Pasquale Grasso

[Ovader]

Grasso posted that he has tested positive for Covid and will lay low for a few weeks.

[joelf]

Grasso posted that he has tested positive for Covid and will lay low for a few weeks.

That makes 3 guitarist friends who contracted it in the last month.

It's pretty risky to perform in joints with Delta around and younguns sitting around unmasked (and possibly unvaccinated)---as if everything's hunky dory. I'm glad NY (and much of the world) is back to some semblance of normalcy---but still say we're moving too fast. This is part of the cost--and I say it costs too much.

Performers have to go out to their gigs taking every precaution AND acting responsibly. One guy---a great guy and well-respected player---came to his gig masked, but feeling 'off'. He'd been tested but didn't have the results yet. He came out positive, and did the right thing contacting everyone in the band and friends in the house---urging us all to get tested. But that resulted in a guy in the group and myself staying home so as to not possibly infect others til test results came back---thereby losing a week's work. He should've stayed home that night. What's one $100 gig vs all the anxiety; risk of spreading it; and his and other peoples' loss of earnings? And it tore him up b/c he's a good guy. Lose lose.

Get well soon, Pasquale...

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

It's pretty risky to perform in joints with Delta around and younguns sitting around unmasked (and possibly unvaccinated)---as if everything's hunky dory.

I thought NYC has vaccine passports: What to know about the city’s vaccine passport rules

Here in BC we have them -- they're just part of the routine, now. Really, I think everywhere should have them.

[joelf]

I thought NYC has vaccine passports: What to know about the city’s vaccine passport rules

Here in BC we have them -- they're just part of the routine, now. Really, I think everywhere should have them.

In NYC, and, doubtless, other major cities saloon owners put up signs re masks and vaccination and even check vaccination cards to APPEAR to be in compliance with rules. Then they pretty much look the other way, and people do as they please. (Plus, vaccination cards are a joke. Fakes can be easily manufactured and sold to anti-vaxxers or kids who think they're immortal and/or like pulling one over).

It's like owners are walking on eggshells: they don't want to be closed down---and I don't doubt that most truly care about containing the spread of Covid. But people come into a joint to relax and have a good time, and there's the fear of losing business if people can't----if the rules are too stiff for them. And once drinking starts...

[joelf]

On a mobile device vaccine proof is more believable.

Until the hustlers figure a way around THAT---and install fake ones for a price...

[David B]

Heads-up for forum members in Europe:

Pasquale is hitting the road in early November with vocalist Samara Joy (several great video clips of them together in this thread).

30 October: Logomo Teatro Hall. Turku, Finland.
31 October: So What's Next Festival. Eindhoven, Netherlands.
3 November: The Bix Club. Stuttgart, Germany.
5 November: Madeira
6 November: Caldas Nice Jazz. Caldas di Rainha, Portugal.
8 November: Ronnie Scott's. London, UK.
10 November: Teatro ABD. Catania, Italy.
11 November. Duc Des Lombards. Paris, France.

I'm hosting a masterclass with Pasquale in London at lunchtime on Monday 8 November before the shows at Ronnie Scott's. Details here: London Jazz Guitar Society event tickets from TicketSource.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

In NYC, and, doubtless, other major cities saloon owners put up signs re masks and vaccination and even check vaccination cards to APPEAR to be in compliance with rules. Then they pretty much look the other way, and people do as they please. (Plus, vaccination cards are a joke. Fakes can be easily manufactured and sold to anti-vaxxers or kids who think they're immortal and/or like pulling one over).

It's like owners are walking on eggshells: they don't want to be closed down---and I don't doubt that most truly care about containing the spread of Covid. But people come into a joint to relax and have a good time, and there's the fear of losing business if people can't----if the rules are too stiff for them. And once drinking starts...

At least here, businesses download an app from the province and use it to scan your vaccine passport, then check this against your driver's license.

My wife and were actually out for dinner at a winery on Friday. Forgot my phone! Dirty looks from the Mrs. I was able to download my passport onto her phone by entering my (1) health card number (2) birth date and (3) date of one of my vaccinations. The QR code image has my name on it, but again, that just shows the guy with that healthcard number is vaccinated. I still have to show matching photo id.

So far, every place I've been to has been conscientious. This winery wouldn't have let me in without that passport.

[joelf]

At least here, businesses download an app from the province and use it to scan your vaccine passport, then check this against your driver's license.

My wife and were actually out for dinner at a winery on Friday. Forgot my phone! Dirty looks from the Mrs. I was able to download my passport onto her phone by entering my (1) health card number (2) birth date and (3) date of one of my vaccinations. The QR code image has my name on it, but again, that just shows the guy with that healthcard number is vaccinated. I still have to show matching photo id.

So far, every place I've been to has been conscientious. This winery wouldn't have let me in without that passport.

I know a guy who calls himself Libertarian and rails at any government interference. I don't agree 100%, but it IS troubling when they have this much control. I know there's a pandemic---how could I not? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, but this stuff worries me. How far will it go? Will invasions of privacy become a norm?

Let's hope it recedes when Covid does, or we're all in deep doo doo...

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

It's a balance. Some people are preloaded to only see gov't overreach. I worry about gov't underreach -- governments around the world reacted to the pandemic too slowly and too timidly.

