Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua, January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, use of a chord-melody style of play and outstanding knowledge of chord inversions and progressions opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound influence on future guitarists.
Read more about Joe Pass: Early Life, Discovery and Subsequent Career, Legacy, Selected Bibliography
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“While we were thus engaged in the twilight, we heard faintly, from far down the stream, what sounded like two strokes of a woodchopper’s axe, echoing dully through the grim solitude.... When we told Joe of this, he exclaimed, “By George, I’ll bet that was a moose! They make a noise like that.” These sounds affected us strangely, and by their very resemblance to a familiar one, where they probably had so different an origin, enhanced the impression of solitude and wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
‘You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!’”
—Andrew Barton Peterson (1864–1941)