Pat Martino

One of the most original guitarists of the post-bop jazz era, Pat Martino was celebrated for his deep harmonic sophistication and distinctively precise picking style, traits that remained hallmarks of his sound even as he overcame brain surgery in 1980 to correct an aneurysm and had to relearn how to play guitar. Following his emergence in the '60s alongside organists like Don Patterson and Richard "Groove" Holmes, Martino garnered attention for his own albums, scoring a radio hit with his cover of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" off 1972's Live! and releasing more records that found him bridging the gap between the swinging style of Wes Montgomery and the groove-oriented electric explorations of fusion players like John McLaughlin. Following his recovery from brain surgery, Martino enjoyed a career resurgence, releasing ever more nuanced albums -- including 1997's All Sides Now, 2001's Grammy-nominated Live at Yoshi's, and 2017's Formidable -- before his passing in 2021.