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Some years ago, I wanted to write a biography of Joe Pass. I got as far as interviewing 7 of his friends and family members. I have since lost the inspiration to do so, but do plan on transcribing my interviews and getting them published.
I interviewed:
Joe's mom
Joe's brother
Herb Ellis
John Pisano
Frank Potenza
Jeff Barone
Brian Nova
I was going to have them published in Just jazz guitar, a publication that I was an occasional contributor to, but Ed Benson is shuttering the magazine. Does anybody have any suggestions as to where those interviews would best be published? I would like them to be available for use to Joe's eventual biographer.
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01-16-2016 01:01 AM
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All very interesting comments! I always wondered why I could never find a biography of Joe Pass. Sadly I can only imagine the stories of working with Ella and Oscar and who knows who else that have been lost. I imagine Joe to have been a down to earth guy with an endearing sense of humor from his videos. But who knows?
Lawson - I first heard Joe Pass when I was about twenty or so when I got his Intercontinental album and then his Virtuoso album that I used to play in wonder back then. His last recordings like Unforgettable always seemed to me to have a kind of aged classic quality like a fine old wine.
Since some of you seem to have had some personal acquaintance with Joe, can you tell us more of any anecdotes about him? Never having seen him in person is one of my regrets.
Marc - How cool that you interviewed some key people in Joe's circle! I'm sure it is hard to spin material like that into a compelling book, but likely Joe was not as colorful a character as a Miles Davis. Still he walked among the giants.Last edited by targuit; 01-16-2016 at 05:22 AM.
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There are a few stories about Joe in Oscar Peterson's autobiography.
Originally Posted by targuit
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The only time I met Joe was in the 1980s when I wandered into Ronnie Scott's one evening and found Joe alone in the downstairs bar (he had just finished his first set onstage). Unfortunately I had just been to a rather heavy post-work drinking session so I was too inebriated to remember much of our conversation afterwards!
All I can recall is that he was a really nice friendly guy (he bought me a drink!). He said he never knew what tune he was going to play next, it was whatever popped into his head at that moment.
Joe often started by playing a sort of medley of 3 tunes with no break, then when he back-announced the tunes, he could only remember the last one. He always had to ask the audience what the first 2 tunes were! I asked him about this, and he said he was so completely focussed on the tune he was playing that everything else went out of his mind, so he then forgot the previous tunes. I think that gives a clue to his powers of concentration.
When it was time for Joe to go back onstage, he looked really tired and said he didn't really feel like playing - that was kind of sad. But he still went on and played a brilliant set - a real pro.
The only other thing I can recall is that I asked him if he'd ever seen Wes Montgomery, but unfortunately I can't remember what he said! Obviously my drunken brain cells gave out at that point.
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I've got some old UK 'Guitar' magazines from the 1970s - here's an interesting interview with Joe from the June 1974 issue.
Last edited by grahambop; 01-16-2016 at 07:48 AM.
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Thanks for the interview and personal story, Graham! I truly miss Joe Pass.
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Same here - glad that I saw him so many times at Ronnie Scott's, a few feet away.
I see from the interview that Joe appears to have done the obligatory '10,000' hours on the guitar by the time he was fifteen!
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His father was a real taskmaster. Reminds me of the stories recounted by Christopher Parkening whose father encouraged his serious and long hours of practice as a child.
My father, who was a physician and a serious classical violinist in his youth, virtually never pushed me to play, though he never obstructed me. I wanted to play since I was very young. One of my deepest regrets is that I could not convince my son to learn to play an instrument though I bought him a three-quarter size classical guitar and keyboard instruments were always available at home as well. In the article Joe mentions his feeling that kids should be "pushed" to learn if they have talent. I tried hard but stopped short of forcing my son to play as a child. He is rather 'strong willed' and a brilliant and great kid. But the sadness in my heart is not for me but for him. For what he may never know of this passion to play that motivates us.
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My parents weren't at all musical, in fact I had to beg them to buy me a guitar when I was 11 years old and wanted to play (they didn't have much money and thought it was just a passing craze). But they did pay for classical lessons for several years, and eventually bought me a better guitar when they realised I was reasonably good at it!
I never once pushed my son to take up the guitar, I just knew it would probably be counter-productive. But by seeing me play, he somehow got the bug and now he plays as much as I do (and he passed grade 8 classical guitar by the time he finished school).
He's still in a heavy metal phase though. But recently he has been getting more into more melodic prog rock stuff (e.g. Dream Theatre) so that's an improvement!
