PAT MARTINO

Download Music!: Pat Martino & Charlie Hunter-Too High; Pat Martino-I'm Confessin'; Pat Martino-Earthlings

Pat Martino, born Pat Azzara on August 25, 1944 is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, soul jazz, mainstream jazz and hard bop idioms.

Biography

Martino was born in South Philadelphia, began playing the guitar at a young age. His earliest lessons and fundamentals came from John Hall who had a store front studio at 1701 South Taylor Street. Mr. Hall an accomplished guitarist, was always excited about having Pat as a student. Around age twelve or thirteen Pat was brought to each lesson by his father. Mr. Hall recognized Pat's raw talent and coaxed it along, even holding Pat's fingers to the fretboard and giving him extra time and effort.

Pat took lessons from Mr. Hall for at least two years until both teacher, father, and student realized he had to go to someone who could teach him more. 

He learned further from Dennis Sandole, and began playing professionally at age 15. Martino played and recorded early in his career with musicians such as Willis Jackson and Eric Kloss. He also worked with many jazz organists, such as Charles Earland, Mark Leonard, Jack McDuff, Trudy Pitts, Jimmy Smith, Gene Ludwig, Don Patterson, Richard Groove Holmes, and more recently with Joey Defrancesco. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Martino made many recordings as a sideman and also under his own name.

In 1980, Martino underwent surgery as the result of a nearly fatal brain aneurysm. The surgery left him with amnesia, leaving him, among other things, without any memory of the guitar and his musical career. With the help of friends, computers, and his old recordings, Martino made a recovery, and learned to play the guitar again. His improvisation method, "Conversion to Minor", is based upon using exclusively minor scales for soloing.

Martino's return to music started once again with the 1987 recording The Return. In 2006, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued Martino's album East! on Ultradisc UHR SACD. As of 2007, Martino tours worldwide.

Discography

Albums

Pat Martino (1966), Vanguard - unreleased LP
El Hombre (1967), Prestige
Strings! (1967), Prestige
East! (1968), Prestige
Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) (1968) , Prestige
Desperado (1970), Prestige
Footprints (1972), 32 Jazz
The Visit (1972), Cobblestone
Live! (1972), Muse
Head & Heart: Consciousness/Live (1972), 32 Jazz
Essence (1973), Muse
Consciousness (1974), Muse
Starbright (1976), Warner Bros.
Joyous Lake (1976), Warner Bros.
Exit (1977), Muse - MR 5075, recorded February 10, 1976
The Return (1987), Muse
The Maker (1994), Evidence
Interchange (1994), Muse
Night Wings (1996), Muse
Cream (1997), 32 Jazz
All Sides Now (1997), Blue Note
Stone Blue (1998), Blue Note - with Joyous Lake
Fire Dance (1998), Mythos
Comin' and Goin': Exit & the Return (1999)
First Light (1999), 32 Jazz - compilation album of Joyous Lake and Starbright
Impressions (1999), Camden
Givin' Away the Store, Vol. 3 (2000), 32 Jazz
The Philadelphia Experiment The Philadelphia Experiment (2001), Ropeadope
Live at Yoshi's (2001), Blue Note
Think Tank (2003), Blue Note
Timeless Pat Martino (2003), Savoy Jazz
Starbright/Joyous Lake (2006), Collectables
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2006), Blue Note

---------------

When the anesthesia wore off, Pat Martino looked up hazily at his parents and his doctors. and tried to piece together any memory of his life. 
One of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Martino had suffered a severe brain aneurysm and underwent surgery after being told that his condition could be terminal. After his operations he could remember almost nothing. He barely recognized his parents. and had no memory of his guitar or his career. He remembers feeling as if he had been "dropped cold, empty, neutral, cleansed...naked." 

In the following months. Martino made a remarkable recovery. Through intensive study of his own historic recordings, and with the help of computer technology, Pat managed to reverse his memory loss and return to form on his instrument. His past recordings eventually became "an old friend, a spiritual experience which remained beautiful and honest." This recovery fits in perfectly with Pat's illustrious personal history. Since playing his first notes while still in his pre-teenage years, Martino has been recognized as one of the most exciting and virtuosic guitarists in jazz. With a distinctive, fat sound and gut-wrenching performances, he represents the best not just in jazz, but in music. He embodies thoughtful energy and soul. 

Born Pat Azzara in Philadelphia in 1944, ha was first exposed to jazz through his father, Carmen "Mickey" Azzara, who sang in local clubs and briefly studied guitar with Eddie Lang. He took Pat to all the city's hot-spots to hear and meet Wes Montgomery and other musical giants. "I have always admired my father and have wanted to impress him. As a result, it forced me to get serious with my creative powers." 

