Joe Pass

By the time the 71-year-old Stephane Grappelli made this live trio recording with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, his legacy as the greatest of all jazz violinists was firmly in place. Granted, that made him first in a fairly short line of colleagues - other than Joe Venuti and Stuff Smith, who else was there to consider? (Jean-Luc Ponty doesn't count.) But it's hard to imagine another player, regardless of virtuosity, ever conveying the same sense of swing and simple joie de vivre that Grappelli does with virtually every note. Nor does it hurt that his accompanists on this album are among the finest in their fields; Orsted Pedersen plays with a solidity and rhythmic power that are enough to make you forget the absence of a drummer, while Pass slides effortlessly between unobtrusive chordal backup and bravura soloing…

Joe Pass - Virtuoso #2 (1976) {Pablo PACD-2310-788-2 rel 1987}
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© 1976, 1987 Pablo Records / Fantasy | PACD-2310-788-2
Jazz / Cool / Mainstream Jazz / Guitar

Virtuoso No. 2, the second of Joe Pass' solo guitar albums for Pablo, finds the remarkable Pass exploring more recent standards than one might expect. In addition to a few warhorses, there is also "Feelings" (which he somehow manages to make tolerable), "If," two Chick Corea songs ("Five Hundred Miles High" and "Windows") and even "Giant Steps." Pass' mastery of the guitar is obvious throughout this enjoyable set.

Although André Previn had not recorded a regular jazz album in 27 years at this point in time (discounting a pair of Itzhak Perlman sessions featuring Previn's compositions), the great majority of the performances on this trio set with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Ray Brown are first takes. Previn took time off from his busy schedule in the classical music world to return briefly to jazz, his first love. The results are often magical. Previn, Pass and Brown play together as if they had been touring as a group for years. The pianist is generous with solo space and Pass' solos are sometimes exhilarating. For Previn, it is as if the previous three decades did not occur for he plays in a style little changed from 1960, displaying an Oscar Peterson influence mixed in with touches of Lennie Tristano and Bill Evans.

The second Concord album was recorded the day after the first with the same lineup: guitarists Herb Ellis and Joe Pass, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jake Hanna. Pass would sign with Pablo but Ellis would be a fixture on the Concord label throughout the 1970s. If anything, the guitarists' rematch was a bit stronger than their first due to material better suited for jamming including "In a Mellotone," a speedy "Seven Come Eleven," "Perdido" and "Concord Blues." Although Pass would soon be recognized as a giant, Ellis battles him to a draw on this frequently exciting bop-oriented date, which has been reissued on CD.

This unusual LP was the result of a collaboration of Joe Pass with Tommy Gumina, the creator of Polytone amps and inventor of the Polyccorus (a souped-up accordion), along with veteran drummer Jimmie Smith. Although Gumina states in his notes that he hadn't played regularly for some 15 years preceding this session, he and Smith gel instantly with the matchless playing of Pass. There's a heavy concentration on familiar standards, including a glistening run through "My Shining Hour," but a surprising original blues by Pass and Gumina features the guitarist switching briefing to a sound more familiar to heavy metal fans, though his ability to swing never diminishes. While it may not be a top priority to acquire, it's worth buying, if you can find it.

Joe Pass thrived on intimate settings. The late improviser had no problem doing without a pianist, and many of his Pablo recordings of the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s found him leading small guitar trios or performing as an unaccompanied solo guitarist. That type of intimate setting serves him impressively well on Resonance, which was recorded live at Donte's in North Hollywood, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles) in December 1974 and finds him leading a trio that includes Jim Hughart on electric bass and Frank Severino on drums. Pass doesn't have a pianist or any horn players to share the spotlight with, and that's just as well because the guitarist has a lot to say. He is in fine form on lyrical performances of "Misty," "Corcovado," and "Come Rain or Come Shine," and is equally impressive on unusually fast versions of "It Could Happen to You" and "The Lamp Is Low"…

After recording the classic For Django and Catch Me sets for Pacific Jazz, guitarist Joe Pass got stuck recording commercial material for that label's subsidiary World Pacific. This LP finds Pass and a clearly bored Chet Baker (on flügelhorn) performing some of Bob Florence's duller arrangements for an orchestra and distracting background voices. The music consists of then-current and now mostly forgotten pop tunes (Eliot Tiegel in the liner notes raves about how great the songs are) including "It Was a Very Good Year," "What Now My Love," "The Phoenix Love Theme," and the one tune still remembered, "Dindi." Pass has a few worthwhile spots, but is often cut off by the singers or the overly tight charts. A historical curiosity at best.

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.

This is an unusual set for Joe Pass, a pop-oriented Brazilian date. He is joined by rhythm guitarist John Pisano, keyboardist Don Grusin, either Abraham Laboriel or Nathan East on bass, drummer Harvey Mason and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa. The material is not as strong as Pass' earlier Brazilian set Tudo Bem, featuring originals by Andy Narell, Grusin, Pisano and Milton Nascimento, along with a few obscurities. Pass sounds fine, but the overall results are not too substantial or memorable.