April 2024 Guitar Newsletter : The Jazz Guitar Vocal Duo

This also makes me reflect on Joe Pass, a jazz guitarist of cosmic grandeur, and Ella Fitzgerald, a jazz vocal icon.  They had a jazz guitar/vocal duo together.  The way Joe played guitar, dancing around Ella’s rich melodic vocals and giving her all the support akin a big band was stunning.  Ella and Joe are artists of the highest caliber, and not only have they internalized countless jazz classics, but more significantly, they found their own voices and interpreted them in a unique and sincere manner.  Their recordings and performances influenced all vocalists and guitarists in that genre.  They possessed the gift of spontaneity, and playfulness and you can sense that magic in the air.