Like many in the guitar and jazz communities, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Pat Martino. While many of the ‘jazz greats’ are only remembered through ‘classic’ recordings and black and white images, I knew Pat in rich and recent technicolour. He started playing professionally at the age of 15 touring with (and intimidating) musicians three times his age. His award-winning career continued for 60 years and was only briefly interrupted by his devastating brain surgery in 1980 and his final struggle with a chronic respiratory disorder in the last two years of his life.
Many have heard the story of how - after an enormous aneurysm was removed from his brain - Pat was stripped of not only the ability of how to play but any memory that he ever did play. By transcribing his own recordings, Pat literally taught himself and returned to -and then surpassed -his former musical skills. While the full story is somewhat messier, more painful and in fact much more impressive than this simple version of events, it can certainly be said that Pat Martino is the only person to have become a jazz great not once, but twice in their lifetime.