Hi, I'm Marc from JazzGuitarLessons.net and you're listening to episode 16 of Album Deep Dives.
In this episode we will be talking about the infamous Pat Martino's debut album "El Hombre".
Pat Martino has a fascinating history, and we would not make justice to his journey if we didn't discuss this for a little bit.
So, Pat Martino was born with the name of Pat Azzara on August 25, 1944 in south Philadelphia.
He was introduced to jazz by his father, who sang in local clubs and played some guitar.
So, the father would take him to all the best spots around to see greats like Wes Montgomery.
So, Pat's approach to the guitar would be very heavily influenced by these early experiences, as he would adopt qualities from Wes, and Jimmy Smith (of course, a legendary jazz organist) into his playing.
Pat Martino picked up the guitar at age 12, and began playing professionally at the very young age of 15, after moving to New York City.
Early on in his career he used to play for 6 months you know, at Smalls, the jazz club, and during the summer he would play at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City.
During this time he also had the opportunity to play with some of the greatest jazz organists around.
Names such as Jack McDuff, and Richard "Groove" Holmes. The album we will be analyzing today was released when he was only 22, can you believe this?
But his story would not be complete if we didn't mention that in 1980, Pat Martino went into surgery because of an aneurysm, so that's a brain thing right?
And he would then wake up with severe amnesia. So Pat couldn't remember virtually anything about his life, including how to play the guitar, and he was astounded when he listened to his old recordings.
It was like, me? Did I play like that? So, Pat simply couldn't believe it was him on the recorded albums.
So, with a lot of discipline, dedication, and hours and hours of studying his previous recordings, Pat regained his control over the instrument, and he is still a prominent jazz professional and a jazz legend to this date.
The record "El Hombre" was released in May, 1967 under the Prestige Records label, and it would introduce the world to Pat Martino.
The album features various Pat Martino originals, as well as a couple of jazz standards, and is driven by the sounds of Trudy Pitts on organ, Danny Turner on flute, and Mitch Fine on drums, and Abdu Johnson and Vance Anderson on percussion.
It is an album that is filled with the blues and Martino's incredible speed and technique.
He really doesn't restrain himself and plays long and speedy lines all over, proving what an exceptional player he is.
[music clip "Waltz for Geri" 00:40 - 01:15]
The album opens with a Pat Martino original: "Walts for Geri".
Again, no restraints... Pat plays and plays and plays all over this tune.
So, he weaves line after line, combining bluesy licks with chromatic ones, and the ideas seems that is never stopping flowing.
He keeps bombarding us with creative ideas until he starts playing repeatedly bluesy riffs, which builds the tension to its climax.
The band follows him perfectly throughout this journey, and this enhances the energy that Martino is putting into the track.
It is really a remarkable solo, and right from the start of the album we get a clear idea of what amazing technique Pat has.
Let's listen.
[music clip "Watlz for Geri" 03:23 - 03:50]
The next tune in the album is a famous Brazilian tune, "Once I Loved", and we can really listen to Montgomery's influence on Pat here.
So, Martino plays the entire melody of the tune with octaves, you know, reminiscent of Wes, giving it a very resonant and dramatic quality.
During his solo, he plays superbly lyrical single note phrases, as well as fast runs to complement them.
So as this blowing evolves through the tune, he eventually goes back to play in Wes' style by soloing with octaves, still maintaining his dexterity and phrasing intact, that's Pat's stuff.
So, his control over this technique is impressive, and he uses it to great effect on this tune.
[music clip "Once I Loved" 02:34 - 03:08]
Next up is the title track of the album: "El Hombre" written by Pat Martino.
The melody of the tune is played in harmony between the flute and the guitar, while the rhythm section drives the tune with a hypnotic type of repetition, I mean hypnosis, right?
Hypnotic. Both, the steady percussion groove and the organ riff keep going throughout the entire tune, laying the rhythmic ground so that the soloists can really play with it or against it as they please.
Martino plays a rhythmically charged solo, coming back now and again to a 3 against 2 phrasing that goes so well with that 6/8 which is the feel of the tune.
This rhythmic interest keeps the listener engaged and intrigued, and Martino rests on bluesy licks just at the right moments to release the tension.
So, let's listen.
[music clip "El Hombre" 02:37 - 03:02]
"Blues for Mickey-O", also written by Pat Martino, changes the pace for this album.
It's a mid-tempo blues that swings really hard. Trudy Pitts' organ sounds phenomenal, filling the spaces that Pat leaves with great taste, and it drives the tune during this entire 8 minutes.
This is the first time in the record that, you know, we hear the solo, and it is just superb to hear, and I mean Trudy Pitts' of course.
We haven't discussed this yet, but if you are not familiar with the organ group sound it's good to notice how there's no bass.
And the organ plays the role of the bass, as well as the main comping instrument in the group.
Organ and guitar make a great pair because the guitar fits right in the middle of what the left hand of the organ and the right hand do (in terms of musical register).
So, in this way the guitar is a great feature instrument and gets a lot of space to do its own thing.
Personally, I love playing organ trios, it's just always the best jams.
So, on this track in particular, Pat shows off his knowledge and love of the blues.
You know, having played extensively with some of the best jazz organ players, most of them coming from a deep blues tradition, we can hear how comfortable Pat fills in this seat for this setting.
He is still playing fast bebop inspired lines, but he is also playing really tasteful slower bluesy melodies.
Pat's swing feels relaxed and confident, you know, taking advantage of the support and freedom that Trudy is giving him.
[music clip "Blues for Mickey-O" 02:07 - 2:40]
To close off this album we have Klenner and Lewis' famous standard "Just Friends".
This is a super energetic version of the tune, and we really get a feeling that the band, you know, all the band members are really enjoying themselves on that track.
So, Pat and Trudy, guitar and organ, both take great solos, filled with fast lines, bluesy licks, and repeated riffs.
What I would like to highlight here though, is the head out of the tune, so, when they play the melody out.
Pat plays the melody really, really freely, highlighting its important features, but improvising most of the time.
Of course this has been done before, but it is the first time we hear him treat the melody in this particular way on this record, and he does so with amazing taste.
So of course, "Just Friends" melody has a lot of long held notes so there's plenty of room to do that.
His improvisation then extends that to a lengthy traditional tag ending, gifting us with even more melodic ideas and riffs.
So, Pat really has endless energy and imagination. Let's listen here.
[music clip "Just Friends" 03:55 - 04:29]
If you liked what you heard in this album, I have good news for you, because there's many, many great Pat Martino albums out there.
So, if you are interested in his earlier career, I would recommend you take a listen to the next two releases after "El Hombre" which are "Strings!" (1967) and "East!" (1968).
1 would also strongly encourage you to check out "Exit" (1977), his last recording before his surgery in 1980.
For his later career, so when he came back, I would recommend you listen to his first release after his surgery, aptly named "The Return" (1987), as well as "Live at Yoshi's" (2001).
Finally, you can check out his latest one, that's "Formidable" (2017).
Thanks for listening to this episode of Album Deep Dives, I hope that you've enjoyed it and got to know a bit more about Pat Martino.
Both his playing and his person have really been a great inspiration for countless musicians, and his story is one of overcoming great difficulty.
It is testimony of how music can be an incredible aid in rehab as he did not only recover his chops, you know, his ability with the instrument, but he also regained further motor skills and regained lost memories, all with the help of music.
