Pat Martino - 1970 - Desperado

Pat Martino

1970

Desperado

01. Blackjack

02. Dearborn Walk

03. Oleo

04. Desperado

05. A Portrait Of Diana

06. Express

Drums, Bells – Sherman Ferguson

Electric Bass – Tyrone Brown

Electric Piano – Eddie Green

Soprano Saxophone – Eric Kloss (tracks: 1)

Twelve-String Guitar – Pat Martino

Guitarist Pat Martino's first five recordings as a leader were made for the Prestige label, and this one (the fifth) has been reissued on CD by Original Jazz Classics. Martino performs Sonny Rollins' "Oleo" and five of his originals, using the 12-string guitar. The rhythm section (keyboardist Eddie Green, electric bassist Tyrone Brown, and drummer Sherman Ferguson) is funky in spots, electric, and swinging when called for. Eric Kloss makes a guest appearance on soprano for the opening "Blackjack," but otherwise, most of the focus is on Martino's consistently inventive playing.

A key album in the shift in Pat Martino's sound at the end of the 60s -- with one foot in the soul jazz camp in which he got his start, and the other in the freer, open-minded style he used a lot in the 70s!

For Pat Martino, this is a pretty wankerish set. It was recorded in 1970 but for some reason it sounds like it easily could have been from the late '70s or early '80s, kind of a premonition of overblown fusion to come. It's kind of surprising, because Martino usually displays great taste and restraint in his work, but the level of subtlety here is limited to one song, the so-so ballad "A Portrait of Diana". The pedal effects on Martino's guitar (which is played past the point of exhaustion on several tracks), the inclusion of electric pianist Eddie Green, and the busy drumming of Sherman Ferguson all make Desperado sound like a knock-off of late-period Return To Forever, even though this session preceded that band's eventual sound by several years. There is plenty of energy, but the songs lack the spiritual depth one is accustomed to from Martino, and aren't all that memorable besides.