He began playing guitar when he was twelve years old. and left school in tenth grade to devote himself to music. During Visits to his music teacher Dennis Sandole, Pat often ran into another gifted student, John Coltrane, who would treat the youngster to hot chocolate as they talked about music. 

Besides first-hand encounters with `Trane and Montgomery, whose album Grooveyard had "an enormous influence" on Martino, he also cites Johnny Smith, a Stan Getz associate, as an early inspiration. "He seemed to me, as a child. to understand everything about music," Pat recalls. 

Martino became actively involved with the , early rock scene in Philadelphia, alongside stars like Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and Bobby Darin. His first road gig was with jazz organist Charles Earland, a high school friend. His reputation soon spread among other jazz players, and he was recruited by bandleader Lloyd Price to play hits such as Stagger Lee on-stage with musicians like Slide Hampton and Red Holloway. 

Martino moved to Harlem to immerse himself in the "soul jazz" played by Earland and others. Previously, he had "heard all of the white man's jazz. I never heard that other part of the culture," he remembers. The organ trio concept had a profound influence on Martino's rhythmic and harmonic approach. and he remained in the idiom as a sideman, gigging with Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. An icon before his eighteenth birthday, Pat was signed as a leader for Prestige Records when he was twenty. His seminal albums from this period include classics like Strings!, Desperado, El Hombre and Baiyina (The Clear Evidence), one of jazz's first successful ventures into psychedelia. 

In 1976, Martino began experiencing the excruciating headaches which were eventually diagnosed as symptoms of his aneurysms. After his surgery and recovery, he resumed his career when he appeared in1987 in New York, a gig that was released on a CD with an appropriate name, The Return. He then took another hiatus when both of his parents became ill, and he didn't record again until 1994, when he recorded Interchange and then The Maker. 

Today, Martino lives in Philadelphia again and continues to grow as a musician. As the New York Times recently noted, "Mr. Martino, at fifty, is back and he is plotting new musical directions, adding more layers to his myth." His experiments with guitar synthesizers, begun during his rehabilitation, are taking him in the direction of orchestral arrangements and they promise groundbreaking possibilities. Musicians flock to his door for lessons, and he offers not only the benefits of his musical knowledge, but also the philosophical insights of a man who has faced and overcome enormous obstacles. "The guitar is of no great importance to me," he muses. "The people it brings to me are what matter. They are what I'm extremely grateful for, because they are alive. The guitar is just an apparatus." 

Biography courtesy of DL Media 

A Brief Resume

Pat began playing professionally in 1961. He has performed with a wide variety of artists including Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Richard Groove Holmes, John Handy, Bobby Hutcherson, Chick Corea, Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Stanley Clark, Eric Kloss, Trudy Pitts, Willis Jackson, Lloyd Price, Woody Herman, Chuck Israels, Charles Earland, Barry Miles and Joe Pesci. Since 1967, Pat has been touring as a leader. 

He has been a Recording Artist for Vanguard, Prestige, Warner Brothers, Muse, Columbia, King, Paddlewheel, Evidence, Sony, 32 Jazz, High Note, Milestone, Polydor, Concord, Fantasy, House of Blues, Mythos, Mainstream, Cobblestone, Atlantic and, most currently, Blue Note Records. 

Pat has given Guitar and Music Therapy Seminars, Clinics and Master Classes throughout the world, at locations including North Texas State University, G.I.T., Berklee College (Boston and Perugia, Italy), Duquesne University, Teatro Rasi (Ravenna, Italy), LeCentre Culturel (D’Athis Mons, France), University of Washington School of Music, Skidmore College, Musicians Institute, National Guitar Workshop, New York University, Pennsylvania University, Stanford University, The University of Missouri, Roosevelt University (Chicago), Patti Summers Jazz Club (Seattle), Music Tech College (St. Paul), The New School (New York City), Southern Illinois University, The Conservatory of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Cork Festival (Cork, Ireland), Washington University (St. Louis, MO), Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Musictech College (St. Paul, MN), Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy at NYU (New York, NY), Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (Hartford, CT), and the University of Maryland.

Pat is currently on the adjunct faculty at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

Since the mid 1990s, Pat has received the following awards:1995 Mellon Jazz Festival / Dedicated in Honor
1996 Philadelphia Alliance "Walk of Fame Award"
1997 National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences "Songs from the Heart Award"
2002 Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, "Live at Yoshi's", and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo on 'All Blues'
2002 National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences "2nd Annual Heroes Award"
2003 Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, "Think Tank", and best Jazz Instrumental Solo on 'Africa'.
2004 Guitar Player of the Year, Downbeat Magazine's 2004 Reader's Poll

---------------

When the anesthesia wore off, Pat Martino looked up hazily at his parents and his doctors and tried to piece together any memory of his life. 

