Recently Heard: Unforgettable by Joe Pass

[ellyssian]

Joe Pass: Unforgettable

Of course, there is a joke in the title of this one. While Unforgettable might just happen to be the name of a classic tune that appears on the album, it's also a good description of Joe Pass and his playing.

I was first introduced to Mr. Pass's playing through another Joe, a friend from high school who had spent the eleven years prior to me meeting him studying the playing style of Mr. Pass and getting pretty close. Through Joey, Joe's style became an important influence on my own playing.

I had been taking guitar seriously for about two weeks - after years of on/off attempts so scattered I don't count them when people ask how long I've been playing. Late 1983-early 1984, for those wondering.

Joey and I got together in his attic - facing away from the J. Giels Band's keyboardists house next door - and we played. Me terrible, with only two weeks, and no real idea of what I was doing; and Joey playing these beautiful lines. We improvised - less so on my inexperienced part - for hours. One thing I remember from that first time, was the use of octaves. A signature technique of Mr. Pass, to play the melody using octaves.

Anyway, enough reminiscing... this was, I believe, the last album Mr. Pass recorded. He did a lot of stuff over the year with his trio - drums and upright bass - but this recording is as close as you can come to sitting in a room with him, as I sat in a room with Joey, and marvel at his playing.

All those years, and I never actually picked up a recording by Mr. Pass - Guitar Player Soundpages aside - except for a fun little disc with the trio doing Christmas tunes. I selected this to get that one on one time and for the selection of jazz standards, some of which I had learned in lessons during that first year or two of guitar playing.

When you listen to this recording, made so late in his years, you can hear and feel the mastery of his playing. I think of some piano players I know who were hobbled by arthritis, and, before they finally stopped playing, you started to hear it disrupting their concert excellence. You know, while listening to this, that the term elder statesman was invented for guys like this - there's an age and a wisdom behind the playing. As far as dexterity goes, he could be in his teens or twenties.

Even if you don't play guitar, or make a study out of the playing of Mr. Pass, this is a worthy recording.

Comments

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

Please bring it when you visit. I'd love to hear it. Do you remember teaching me some blues stuff on our old piano? You had just been learning them and passed on your knowledge to me and I was amazed that you had learned for guitar and were able to teach me. It was at this time, I believe.