Jazz guitarist extraordinaire Joe Pass was born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua on this day in 1929. He played with many jazz greats, including Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and George Shearing, and backed Ella Fitzgerald on six of her albums in the ’70’s and ’80’s, backing her in concert for over ten years. He wrote a number of guitar instruction books, several of which I owned, and seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the fretboard, scales, and chords. This video of him playing Jerome Kern’s standard “All The Things You Are” was taken during the 1991 Brecon Jazz Festival.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
I don’t want to pick up my guitar again.
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Joe Pass would be the first person to tell you to pick it up and play. He’d play with you.
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That is cool that he is that nice.
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He was a teacher at heart. Kind of like Chet Atkins.
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Wow! Amazing guitarist.
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He had a real gift…
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A gorgeous song and an amazing guitarist!
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He was. I had a couple of his instrution books (when I could still play), and the way he laid everything out made perfect sense.
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Excellent, John
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He was pretty remarkable.
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I agree.
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Thanks for the reminder of one of the all time great guitarists.
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It’s a shame he wasn’t better known. Until I started listening to a lot of jazz, I had never heard of him.
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