Pat Martino

Pat Martino has gone through a lot of hard times in his life, but

he can always look up to his career in jazz. Martino is a guitarist who

was born in Philadelphia in 1944. Pat got all his talent from his

father, Carmen (Mickey) Azzara. Carmen sang in local clubs, but he

also was taught guitar from Eddie Lang. As a kid, Pat's father took

him to clubs, Pat heard many different artists, one of them being Wes

Montgomery.

Martino first fell in love with the guitar when he started to play

when he was twelve, he took lessons from Dennnis Sandole. Pat left

in his sophomore year in high school, he decided to devote himself to

music. Some of Martino's early heroes were Trane, Montgomery, and

Johnny Smith. Pat Martino became active in the early rock scene in

Philadelphia. He worked such stars as Bobby Rydell, Chubby

Checker, and Bobby Darin. Pat took his first road gig with one of his

high school friends, Charles Earland, a jazz organist. Martino was

later recruited by Lloyd Price, he played with Slide Hampton and Red

Holloway.

Pat Martino needed a change in his feel of jazz, so he moved to

Harlem to play some "soul jazz." Martino explains, "Heard all of the

white man's jazz. I never heard that other part of the culture." This

stage in Pat's life had a huge impact on his rhythmic and harmonic

approach. Soon after, Martino became a leader of Prestige Records

when he turned twenty. Pat Martino ended up making many records at

this time, such as, Strings!, Desperado, El Hombre, and Baiyina (The

Clear Evidence).

In 1976, Martino started having huge headaches, which was later

diagnosed as symptoms of his aneurysms. After Pat woke up from his

surgery, he didn't remember a thing, he barely even recognized his own

parents. Luckily, Martino had a great recovery. With the help of

computer technology, Pat started to get back his memory, and returned

to playing the guitar again. Finally, in 1987, Pat Martino came out

with a new CD, called The Return. Unfortunately, shortly after that,

both of his parents became ill. Pat did nothing, until 1994, when he

recorded a new CD named The Maker. This record was probably the

best record yet. Musician Magazine wrote, "The first Martino album

since Baiyina in which his musical aspirations transcend his sheer

virtuosity." Surprisingly, the album only took four hours to record,

since there were no second takes on any cuts.

Right now, Pat Martino lives in Philadelphia. At his home,

musicians crowd at his front door to take lessons from him. Martino

says, " The guitar is of no great importance to me, the people it brings

to me are what matter. They are what I'm extremely grateful for,

because they are alive. The guitar is just an apparatus." Those are the

words of a true musician.

DL Media " They Thought he Would Never Play Again"