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I have a memory of seeing Joe Pass on TV back (I think) in the early 70's and I think it might have been on the Merv Griffin show. This was a time when I was much more interested in listening to Hendrix' Bank Of Gypsies, or Johnny Winter, or Alvin Lee, or Pete Townsend wail on an SG. I was aware of jazz guitar and Joe Pass and others but that's about all. Anyway the show was coming back from a commercial break and the band was playing something really fast and upbeat and there was this nice clean mellow guitar just blazing along with the band. Merv says the usual 'and we're back' or something. Then Merv looks over at the band and says something like, 'See Joe. I told you you could do it'. The camera switches over to the band and there's Joe Pass (I'd never seen him before) smiling sheepishly and patting beads of sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. I gather he was just sitting in for somebody else and that perhaps this was a setting that he was not totally comfortable with. It was after that that I started to pay more attention to jazz guitar.
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That article is a treasure!
I had an article in the Just Jazz Guitar tribute to Joe Pass, and another in Acoustic Guitar magazine after Joe's death.
I'll see if I can get a digital copy of those and post, simply to get some other Joe Pass anecdotes out there.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
May be these guys are interested:
Fingerstyle Magazine - The Global Best in Fingerstyle Guitar
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Just in case some of you haven't already found this site:
Joe Pass Memorial Hall
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All of the guitarists mentioned are great at playing chords/lines/walking bass. Most of them had some idea of basic arrangements around which they would blow on most of those charts that they'd play. Even Martin Taylor, when you see him live, is working out of arrangements that he has thought out. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Through the years, I saw Taylor play "Old Man River," which was something of a show stopper for him. Clearly, it was an arrangement-plus-some spontaneous ideas kind of chart for him.
Joe Pass, on the other hand, seemed MUCH more fluid and spontaneous than most players in his approach to performance. Jim Hall was often like this, too, but he was such a genius at under-playing that people sometimes didn't realize the full extent to which he was being spontaneously inventive. (Hall was all about space and silence, as much as about intervals/chords/and lines.)
Although Joe Pass was not necessarily my favorite performer (almost, but not quite), he struck me as having no peer as a jazz artist on guitar. There were a couple of pianists that I would compare him to though. On guitar, he was one of a kind. Importantly, and in the strict sense of his feeling of time, NOBODY swung harder than Joe Pass.
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Here is a scan of the article about Joe Pass I contributed to the Just Jazz Guitar Joe Pass tribute issue in June 1996.
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Lawson-stone, I have that issue and loved your article just as much reading it again today as I did when it was first published. Thank you for sharing.
Joe Pass has been an inspiration to me for over 40 years now. His playing is eternal. I believe that his playing will inspire others for hundreds, if not thousands of years to come.
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Just read that article you wrote. Very beautiful and quite touching. Thanks. I miss Joe Pass.
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Me too. I acquired an empty ache in my heart on May 23, 1994 that has never really gone away. Originally Posted by targuit
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Did you see the video where Joe was sitting with Paco and some of the world's top classical guitarist.what tremendous respect for each other.the looks on their faces was like I don't want to jam with him no telling what he's gonna do.the first few times I went to print out some his tunes to work on.got all excited til I started on.hay that's not Satin Doll.or that's not can't take that away from etc.that's not the way he plays.oh yes it is and then some!and abig agree on Mimi fox and Jimmy Bruno.
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The sessions that blow me away as well include the country music Hank Williams recording. There are a couple of cool videos of him and Roy Clark blazing away. Real good music.
I have a cool recording of Ella Fitzgerald singing the music of Jobim and Joe is all over the disc. I also enjoy his duets with Ella recordings. Not to mention the recordings with Herb Ellis.
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Not exactly like Joe Pass. More like Joe Pass meets Bach. He plays nylon string guitar and obviously has classical influences as well as being a first rate jazzer. Check out some of Earl Klugh's solo guitar albums. The guy is absolutely incredible. If you haven't heard his work check him out he's plays amazing mind boggling stuff. Mind boggling technical mastery and a fun fine sense of melody.
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Out of all clips and players in this thread, as per my taste and sense of it, while all sound like excellent players,musicians improviswers, ..., they all sound kind of gypsy, kind of bossa, bit classical ... experimental .... , but only Joe Pass sound like undoubtfull straight Jazz. IMO. And that is because of blues. Again, IMO.
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I'd like to '2nd' that statement. Originally Posted by targuit
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Joe was a pioneer for solo jazz guitar playing. And unquestionably one of the best EVER.
I've got to say though that if you enjoy that style of solo jazz guitar and haven't heard Earl Klugh play your missing a real treat. I know he doesn't get the props around here as much because his work with a group was mostly smooth jazz. But Earl can play and his solo jazz guitar work can hang with anybody in the jazz guitar world. And similar to Joe his single note playing is just as impressive as his chord melody work. He does it on nylon strings and yes a little bit of classical influenced voice leading is there once in a while but its still beautiful swinging jazz playing.
I actually wish Earl would release more recordings in this solo jazz style. Because honestly he's great at it.
Last edited by Bobalou; 02-16-2016 at 09:54 AM.
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