"We'd like to do an old number, and it's one of my favorites."
October 23, 2013 2:43 PM   Subscribe

Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald play duets in Hannover in October, 1975. Alternate, longer version with better annotations and video quality but also more audio hiss. Fitzgerald, Pass, and a full band at Ronnie Scott's in 1974.
posted by Going To Maine (9 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
As a small aside, I will note that the comments on these videos are 99.9% great.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:07 PM on October 23, 2013


Wow. Thanks.
posted by cosmac at 5:14 PM on October 23, 2013


One of the greatest jazz guitarists ever + The greatest jazz vocalist ever = Sublime.
posted by tommasz at 5:48 PM on October 23, 2013


I'm not sure if being 55 means I don't have to worry about hearing anything above 14K hertz anymore, but hiss was not an issue. That was quite possibly the tastiest thing I've heard in about 40 years. And I listened to and enjoyed all of all three of all of it. You sir, or ma'am won the internet with that one, and I thank you. Best of the web, indeed. Mods, take note.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:54 PM on October 23, 2013


Great post - can't pass on Pass even though I should have been asleep quite a while ago.
posted by ersatz at 6:01 PM on October 23, 2013


Okay. Did not know Joe Pass fingerpicked. Makes his mindblowing chops all the more impressive.

He did a duets album with bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen called Chops that is a minor masterpiece of chamber jazz.

Thanks for posting this.
posted by the sobsister at 6:10 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Man, the end-of-the-set song at about 30:00 in the Ronnie Scott video is delightful. Ella singing about happy blues!
posted by aka burlap at 7:05 PM on October 23, 2013


Did not know Joe Pass fingerpicked. Makes his mindblowing chops all the more impressive.

He uses a plectrum too. See about 18 mins in, for example.
posted by grog at 7:48 PM on October 23, 2013


Joe Pass is like an impressionist painter of the standard songbook. As a solo guitarist, he implies rhythm, chord comps, walking bass lines, and the melodic top line all at the same time in some of the best single instrument takes on the classics. Plus, he has a soulful way with the blue notes, and always is more about the song than his chops. My fav jazz guitarist.

The Virtuoso series of albums on Pablo are mandatory.

As an accompanist, he simply has great ears and sympathy. Ella is great, even slightly past her prime years here.

How Joe got so good is not a great story, his dad was a tough taskmaster and he spent years doped out before he established his career.
posted by C.A.S. at 2:59 AM on October 24, 2013


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