Pourquoi étudier Joe Pass ?

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.