Joe Pass, born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua on January 13, 1929 in New Brunswick, New Jersey USA; died May 23, 1994 in Los Angeles, California. He was a jazz guitarist who was considered one of the greatest. Joe Pass is considered one of the most important solo jazz musicians of all time. He is also known for his technical proficiency and compositional and improvisational abilities. Norman Granz, the legendary producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, and the founder and CEO of Verve Records, heard Pass in 1970 and immediately signed him to Granz’s Pablo Records label. Granz was named after Granz’s friend Pablo Picasso. Pass’s landmark 1974 solo album, “Virtuoso”, was released on Pablo Records. Pablo Records also released “The Trio”, which featured Pass, Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Olsted Pedersen. The Grammy Award for best jazz performance was won by “The Trio”. Pass was part of the Pablo Records “stable” and recorded with Robert Conti, Milt Jack, Herb Ellis. Zoot Sims. Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie. Ella Fitzgerald. Count Basie. Sarah Vaughan. Pass is well-known for his amazing chord melody work, where he simultaneously plays walking and chord melodies. You can also submit user-contributed text under the Creative Commons By -SA License.
