Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Joe Pass: Nuages

273

Joe Pass: Nuages

By

View read count
Joe Pass: Nuages


Nuages is the second volume of material the late Joe Pass and his quartet performed at Yoshi's club in Oakland, California, in 1992. With the exception of bassist Monty Budwig (who died shortly after this recording), this is pretty much the same group that performed on Pass' renowned For Django album in 1963. Listening to the two guitars interacting and supporting one another, it's obvious that Pass enjoyed his music like this. The audience does too.

Nuages is an enjoyable collection of standards, one Pass original ("Blues For The Weasel") and the little-known Neal Hefti song, "Repetition." Much of this collection focuses on the slower tempos, with "Nuages" a clear highlight. Pass, as always, is a thoughtful, communicative player who, no matter how dazzling his playing, never fails to draw in listeners. The moody, bossa-nova take of "Repetition," originally intended for the first album (Joe Pass & Co.), is one of this disc's best tracks. It glides along on a gentle swing and evokes warm, romantic places. Another highlight is the Pass blues. It's always a genuine treat hearing him knock out the blues. He could do it in his sleep, but he always makes it sound perfectly inspired too.

When tempos pick up a bit, as in "I Remember You," "Cherokee" and "What Is This Thing Called Love," the interaction between Pass and Pisano kicks into gear too. Each of these performances reminds you how fun jazz can be — for the players and the listeners. This listener was reminded of the rapport and chemistry guitarists Gabor Szabo and Jimmy Stewart shared in the late 60s. Compare their live performance of "What Is This Thing Called Love" (from Szabo's disc, The Sorcerer) with the Pass/Pisano version heard here. For four such dissimilar and unique guitarists, striking similarities abound.

Everything Joe Pass recorded is worth hearing. And whether solo, or with a group as he is here, he was always best in performance. Nuages is an easily recommended collection fans won't want to pass on — and a great place to hear terrific guitar jazz.

Track Listing

I Remember You; Repetition; September Song; Nuages; If I Had You; Love Letters; What Is This Thing Called Love; Blues For The Weasel; Cherokee;

Personnel

Joe Pass
guitar

Album information

Title: Nuages (Live At Yoshi's, Vol. 2) | Year Released: 1997 | Record Label: Pablo Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.