Pat Martino Guitar Tab Books, Instruction DVDs, Solos, Arrangements, Video Lessons

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Pat Martino - Incredible Mainstream Jazz Guitar Improviser!
Compiled & Edited By Steven Herron

    Pat Martino was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 25, 1944. Among the most creative jazz guitar players to emerge throughout the second half of the 1960s, Martino was a masterful post-bop soloist before a brain aneurysm, surgery, and then amnesia disrupted his music career and his life. He has made an extremely inspirational return since then, recapturing and building on his musical legacy.

    Pat Martino was exposed to the guitar at a very early age due to that his father was a singer who likewise played the guitar. He paid lots of attention to recordings from his dad's record collection consisting of albums by jazz guitarists Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt, and Johnny Smith. Pat received some lessons from a cousin and after that studied with a local guitar player by the name of Dennis Sandhole.

    By the time he was 15 years of age Pat was playing professionally with the rhythm and blues bands of Lloyd Price, Willis Jackson, and others. In the early 1960s Martino played in combos led by various organists including the likes of Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, and Richard 'Groove' Holmes. He then worked as a sideman with several jazz groups including those of saxophonists Sonny Stitt and John Handy.

    In 1967 Pat Martino made the first of a number of recordings on the Prestige record label as leader of his own group. Within one year his incredible guitar technique and exciting improvisations brought great admiration from jazz critics and fans alike. At first, Martino's playing approach was significantly affected by jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery. He then undertook a significant study of Eastern music and gradually, over a period of years, developed his own unique jazz / rock combination approach. Pat likewise played and experimented with guitar synthesizers and an electric 12 string guitar.

    In 1980 Pat Martino suffered an aneurism on his brain. A difficult and dangerous operation saved his life, however he was not able to play guitar again for nearly a year. It was another three years before he had the ability to return to playing professionally. His current recordings however reveal that Martino most certainly remains a major jazz guitar force!

    By 1987 Pat was tape-recording again and soon he restored his earlier prominence. He took a couple of years off due to his ill mom and dad, but from 1994 on he has resumed being a regular part of the mainstream jazz scene continuing to develop as an improviser and a guitar player. Nearly 50 years after his debut and 30 years after he forgot all he knew about playing music, Pat Martino is still one of the leading mainstream jazz guitarists on the scene today!