montreal called the "Rising Sun" ("Levant Soleil"?) and he performed solo. I had never seen a jazz solo guitar concert before and I thought this was unusual. I remember him commenting that he had a son who played guitar in a rock group. He scoffed at what his son referred to as "power chords" which he demonstrated as being just the root note, the fifth and the root an octave higher. I thought that was amusing. Anyway, from what he said solo concerts were not unusual for him.
Many thanks for posting this. I have always felt exactly that way about my playing. But because I am nowhere near his level and ability the doubt remained. Coming from him I take that point entirely, no questions anymore. That is I believe how one must perform.
Joe lived for music his entire life, even while he strayed in the wrong direction. I am mad at myself for never haven gone to see him play when he was alive. I had several friends that spent some time hanging around him and some that took lessons from him. He was a skilled player, a good person, humble, and a walking encyclopedia of music.
Great advice from the best solo guitar player and one-man band. "You can't think while soloing". Easier said than done but it is the enabling key concept.
My guitar teacher was taught a few times by the man himself. meeting him is one thing but getting taught by this genius would be a blessing..i guess in a way i've somewaht been taught by joe through my teacher...and damn can my teacher play..genius..
@freekdevos I do really appreciate what your saying. Yes i would say he does repeat himself, but any guitarist does from time to time, the thing i hate doing is comparing musicians, every guitarist is different, thats a beauty in its self. But whenever i watch stochelo i just feel so happy. But i do have to agree with you about Andreas. Bireli Lagrene is also another great.
@KooGuitar I would call Joe Pass a great improviser and Stochelo a great performer. I think stochelo is a great guitarist with a tremendous amount of talent. But I also think he rehearses all his solo's. Off course he can interchange surtain ideas, but I hear a lot of the same stuff in different takes. But, again, I think he's great! A gypsy guitarist who does improvise is Andreas Oberg, great talent! Cherio!
It's a shame that there aren't many clips of interviews with Joe on RU-vid. I'd give anything to gain more insight on the man behind the guitar. Brilliant musician.
He didn't give many. His years suffering from serious addiction, years in a Federal 'Medical' prison, for as cool a cat as he was, he was very reserved in life, best guess is because he spent such a long time living on the underbelly and the withdrawn distrust that can create. No surprise to hear the interviewer has a Euro-accent. They appreciate Jazz. We here in America don't. We're kinda idiots like that.
Listen to him play and try to say that again. Joe's saying not to worry about x notes on x chord, just feel it out. Your mind works on its own after much practice and improvisation improves.
Joe..., talkin' 'bout the zone. Why so humble...why not mention your God given ability that 99.99999% who have ever touched a guitar don't have. The guy's immortal.
Why don't you mention the hundreds of thousands of hours he spent practising? The only thing that 99.9% of guitarists will never do is put in the amount of work that it takes to be as great as Joe was
@@bronzewand Amen to that: Being born with talent is just the start. The rest is WORK. Nobody is born with the technique and virtuosity of a Joe Pass. God gives you the ear and the feel, then YOU put in the sweat and blood. I wouldn't be as harsh as to say 99.9% of guitarists don't work at it, but I WOULD say that 99.9% of great players DO!
He's right. Musicians should be like lightning rods and just allow the music to flow through them. Thinking about it is like unplugging the cable. Makes the lights go out.
@KooGuitar That's right. I don't like these kind of discussions about who's better and what not. And I don't consider myself to be in any position to critisize these greats. I'm a great fan of both but I think they are in a different league. It would be great to see Joe 'alive', though. It might as well be with Britney Spears, I don't care. Well may be just al little... Nice talking to you mate!
@taildragger53 In what alternate reality did that ever happen? Haha. Yes, Epiphone was there before Gibson, but Gibson did Not come from Epiphone! One needs to remember they used to be rivals until the company that also owns Gibson Guitar Corp. bought Epiphone. So they used to be rivals, and now they're both owned by the same company.
One day a centipede falls into a hole... And another bug comes near the hole and asks to the centipede: Which leg do you move first before you start walking? And the centipede starts to thinking and answers: I don't know, I just walk... Then the bug leaves him alone. But the centipede can't even moves, because of thinking what leg to start walking and in few days centipede dies in that hole...
"All guitar players sit around the house lollllll and play solos.... "Man next to Joe pass thats the legacy that most guitarists are destined to leave behind... I must say i dislike that image of a guy who has nothing to do so he fiddles around with a guitar in his pyjamas all day loll. But joe pass is right, he can get away with saying that, he is a legend and he proved his craft in the same way flamenco guitar masters did.
