Few guitarists cast a shadow over modern jazz quite like Pat Martino. A master of astonishing technique, harmonic sophistication and soulful invention, his influence stretches across generations of players. Highnote Records and the Alternative Guitar Summit, led by Joel Harrison, recently celebrated Pat's legacy with a second volume of his music covered by some of today's finest guitarists. This show features many of those artists interpreting Pat's formidable and unique compositions.

Featuring:
Oz Noy, Nir Felder, Dave Stryker, Adam Rogers, Paul Bollenbeck, Ed Cherry, Sheryl Bailey, Joel Harrison, Allan Mednard and TBA
Produced by Joel Harrison


Bio on Pat Martino

Born Pat Azzara in Philadelphia in 1944, Pat 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, Frankie Avalon 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 Willis 'Gatortail' Jackson and others. He previously had "heard all of the so called 'white' jazz. I'd never heard that part of our culture," he remembers, until the Montgomery Brothers. The organ trio concept had a profound influence on Martino's rhythmic and harmonic approach. and he remained in that 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, while performing internationally with his fusion group 'Joyous Lake' Martino began experiencing seizures, which were eventually diagnosed as AVM, a condition he was born with. After 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, (after their death) when he recorded Interchange a nd then The Maker.

Today, Martino lives in Philadelphia again and continues to grow as a musician. As the New York Times noted, "Mr. Martino is back and he is plotting new musical direc tions, adding more layers to his myth." His experiments with guitar synthesizers, (begun during his rehabilitation) are taking him in the direction of orchestral arra ngements and they promise groundbreaking possibilities. Musicians flock to his door for lessons, and he offers not only the benefits of his musical knowledge, but als o 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."