Why study Joe Pass?
Lesson time: (2min 23sec)
Rob discusses his passion for Joe Pass and how he pioneered solo Jazz guitar
Course preview
This lesson is part of the course Play Authentic Jazz Guitar
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Lesson transcript:
Discovering Joe Pass: A Jazz Guitar Legend
When I was first learning jazz guitar a decade or so ago, one of the first names that came up was the great Joe Pass.
The Art of Solo Jazz Guitar
What was so amazing about his playing was his ability to juggle the elements of harmony, rhythm, and melody in the context of unaccompanied solo jazz guitar.
- First Encounter: I first heard him on an album called Virtuoso. He released, I think, four albums:
- Virtuoso 1
- Virtuoso 2
- Virtuoso 3, etc.
The way in which he moves between melody sections and chordal passages is so unique; he truly emulates the piano.
Inspiration and Influence
As a guitarist, I've always wanted to sound like a piano. Joe was one of those first musicians that I heard and thought, "Wow, this guy's really checked out Art Tatum, he's checked out Jelly Roll Morton, and he's checked out the stride pianists of the 20s and 30s, Scott Joplin."
He's moved those ideas in such an idiosyncratic way onto the guitar.
- Harmonic Voicings: For example, the C7 chord. Joe has a way of moving between these three-note voicings, which are so typical of his style.
- Common Progressions: A 2-5-1 or a 3-6-2-5, these little three-note, two-note passages really inspired me when I was first getting into jazz guitar.
A Style Worth Emulating
I thought this is a style worth investigating further and worth trying to emulate in my own playing, especially as I work so much with singers.
I'm sure many of us spend a lot of time playing in intimate duo settings with vocalists, saxophone players, and trumpet players. I believe Joe Pass is really the bedrock of that unaccompanied style.
So here we go.
About the instructor
Rob Luft is an award-winning musician from London, widely described as one of the UK's most prominent and talented young contemporary jazz guitarists. Praised by The Times as set 'to achieve great things in the future', Rob won the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize in association with Edition Records, and took 2nd Prize in the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition. His debut album, 'Riser', was released in July 2017 to widespread critical acclaim across the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it's a 'very sophisticated debut, but given Luft's old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming'. 'So young and so talented!' - Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 2 (UK) '...an extraordinary talent!' - Julian Joseph, BBC Radio 3 (UK) 'The virtuosity of the three [guitarists Al di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia] is reminiscent of the 23-year-old Londoner Rob Luft, who is celebrated as a new "Wunderkind"' - Spiegel Online (D) In Play Authentic Jazz Guitar, Rob opens up the harmonic language, phrasing and improvising instincts behind that 'old-soul' sound, showing you how he really thinks about the fretboard so you can start finding your own voice in jazz. read more