Pat Martino - 1967 - El Hombre

Pat Martino

1967

El Hombre

01. Waltz For Geri 6:20

02. Once I Loved 5:35

03. El Hombre 5:50

04. Cisco 4:00

05. One For Rose 5:40

06. A Blues For Mickey-O 8:00

07. Just Friends 5:45

Bongos – Vance Anderson

Congas – Abdu Johnson

Drums – Mitch Fine

Flute – Danny Turner

Guitar – Pat Martino

Organ – Trudy Pitts

Producer – Cal Lampley

Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder

What a journey this hombre has had. The man in question, Italian-American guitarist Pat Martino, as it has been often reported, fought through a series of severe predicaments throughout his career. After undergoing diverse medical treatments, he resiliently baby-stepped his way back in the music business. He has since catered to his creative force and connected it to others' in live and recorded performances and by getting involved in music education. Martino was still a young man when he released El Hombre, his first solo effort for the late Bob Weinstock's Prestige label. Forty years later, Concord has reissued the original 1967 soul-jazz session with an additional track.

El Hombre is a blowing affair. It mainly features the guitarist, who even takes two solos on some tracks; organist Trudy Pitts and flutist Danny Turner take few, succinct outings. The influence of Wes Montgomery (introduced to Martino by label owner and fellow Philadelphian Joel Dorn) is evident throughout the record, and so is the kinship with George Benson. He plays long bouncy eighth-note lines and verbatim ideas interspersed with high-register double-stops and bluesy slides—flawlessly, using a similar tone and approach.

The title track captures the vibe of the era well. The brisk, almost trance-inducing flux of percussion rhythms, organ riffs and lengthy improvisations are reminiscent of the trippy dance gyrations and tie-dyed psychedelic swirls the late '60s are known for. "Jazz for Deadheads" might be a not-so-serious way of describing it.

Most compositions here are dedications. "A Blues For Mickey-O is a straight-ahead walking blues for the guitarist's performer-father, Carmen Azzara (pka Mickey Martino). It offers an opportunity for jazz guitar cognoscenti to hear Martino comp. The decision to cover Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Once I Loved as a cha-cha may have stemmed from producer Cal Lampley (the late pianist, critic, radio host and Columbia Records producer led an orchestra known for its recording of "red hot cha-chas). Martino shares the spotlight with Pitts on the other standard, "Just Friends, both swinging hard behind drummer Mitch Fine's shrill ride cymbal work. The previously unreleased "Song For My Mother, an evasive ballad, closes the record with an inspired Wes-like octaves solo.

As the CD player stopped, and silence slowly crept in, a thought came to my mind: - it hardly gets better than this, namely with 1st albums.

Exposed to Jazz at an early age by a father who used to sing in clubs, briefly learned guitar with Eddie Lang and carried Pat to guitar lessons as soon as he recognized some talented in his son around age 12, and having honed his craft as a side man for Jack McDuff and Don Patterson among others, Pat already owned a rich and distinctive vocabulary at 22, when he entered the studio to record “El Hombre”.

That the 1st instrument he felt in love with was the trumpet, also shows in his style, using spaces to breath as horn players do, instead of debiting uninterrupted flows of notes like many guitarists tend to do, but similarly shows the effect caused by Wes Montgomery, whom Pat had been introduced to by his father as a youngster, and whose album “Grooveyard” he’d later wear out, and although tribute album The Visit! is still years away, it’s an influence he won’t disguise.

On the other hand, and unlike others who had to immerse themselves in the music or search for Native partners, Pat wears his Latin, Flamenco and Afro-Cuban influences naturally, as a result of his exposition to the Spanish and Puerto Rican neighborhoods of his native Philadelphia; to further stress that vibe, he beefed up his team of percussionists, which besides drummer Mitch Fine, include Abdu Johnson and Vance Anderson on congas and bongos. Furthermore, and although he borrowed Jobim’s “Once I loved” – giving it a heartfelt treatment – many of his compositions (he’s the author of the remainder except for the last track) lend themselves perfectly to be infected with a Latin vibe, as either the waltz-y “Waltz for Geri” or the Hard swing of “One for Rose”; also amazing, is the enviable dynamism that allows him to keep the flame shining bright during long solos (“Waltz for Geri”), effortlessly renewing the drive on the ternary pulsating Funky drive of “El Hombre” or on the Hard Bop modulations of the standard “Just Friends”.

Pat’s connection with organ combo’s is translated with the inclusion of organ player Trudy Pitts, who accompanies him throughout the album with a contained but enfolding performance, mellow or abrasive but always with a disconcerting velvet touch; Blues seems to be her idiom of choice as she puts her captivating style to good use on the relaxed swinging mid tempo of the 12 bar blues “A Blues for Mickey-O” , but the way she injects adrenalin on the brisk “Just friends” proves she’s a girl of many talents.

Flute player Danny Turner is the sixth element, enlarging the sound spectrum on a trio of tracks, soaring gracefully on the intense “One for Rose”, building ravishing unisons with the guitar on the title track thus making the alternating rhythm parts stand out with extra impact or just bookending Pat’s articulate and sensitive solo, stating “Cisco” Bluesy theme dexterously, along with the guitar.

Perfectly balanced, without a single weak moment and a never waning vitality, Pat’s debut is a criminally forgotten jewel.