1. Pat Martino has been cited as one of the greatest guitarists in jazz.
16 Facts About Pat Martino
1. 2.
Pat Martino was first exposed to jazz by his father, who sang in local clubs and briefly studied guitar.
3.
Pat Martino began playing professionally at the age of 15 after moving to New York City.
4.
Pat Martino lived for a period with Les Paul and began playing at jazz clubs such as Smalls Paradise.
5.
Pat Martino later moved into a suite in the President Hotel on 48th Street.
6.
Pat Martino played at Smalls for six months of the year, and played summers at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
7.
Pat Martino played and recorded early in his career with Lloyd Price, Willis Jackson, and Eric Kloss.
8.
Pat Martino worked with jazz organists Charles Earland, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Trudy Pitts, Jimmy Smith, Gene Ludwig, Ray Allen and Joey DeFrancesco.
9.
In 1980, Pat Martino suffered a hemorrhaged arteriovenous malformation that caused a "near-fatal seizure".
10.
Pat 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.
11.
Pat Martino was chosen as Guitar Player of the Year in the Down Beat magazine Readers' Poll of 2004.
12.
Pat Martino's influences were Les Paul, Johnny Smith, Hank Garland, Joe Pass, and especially Wes Montgomery.
13.
Pat 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.
14.
Jazz music educator Wolf Marshall said Pat Martino is "a living legend, a national treasure, and an inspiration to musicians and music lovers of all stripes".
15.
Pat Martino was married to Ayako Asahi Pat Martino; they met in Tokyo, Japan in 1995.
16.
Pat Martino died on November 1,2021, at the age of 77.