Pat Martino - Calm Before the Storm - Veryl Oakland

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

This piece on guitarist Pat Martino who passed away in November, 2021 at the age of 77 is from photographer/essayist Veryl Oakland’s exquisite work Jazz in Available Light: Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

You can find more background about the book as well as order information via this link to an earlier posting on Veryl’s book on these pages.

True to the northern California geographic area denoted in his last name, Veryl photographed Jazz musicians primarily at the Berkeley Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival and at various clubs in the San Francisco area like Keystone Korner.

Although from Philadelphia and an East Coast cat during most of his playing days, guitarist Pat Martino signed with southern California based Warner Brothers Music in the 1970s and the record label brought him to California to promote his recordings which is when Veryl had the opportunity to take the commercial photographs that populate this post. 

The in-performance photos date back to the 1967 inaugural Berkeley Jazz Festival when Veryl first heard Pat as a member of saxophonist John Handy’s group along with Bobby Hutchinson on vibes, Albert “Sparky” Stinson on bass and Doug Sides on drums.

Pat Martino - Calm Before the Storm - San Francisco, CA

Among Martino's many peers was guitarist John Abercrombie, who offered the following testimony in Pat's autobiography about the first time he saw him performing with organist Jack McDuff: "That night, Pat came on the bandstand... playing a black Les Paul Custom guitar. We knew the guitar was like carrying a Buick on the stage—it was so heavy. And Pat was such a frail tittle guy. So when we saw this young, very thin little guy walking up to the bandstand with this heavy guitar... our reaction was, 'Oh, man this can't be the guitar player! Who is this? 'So we were all chuckling. And then, he started to play and we ceased chuckling. Because he just floored everybody in the club. I never heard anything like that... it was the constant stream of eighth notes and his amazing time, his feeling that was so perfect."

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

“Every once in a while, I wonder what it might be like to reach out to the man again... to reconnect, and possibly even relive those enjoyable moments we had together that late 1976 weekend in San Francisco. After all, I was sharing the afternoon with one of a handful of my all-time favorite jazz guitarists, Pat Martino.

But, of course, that could never have happened. Even if it had been one of his greatest experiences ever, Pat wouldn't remember me or our afternoon together. That's because just a few years after our visit—in 1980— Martino's lifelong, but misdiagnosed, struggle with AVM (arteriovenous malformation) would culminate in a brain aneurysm and near-death.

Life for Pat Martino would have to start all over again.

The guitarist was four years younger than me, just a skinny kid in his early twenties, when I first saw him perform with alto saxophonist John Handy and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson at the inaugural University of California, Berkeley Jazz Festival in 1967. Despite clearly being the youngest, smallest person onstage, he caught the audience by surprise when he took one solo, weaving together a meticulous flow of blistering eighth-note phrases. It was amazing.

Handy recalled those times, saying, "He was a tiny guy, but he played big music. He could play his little ass off, man."

Every time I witnessed Martino's future performances, he did things that were totally surprising, even revelatory. He never disappointed.

When we met for our photo session that afternoon at the Palace of Fine Arts, Pat was joined by his newest pianist, Berklee College of Music alum Delmar Brown. The two were in the midst of an international tour promoting their Warner Brothers release, Joyous Lake, which would become one of the finer jazz/fusion recordings from that period. The guitarist was jovial and upbeat our whole time together. It was obvious that Pat Martino was enjoying the fruits of his ever-expanding career.

It was only many years later, following his miraculous surgery, that I learned the details of Martino's life-altering course through his revealing autobiography, Here and Now! The Autobiography of Pat Martino. In it, Pat chronicled how he overcame the devastating effects of memory loss, depression, anxiety, and overwhelming negativity throughout an arduous recovery period. I discovered how it took years for him to re-learn his art and re-emerge as one of today's most vibrant and inspiring performers.

It occurs to me that all of us in the jazz community have been truly blessed, given a second chance to see and hear two highly productive — and beyond talented — walking miracles: Pat Martino and Quincy Jones, who also survived a brain aneurysm and surgery in 1974. Both escaped near-death and just kept on contributing, kept on creating some of the greatest music for us all to enjoy.”

PAT MARTINO (Pat Azzara)

guitar, composer 

Born: August 25,1944

Died: November 1, 2021