Search - Joe Pass :: Virtuoso in New York

Wow

Anthony Cooper | Louisville, KY United States | 02/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Joe Pass's forte, according to the conventional wisdom, is his solo guitar. This is the first album of his I've listened to, so I can't compare this Virtuoso to the first Virtuoso, which is supposed to be the best.



However, this one is excellent. Joe plays swinging guitar, keeping the tempo and melody going throughout. He intersperses single note runs, but as you'd expect there aren't long solos. My favorite is the Blues For Alagarn, which is a step away from standards and is just a blues. He blows away any other blues, or blues-based guitarists. It's not pyrotechnics, no I'm sure he could do that if it was called for, but just keeping the whole song going for over six minutes.



Because it's just clean jazz guitar with no other instruments, this album can be played anywhere, it won't offend (like, say, On The Corner), and anyone else who pays attention will be blown away. Since there is only one instrument you don't have to concentrate too hard to be completely knocked out. In that sense it's easy listening, but the music is of course not 'easy listening'.



Now I have to get the first Virtuoso to compare!"