Bindy Sombatsaphay

4-29-16
MUSC 1040

Final Project Report

For my final project I decided to do it on Joe Pass, one of the most wellknown jazz guitarists of his time. Born on January 13th, 1929 in New
Brunswick, New Jersey he was given his first guitar from his father on his
ninth birthday. It was given to him after his mother said, We ought to give
him something useful. Joes father encouraged him to learn songs by ear
and to play pieces that werent written for the guitar. His early musical
influences came from listening to saxophonist Charlie Parker on the radio and
trying to play those songs on his guitar. At 14 he started to play live shows
alongside Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet. After spending some time
travelling with small jazz groups he decided to move to New York where he
quickly developed a heroin addiction. He spent nearly 10 years in prison and
drug rehabilitation programs and eventually got over his addiction. Joe said,
I thought that, with drugs, I could manufacture a feel for playing. That was a
mistake, because you can only reach your maximum capability when youre
completely straight and have your faculties. In 1962 he released his first
album Sounds of Synanon in which he recorded while he was at Synanon
rehabilitation program. He soon joined the Pacific Jazz record label where he
recorded early albums For Django, Simplicity, and Catch Me. He played
shows during that time with other great jazz musicians such as Frank Sinatra,

Louis Bellson, Sarah Vaughan, and Joe Williams. He would later sign with
Pablo Records after being reached out to by Norman Granz, the founder of
Verve Records. The album Virtuoso, which he released in 1974, became his
best-selling album and is what really put him on the map. He was featured
on the album The Trio which also included musicians Oscar Peterson and
Niels-Henning rsted Pedersen. They would end up winning a Grammy in
1975 for Best Jazz Performance by a Group for their work in The Trio. While
he was at Pablo records he recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Herb Ellis, Duke
Ellington, and Benny Carter just to name a few. He did most of his music
collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald recording six duet albums with her. Joe
remained active in his music career up until he lost his battle with liver
cancer in 1994.
Jazz music was born in New Orleans in the early 1900s with influences
from both African and European musical traditions. In the early to mid-1800s
hundreds of thousands of African slaves were brought over to North America.
Those slaves brought along their native music traditions which included calland-response and single-line melodies. After slavery was abolished the newly
freed slaves had opportunities to learn about new musical traditions. Some
began to learn European instruments such as the saxophone, piano, violin,
and the trumpet. Most of those instruments are featured heavily in jazz
music.

"What Is Jazz?" Jazz in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2016.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 May 2016
Autschbach, Peter. Peter Autschbach "A Tribute to Joe Pass" N.p., n.d. Web. 1
May 2016.