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Joe Pass, electric guitar
You can see him, squinting down at the instrument, picking his way with utter certainty through a number; the pristine notes tinkling like wind chimes in a soft breeze, while droves of wannabe guitarists are apt leap over a handy cliff. Moreover, if there could be any more to come, this is a live performance, and assuming Pablo didn't cheat and got it all down and dubbed in the applause, what we have here is a faultless "risks," only people who make mistakes are prone to risk performance. This is in fact a marvelous addition to the Guitar Virtuoso set because on CD 1 he switched from electric to acoustic and this set again extends Joe's work on the electric guitar. And another thing, when Joe Pass made the Chops album with NHOP in 1978, he used an album title that is the definitive declaration of the man's ability. That's it. Joe Pass as a whole bunch of chops; all the rest is great tunes and a relaxed cool-cat display of craft, skill, and technique (Roget's Thesaurus), and the ability to groove and swing (anyone with ears to listen). Go get it.
by Lawrence Brazier
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Copyright Jazz Now, December 2002 issue, all rights reserved
jazzinfo@jazznow.com