Joe Pass is one of jazz guitar’s all-time masters. On this Joe Pass Hot Licks DVD, " Solo Jazz Guitar" $21.95, he demonstrates legendary techniques that will be of value to rock guitarists as well as jazz purists. Joe Pass covers chord melody, chord substitutions, leading tones, chromatic chords, voice movements, and many more special exercises, all with the unique Joe Pass twist. A chance to study with a jazz guitar legend! The Hot Licks DVDs allow you to see the music and the tablature on screen as it's being played. Hotlicks also employs the helpful split-screen effects. Hot Licks makes learning easy with right and left hand techniques shown in close up and slow motion segments. I first heard Joe Pass play on the Pablo Records LP “Portraits of Duke Ellington”. I worked out many of his licks on “I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart”, “Don't Get Around Much Anymore “ and “Solitude”. I worked them out by ear slowing the turntable down to 16. I have since found many of these licks to be “wrong” but surprisingly many are correct. I met Joe Pass at the King of France Tavern in Annapolis, MD around 1990 and he consented to do a session for me on a recording with vocalist Juanita Williams singing “I’m Still In Love With You”, (T-Bone Walker). He agreed to do it in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash, a pizza and most importantly a cassette dub of the final mixes of Danny Gatton live at the Roxy. He was a huge Danny Gatton fan. I think of Joe Pass in the same category with Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian as the iconic, jazz guitarists of the 20th Century. He was a sideman with Louis Bellson, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams, Della Reese, Johnny Mathis, Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and others. The series of Joe Pass, solo albums, "Virtuoso" (volumes 1 through 4), is a must-have for any guitarist. "The Trio" featuring Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, won a Grammy award for best jazz performance. Epiphone has produced an edition of the Emperor line of semi-acoustic Guitar in Joe’s honor. Ed Eastridge 2006 |