I get asked a lot from my students what my favorite recordings are, jazz and otherwise. For the next few days I want to highlight some of the more important recordings that shaped my world as a musician.
“ Just Friends” - Pat Martino El Hombre
I discovered Pat Martino while I was an undergrad at Minnesota State University. What amazed me the most about Pat was his articulation and his never ending sense of swing. In January of 2004 my wife and I went to New York for the first time to the IAJE conference. I was very excited to find out that Pat was playing not far from my hotel at the Iridium Jazz Club. This was shortly after his “ Think Tank” album came out. The group at the time included David Kikoski, James Genus, Lenny White and Joe Lovano. Cindy and I had just come from seeing Jim Hall and Charlie Haden at the Blue Note.
I had begun to transcribe “Just Friends” right before I left for NYC. I was really hoping that Pat would play it, but considering where he was stylistically with this band, I didn’t hold out much hope. However the show was great with one highlight being Coltrane’s “Africa”. After the show I managed to meet Pat and have him sign my copy of El Hombre . Pat is one of the nicest musicians and people I have ever met.
When I got back to school I finished my transcription of “Just Friends” and then came across Steve Khan’s book of Pat Martino solos. I was embarrassingly inaccurate with my “version”p of the transcription. I ended up playing that solo and head so much that to this day my wife can sing it note for note.
Check out Pat and Scofield playing “Sunny”.
