Pat Martino


Pat Martino was an American jazz guitarist and composer.

Early life

Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, to father Carmen "Mickey" Azzara and mother Jean. He was first exposed to jazz by his father, who sang in local clubs and briefly studied guitar.

Career

Martino studied with renowned jazz teacher Dennis Sandole, and in his studio met some of Sandole's other students, among them John Coltrane, James Moody, McCoy Tyner and others. Martino began playing professionally at age 15 after moving to New York City. He lived for a period with Les Paul and began playing at jazz clubs such as Smalls Paradise. Martino later moved into a suite in the President Hotel on 48th Street. He played at Smalls for six months of the year, and played summers at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Martino played and recorded early in his career with Lloyd Price, Willis Jackson, and Eric Kloss. He also worked with jazz organists Charles Earland, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Trudy Pitts, Jimmy Smith, Gene Ludwig, Ray Allen and Joey DeFrancesco.
In 1980, Martino suffered a hemorrhaged arteriovenous malformation that caused a "near-fatal seizure". The resulting surgery, which removed part of his brain, left him with amnesia and no recollection or knowledge of his career or how to play the instrument that made him successful. Martino said he came out of surgery with complete forgetfulness, and had to learn to focus on the present rather than the past or the possible future. He had to completely re-learn how to play.
He was subsequently chosen as Guitar Player of the Year in the Down Beat magazine Readers' Poll of 2004. In 2006, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab reissued his album East! on Ultradisc UHR SACD.
In 2017, he created a series of educational videos, A Study of the Opposites and How They Manifest on the Guitar.
Martino's prolific recording career spanned more than 150 releases across multiple major jazz labels, with his work distributed among Prestige, Blue Note, Muse Records and HighNote Records, among others. This extensive discography documented his evolution from soul-jazz organ trio work through fusion experimentation to his post-recovery mainstream recordings, making him one of the most comprehensively recorded guitarists in jazz history. His work as both leader and sideman created an archive that traces nearly six decades of jazz guitar evolution and the stylistic shifts within the broader jazz landscape.

Musical style

Martino's influences were Les Paul, Johnny Smith, Hank Garland, Joe Pass, and especially Wes Montgomery. To a lesser extent, he was influenced by the guitar stylings of Jim Hall, Mundell Lowe and Barry Galbraith.
Martino said, "There are elements within an instrument’s architecture that initiate a continuous source of valuable information. For the guitar, there are two. The first is the major third interval, and the second is the minor third interval. Once we view their repetitive information, they begin to appear as a series of automatic functions."
Martino's lines contain chromatic links outside any particular IIm7 chord that might be conceptualized over a chord progression, even in the examples he provides in his books and instructional videos. On his bulletin board he has stated that he formulated the system more as a way to explain his playing rather than as something to use to create music. In his own words, "Although the analysis of some of my recorded solos have been referred to as modal, personally I've never operated in that way. I've always depended upon my own melodic instinct, instead of scale-like formulas."

Legacy

Jazz music educator Wolf Marshall said Martino is "a living legend, a national treasure, and an inspiration to musicians and music lovers of all stripes".

Personal life

Martino was married to Ayako Asahi Martino; they met in Tokyo, Japan in 1995. Due to a chronic respiratory disorder, he stopped performing in 2018. He died on November 1, 2021, at the age of 77.

Awards and honors

Discography

As leader

El Hombre Strings! East! Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) Desperado The Visit! Pat Martino/Live! Consciousness Starbright We'll Be Together Again Joyous Lake Exit The Return Interchange The Maker Nightwings All Sides Now Stone Blue Live at Yoshi's Think Tank Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery Undeniable: Live at Blues Alley Alone Together We Are Together Again Young Guns Nexus

As sideman

With Eric AlexanderThe First Milestone The Real Thing
With Willis JacksonGrease 'n' Gravy The Good Life Jackson's Action! Boss Shoutin' More Gravy Live! Action Soul Night/Live! Tell It... Headed and Gutted Bar Wars Bar Wars Single Action Nothing Butt...
With Eric KlossIntroducing Eric Kloss Life Force Sky Shadows Consciousness! One, Two, Free
With Jack McDuffWalk on By Hallelujah Time! The Midnight Sun Soul Circle I Got a Woman Steppin' Out
With Charles McPhersonFrom This Moment On! Horizons
With Don PattersonHoliday Soul Four Dimensions Boppin' & Burnin' Opus De Don Funk You! Oh Happy Day These Are Soulful Days
With Trudy PittsIntroducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts These Blues of Mine
With others