Joe Pass

Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua; January 13, 1929, New Brunswick – May 23, 1994, Los Angeles

Joe Pass was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent,  a technically skilled jazz virtuoso who overcame drug addiction to become an internationally renowned sideman, performing with such jazz greats as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn.

He was also a spellbinding soloist whose fluid fingering and impassioned improvisations defined his incomparable artistry.

Joe Pass – All the Things You Are

Pass, a self-taught guitarist, was given his first instrument at the age of nine and was performing with big-name bands by the time he was a teenager. Though his career was stalled by heroin addiction and a five-year jail sentence, he kicked his habit after enrolling in the Synanon drug-rehabilitation program and emerged from obscurity with the 1973 release of a solo album, Virtuoso.

Joe Pass – Night And Day [Virtuoso]

That same year he became a member of a celebrated trio that included pianist Oscar Peterson and the bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. Pass then found recording opportunities with Norman Granz, producer and head of Pablo Records, and worked as a regular member of a studio band. In later years, however, it was his work as a concert soloist that made him a standout.

Joe Pass – Satin Doll

More on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Pass

Joe Pass & Ella Fitzgerald – Duets in Hannover 1975

***** [În română] *****

Joe Pass

Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua; 13 ianuarie 1929, New Brunswick – 23 mai 1994, Los Angeles

Joe Pass a fost un chitarist de jazz italian-american, un virtuos în jazz, foarte talentat din punct de vedere tehnic, care a depășit dependența de droguri pentru a deveni un interpret al trupelor de jazz de renume internațional, cântând alături de mari interpreți de jazz precum Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald și Sarah Vaughn.

El a fost, de asemenea, un solist fermecător, a cărui digitație fluidă și improvizațiile demare emoție l-au definit ca incomparabil artistic.

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Oscar Peterson & Count Basie & Joe Pass – Words & Music (1980)

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