[David B]

he's currently recovering from a very rough bout with covid. Apparently, he was not vaccinated.

I'm sorry Jack, that's not correct. Pasquale has been fully vaccinated for some time.

[David B]

[jzucker]

I'm sorry Jack, that's not correct. Pasquale has been fully vaccinated for some time.

Sorry for the inaccurate statement then. That makes sense given the vaccine mandates in NYC.

[jzucker]

I re-read the facebook posting and yes, he was fully vaccinated but also, the case he had was apparently pretty bad even being fully vaccinated. He posted recently that he is on day 5 and feels better and hopes to play music again really soon.

But yeah, i agree that the whole vaccine/mask mandate thing is indeed a sh!t-show. At least in NYC they require it. Here in ohio they don't and most places are fully open with no requirement for social distancing, masks or vaccinations. I was called to play a gig recently in pittsburgh and called the club to see what their policy was and they told me that their policy is that if you are vaccinated, you do not have to wear a mask in the club. However, musicians have told me that most of the time, they don't even check. They just rely on "the honor system" and we know how well that works...

[joelf]

I was with the guy last Monday and he was fine.

I'd vet any story about anyone, just in general, before accepting it as the gospel.

Could be, though, that the onset was quick. The conditions in joints are loose, as we've been saying, and it's risky. But if it were a 'bad case' it wouldn't turn around in 5 days.

Get well soon, Pasquale! Love you...

[sgosnell]

FWIW, breakthrough infections of vaccinated people do happen. My sister was vaccinated, both shots, and caught COVID from an employee. She got very sick, severe headache, which lasted about two days and then she was fine. She thinks she may not have survived without the vaccinations. The symptoms and severity vary between individuals. The employee who gave it to her did survive, but spent time in the hospital. If Grasso had serious symptoms for five days or more and was vaccinated, he would likely have been in very serious condition without the vaccine.

[joelf]

FWIW, breakthrough infections of vaccinated people do happen.

Breakthrough is what happened to another friend, a guitarist I won't name who many have mentioned here. He was vaxxed and got Delta (most likely) anyway. Back in business after about a week of relatively mild symptoms, but it still was a drag. He told the band and guests like me the night we were at his gig that he'd been tested, but no results yet. Felt 'off' but came to work anyway. Mistake, mask or no (his was on and up). Test came back positive and he communicated that to us all, urging us to get tested. We did, resulting in everyone voluntarily staying home from work and gigs til results were in and thereby losing serious living money. No one felt worse than him---about ALL of it.

He was sick before working that night, but it's very possible the Covid was contracted at an earlier gig;

When in doubt stay home. Delta laughs at masks and vaccinations, and is doubtless spread easily in joints by unmasked, drinking folks...

[sgosnell]

Delta doesn't laugh at masks. Masks work, although they are not 100% effective, because nothing is. But they do a great job if people would only use them. My sister had to miss our mother's funeral because of her infection, and that was a great disappointment to her and the rest of us.

[David B]

Good news! Pasquale is back and gigging. He played the late show at Mezzrow last night with Ari Roland and Joe Farnsworth.

Video link: Log into Facebook | Facebook

[Ovader]

This is a new trio (Double Bass: Ari Roland, Drums: Keith Balla) version compared to the solo guitar version released on the SOLO HOLIDAY EP from 2019. Producer Matt Pierson states this new version is only a single with a forthcoming video to be produced.

[David B]

Nice to see a musician we admire get a glowing review in a national British newspaper!

Link: Pasquale Grasso: Pasquale Plays Duke review – boggling brilliance from the guitar virtuoso | Jazz | The Guardian

[David B]

I had the pleasure of hosting a masterclass with Pasquale during his stop in London on 8 November with Samara Joy. I then got to enjoy their two sold-out shows at Ronnie Scott's.

[David B]

A few days later, on their stop in Paris, Luigi Grasso sat in and Matt Pierson (Pasquale and Samara's manager) got some evidence for the rest of us.

[Mark M.]

PG and his trio are playing a small club here in Milwaukee on Sunday night. I’m pumped! I plan to be at a table in front, even if I need to stand out in the cold for awhile to get it. Seeing him live has been on my “must do” list for awhile. So far, I haven’t been able to make it line up with my visits to NYC. I never thought it would happen here in Milwaukee!

[Mark M.]

What an amazing night of music! It’s rare that you get to hear three virtuosos play with the kind of musicality that Pasquale, Ari Roland, and Keith Bala played with tonight. If anyone still sees PG as merely a technician or some of the other criticisms I have heard, go and hear him with this trio. Besides the blazing lines and incredible facility in playing impossible chords at the same time, he plays with incredible soul, and the band’s interplay is at the highest level I have ever heard. Truly, I was blown away. I had the best seat in the house, and I just got to hear one of the greats.

The band played several Barry Harris tunes tonight. They seemed especially poignant. It was a brilliant tribute.

[Alter]

I had somehow forgotten to follow him on Spotify, just did. He has 356000 monthly listeners, more than anyone I follow in the jazz idiom, many times more than most of the heavy names..! So if these numbers stand, he seems really popular..

I'm listening to all these solo albums he has.. Great stuff!