Modern Art

Published: Fri, 11/05/21

I've been on an interview jag, listening to podcasts from the NYU Steinhardt Jazz Studies program (https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/nyu-steinhardt-jazz-interview-series – you can also find it on Youtube and in various podcast services). That rabbit hole led me to various other interviews, including one with Bill Frisell in which the opening tune they played stopped me in my tracks – I had to find out what album it came from right away, and it was well worth the effort. From there, talking about Frisell with my pal Bret led me to trumpeter Dave Douglas and his recordings with Frisell. Elsewhere I came across some conversations with Branford Marsalis, which reminded me of a trio record he'd made a long time back that I'd always meant to check out, and then the news about Pat Martino came in, leading me to pull up his 2017 organ quintet album Formidable.

All in all, a couple of weeks with guitar of various aspects and dimensions, much of it helping to widen my listening and bring me ever so slightly more up to date – the Marsalis record is the oldest one of the bunch, having come out all the way back in 1989. While all this was going on, my friend Peter Keane put out Weary Blues, his latest installment in a series of effortless-sounding solo-guitar-and-vocal reframings of traditional blues and country repertoire. So it doesn't get any more up to date than that.

Before I get to the playlist, I'll pass on a story my friend Ed Russell posted earlier in the week about Pat Martino. Ed's one of the first musicians I met when I moved to New York City, and I heard plenty of his Pat Martino stories when we were hanging out and playing music together, but I'd never heard this one until a few days ago. One day in 1976 Ed went to Philadelphia for his first lesson with Pat. Making his way through the neighborhood, getting directions from assorted old Italian gentlemen assuring him he was indeed heading towards the home of "the world's greatest guitarist," he was finally approaching casa di Martino when the door opened and Pat's previous student walked out – none other than Captain Trips himself. "What's happening?" Ed asked. Without skipping a beat, Jerry Garcia replied "Pat Martino!" and sauntered off.

You can find selected tracks from Frisell, Douglas, Martino et al. on the Playlists page of my web site:

Modern Art

More soon,

David