Joe Pass Virtuoso 3

Joe Pass - Virtuoso #3 (1977) {Pablo OJCCD-684-2 rel 1992}
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© 1977, 1992 Pablo Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-684-2
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Guitar

Solo guitar by Joe Pass – a beautiful little album that's a perfect showcase for the new sensitivity in his music during his years at Pablo records! The Joe Pass heard here is light years away from the guitar player who made a few gimmicky records a decade before – and this album has Joe coming across with a gentle, but sophisticated approach to his instrument that we never would have expected in the past!

This CD reissue in Joe Pass' "Virtuoso" series differs from the others in that the unaccompanied guitarist performs a dozen originals rather than standards. Pass, who previously had mostly composed blues-oriented pieces, proves to be a surprisingly effective composer, even if his song titles (which include "Sevenths," "Ninths," "Dissonance #1" and "Dissonance #2") are not too inspired. There are more ballads than usual in a Pass solo showcase, but there is enough variety to hold one's interest, even if none of these pieces (which includes one called "Paco DeLucia") caught on.

The saying that "life begins at 40" is certainly open to debate – especially if you live in a youth-obsessed culture like the United States. But for jazz artists, there can be some truth in that saying; the history of jazz is full of artists who did some of their best work after 40. Joe Pass is a perfect example; Pass turned 40 in 1969, and the '70s were an amazingly productive time for the late guitar icon (who recorded frequently during that decade thanks to Pablo founder Norman Granz). In fact, Pass did so much recording during the '70s that albums of previously unreleased material were still coming out long after his death from cancer in 1994. Virtuoso in New York, for example, is an album of recordings that went unreleased for 29 years; recorded in 1975, these Granz-produced performances didn't see the light of day until 2004.

When Joe Pass recorded and released this first of his Virtuoso series of albums, he was 44 years old, and ready to reclaim his crown as king of jazz guitar after years of heroin abuse. As a solo artist playing only acoustic guitar in an amplified fusion era, the odds were stacked against him, but Pass boldly issued this, his most creative and improvisation-based work, to mass critical acclaim and widespread general public sales. The genius of Pass was that he was easily able to retain melodic lines of these standards while adding stretched-out, extrapolated thoughts on the top and bottom of the melodies. On every track, with each passing phrase, modified and extended line or poetic thought, Pass proves his unique style is better than all the rest…

Guitarist Joe Pass came to fame 18 years before this recording with Virtuoso, also released on the Pablo label. In 1991, he was still playing occasional unaccompanied concerts, and he had neither run out of ideas nor gone stale despite the often familiar repertoire. This CD (recorded at the now-defunct Vine Street Bar & Grill in Hollywood) finds Pass performing a typical set filled with swing standards (such as "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Love for Sale," and "Indiana"), some more recent material (Ivan Lins' "Daquilo Que Eu Sei" and Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are"), a couple of originals, and "Mack the Knife." Through it all, Pass shows that he is one of the few guitarists who never needed other instrumentalists in order to form a complete group sound.

Joe Pass became famous with his unaccompanied guitar showcase on Virtuoso, the beginning of a very notable series. However, this 1983 double LP actually preceded the first Virtuoso by a month and differed in that Pass exclusively chose to play acoustic guitar, rather than electric. The relatively little-known set finds the guitarist sounding very much like a self-sufficient orchestra, and although his tone is necessarily softer on acoustic than electric, he swings hard on the uptempo pieces. Among the many highlights are "Indian Summer," "My Shining Hour," "I'll Remember April," and "Limehouse Blues."

This is the album that made Joe Pass famous … An essential CD.