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Jazz Articles about Pat Martino
Pat Martino at Chris' Jazz Cafe, November 25th, 2005
by Victor L. Schermer
Pat MartinoChris' Jazz CaféPhiladelphia, PAFirst set It is said that when George Benson first heard Pat Martino perform, he was so astounded that he thought of giving up guitar playing. What he heard was a young kid in Harlem playing like a master. Since that time about forty years ago, Martino has followed a path that--despite or because of the long journey back from an aneurysm that caused almost complete loss of memory--has made ...
Continue ReadingPat Martino Trio at Jazz Alley
by Roy Strassman
Pat Martino Trio Jazz Alley Seattle, WA October 31, 2000Amidst good tidings, packed house and festive d'cor, replete with onstage Christmas tree, the Three Jazzmen journeyed to the West, Seattle's Jazz Alley, thereby annunciating the holy rebirth of jazz guitar-organ funk. The jazzmen in question are none other than virtuosi: Pat Martino, organist Joey De Francesco, and drummer Billy Hart.The set took off on high and blazing notes with the ...
Continue ReadingPat Martino: Think Tank
by Joel Roberts
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 ...
Continue ReadingRidl & Martino: Duets at Tin Angel
by Victor L. Schermer
On Saturday evening, December 13, 2003, Philadelphia was blessed to have two international jazz greats perform at a small, local venue, The Tin Angel . Of course, Pat Martino is a Philadelphian, and Jim Ridl lives near Princeton, so in that sense they are “local,” but the set that I attended was a world-class event, a remarkable display of musical virtuosity and musicality that I, for one, will never forget. I was enraptured and electrified by what I heard. It ...
Continue ReadingPat Martino: To Renew A Life In Jazz
by Victor L. Schermer
CAUTION! This interview may positively change the way you think about and experience music, yourself, and even your life. You risk growing and changing! Pat Martino is not simply a master guitarist and jazz icon. He is insistent on being a whole human being, insistent on being himself, insistent paradoxically on playing and enjoying life to the fullest. He is also a deep thinker who wants to get at the truth in some spiritual sense of what makes it all ...
Continue ReadingThink Tank
by Victor L. Schermer
It could be said that Pat Martino most fully represents the evolution of jazz guitar artistry from the 1960's to the present day. His playing displays a striking continuity over time, even though disrupted in mid-stream by his well-known bout with a brain aneurysm that led to nearly total amnesia, and from which he more than regained his full abilities and gifts by a heroic recovery process. Yet within that continuity are all the developments in “straight ahead" jazz from ...
Continue ReadingLive From Zanzibar Blue: Pat Martino Quintet
by Victor L. Schermer
Pat MartinoZanzibar Blue Philadelphia, PA October 11, 2003 Without it being spoken, guitarist Pat Martino's gig at Zanzibar Blue on October 10 and 11, was, in a certain sense, Philadelphia's way of honoring this musical legend on his own home turf. These two nights were extraordinary for a jazz club-something powerful, warm, and loving was in the air. Pat's quintet played to standing room only crowds for both sets on both nights, and, ...
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