Pat Martino Well Be Together Aagain

Guitarist Pat Martino's second recording as a leader finds him essentially playing advanced bop. His quintet (with Joe Farrell on tenor and flute, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Walter Perkins) really roars on an uptempo version of "Minority" and is diverse enough to come up with meaningful statements on four of Martino's originals.

Guitarist Pat Martino's second recording as a leader finds him essentially playing advanced bop. His quintet (with Joe Farrell on tenor and flute, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Walter Perkins) really roars on an uptempo version of "Minority" and is diverse enough to come up with meaningful statements on four of Martino's originals.

Guitarist Pat Martino's second recording as a leader finds him essentially playing advanced bop. His quintet (with Joe Farrell on tenor and flute, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Walter Perkins) really roars on an uptempo version of "Minority" and is diverse enough to come up with meaningful statements on four of Martino's originals.

Willis Jackson was a tough-toned tenor who came to fame as a honker and screamer with Cootie Williams's big band in the late '40s. Although he calmed down his style a bit through the years, he always has a passionate sound and an accessible style best heard on blues, ballads and standards. This is a CD reissue of a 1978 session that features Jackson with guitarist Pat Martino, organist Carl Wilson and a supportive rhythm section. Although the Barbara Streisand-associated "Evergreen" (heard in two versions) and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" may not seem like the best material for the tenor, he uplifts the songs…

Willis Jackson was a tough-toned tenor who came to fame as a honker and screamer with Cootie Williams's big band in the late '40s. Although he calmed down his style a bit through the years, he always has a passionate sound and an accessible style best heard on blues, ballads and standards. This is a CD reissue of a 1978 session that features Jackson with guitarist Pat Martino, organist Carl Wilson and a supportive rhythm section. Although the Barbara Streisand-associated "Evergreen" (heard in two versions) and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" may not seem like the best material for the tenor, he uplifts the songs…

Willis Jackson was a tough-toned tenor who came to fame as a honker and screamer with Cootie Williams's big band in the late '40s. Although he calmed down his style a bit through the years, he always has a passionate sound and an accessible style best heard on blues, ballads and standards. This is a CD reissue of a 1978 session that features Jackson with guitarist Pat Martino, organist Carl Wilson and a supportive rhythm section. Although the Barbara Streisand-associated "Evergreen" (heard in two versions) and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" may not seem like the best material for the tenor, he uplifts the songs…

When We'll Be Together Again was recorded in 1976, a 31-year-old Pat Martino was four years away from being operated on for the brain aneurysm that would wipe out his memory. The Philadelphia guitarist was also very much at the height of his creative powers - a fact that's hard to miss on this excellent session. Forming an intimate duo with electric pianist Gil Goldstein, Martino is at his most introspective on sparse interpretations of the standards "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "Willow Weep for Me" as well as Henry Mancini's "Dreamsville," J.J. Johnson's "Lament," and Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns." Martino's lyricism was never more personal than it is on this album.

Pat Martino has released a duo album with Grammy Award-winning keyboard player/arranger Gil Goldstein. This is also a re-performance of their classic 1976 album "We'll Be Together Again." With that in mind, Gil dared to use a Fender Rhodes. The sound it produces has a healing taste that will soothe not only jazz fans but everyone. The compositions included are mainly famous jazz songs that are popular in Japan in response to offers from Japan, but also include Pat's originals.

It's been nearly twenty years since Pat Martino's comeback from a near-fatal brain aneurysm. In that time he's re-established himself as one of the jazz world's premier guitarists, a technically advanced post bop player who combines forward-thinking musical ideas with native Philly grit; think Pat Metheny with more soul. Think Tank, as the name suggests, finds Martino at his most cerebral, which has its pros and cons. The title track, for example, is a blues of sorts built on an equation based on the letters of John Coltrane's name, which may sound like an exercise for a composition class, but manages to hold together pretty well organically. Coltrane, a Philadelphia mentor of Martino's, is a recurring reference on the album, both indirectly in Martino's intensely spiritual and intellectual approach to the music, and directly on the funk-based original "Phineas Trane as well as on an extended romp through Coltrane's "Africa.

Anyone who likes the B-3 Hammond organ soul-jazz style and doesn't mind a bit of pop-lounge spice occasionally stirred into the sauce should check out this compilation. It combines Pitts' first two LPs, Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts and These Blues of Mine (both from 1967) on one CD. Introducing is a strong debut, divided between covers of pretty mainstream standards ("The Spanish Flea," "It Was a Very Good Year," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker") and gutsier straight soul-jazz, including four originals by Bill Carney, whose "Organology" is a highlight for its nervous, bopping edge. The languorous swells of the opening number "Steppin' in Minor" make you think you're in for a set of swank lounge-jazz, but the pace quickly picks up, and Pitts really catches fire on "Take Five," jamming a lot of notes into her improvisation without sounding self-indulgent…