One of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Martino had suffered a severe brain aneurysm and underwent surgery after being told that his condition could be terminal. After his operations he could remember almost nothing. He barely recognized his parents. and had no memory of his guitar or his career. He remembers feeling as if he had been “dropped cold, empty, neutral, cleansed... naked.” 

In the following months. Martino made a remarkable recovery. Through intensive study of his own historic recordings, and with the help of computer technology, Pat managed to reverse his memory loss and return to form on his instrument. His past recordings eventually became “an old friend, a spiritual experience which remained beautiful and honest.” This recovery fits in perfectly with Pat's illustrious personal history. Since playing his first notes while still in his pre-teenage years, Martino has been recognized as one of the most exciting and virtuosic guitarists in jazz. With a distinctive, fat sound and gut-wrenching performances, he represents the best not just in jazz, but in music. He embodies thoughtful energy and soul. 

Born Pat Azzara in Philadelphia in 1944, he was first exposed to jazz through his father, Carmen “Mickey” Azzara, who sang in local clubs and briefly studied guitar with Eddie Lang. He took Pat to all the city's hot-spots to hear and meet Wes Montgomery and other musical giants. “I have always admired my father and have wanted to impress him. As a result, it forced me to get serious with my creative powers.” 

He began playing guitar when he was twelve years old. and left school in tenth grade to devote himself to music. During Visits to his music teacher Dennis Sandole, Pat often ran into another gifted student, John Coltrane, who would treat the youngster to hot chocolate as they talked about music. 

Besides first-hand encounters with `Trane and Montgomery, whose album Grooveyard had “an enormous influence” on Martino, he also cites Johnny Smith, a Stan Getz associate, as an early inspiration. “He seemed to me, as a child. to understand everything about music,” Pat recalls. 

Martino became actively involved with the early rock scene in Philadelphia, alongside stars like Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and Bobby Darin. His first road gig was with jazz organist Charles Earland, a high school friend. His reputation soon spread among other jazz players, and he was recruited by bandleader Lloyd Price to play hits such as Stagger Lee on-stage with musicians like Slide Hampton and Red Holloway. 

Martino moved to Harlem to immerse himself in the “soul jazz” played by Earland and others. Previously, he had “heard all of the white man's jazz. I never heard that other part of the culture,” he remembers. The organ trio concept had a profound influence on Martino's rhythmic and harmonic approach. and he remained in the idiom as a sideman, gigging with Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. An icon before his eighteenth birthday, Pat was signed as a leader for Prestige Records when he was twenty. His seminal albums from this period include classics like Strings!, Desperado, El Hombre and Baiyina (The Clear Evidence), one of jazz's first successful ventures into psychedelia. 

In 1976, Martino began experiencing the excruciating headaches which were eventually diagnosed as symptoms of his aneurysms. After his surgery and recovery, he resumed his career when he appeared in 1987 in New York, a gig that was released on a CD with an appropriate name, The Return. He then took another hiatus when both of his parents became ill, and he didn't record again until 1994, when he recorded Interchange and then The Maker. 

Today, Martino lives in Philadelphia again and continues to grow as a musician. As the New York Times recently noted, “Mr. Martino, at fifty, is back and he is plotting new musical directions, adding more layers to his myth.” His experiments with guitar synthesizers, begun during his rehabilitation, are taking him in the direction of orchestral arrangements and they promise groundbreaking possibilities. Musicians flock to his door for lessons, and he offers not only the benefits of his musical knowledge, but also the philosophical insights of a man who has faced and overcome enormous obstacles. “The guitar is of no great importance to me,” he muses. “The people it brings to me are what matter. They are what I'm extremely grateful for, because they are alive. The guitar is just an apparatus.” 

Home: Philadelphia, PA 

Articles

Paul Broks: The Neuropsychology of Pat Martino 
Pat Martino: Martino Unstrung 
Martino Unstrung: A Brain Mystery 
Pat Martino: Consciousness 
El Hombre 
El Hombre 
El Hombre 
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery 
Remember: A Tribute To Wes Montgomery 
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery 
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery 
Pat Martino: A Tribute to Wes 
Pat Martino: At One with His Favorite Toy 
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery 
Pat Martino at Chris’ Jazz Café, November 25th, 2005 
Pat Martino Trio Jazz Alley, Seattle, October 31, 2000 
Think Tank 
Ridl & Martino: Duets at Tin Angel 
Pat Martino: To Renew A Life In Jazz 
'Think Tank:' How Ideas Become Jazz and Vice-Versa 
Live From Zanzibar Blue: Pat Martino Quintet 
Think Tank 
Live At Yoshi's 
Live at Yoshi's 
Live at Yoshi's 
Gravy 
Live At Yoshi's 
Mission Accomplished 
Comin' & Goin' 
Legends Of Acid Jazz 
Legends of Acid Jazz 
First Light 
Stone Blue 
We'll Be Together Again 
All Sides Now 
Footprints