Monday, September 28, 2009
Philadelphia music legend Pat Martino will perform his exciting Jazz guitar music as part of the Lively Arts series at Montgomery County Community College on Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. in the Science Center Theater, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. Tickets cost $25 for general admission, $20 for students and seniors and just $10 for children. For information and tickets, visit www.mc3.edu/campusLife/artsCulture or call 215-641-6518.
The son of a Philadelphia Jazz singer, Martino was raised around jazz and early rock. He showed a great proficiency at guitar by age 12, soon eclipsing his instructor. As rock came into prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, Martino played alongside early headliners such as Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker. In the 1970s, he moved to Harlem and returned to the Jazz sounds that got him started.
Perhaps Martino’s greatest achievement is his comeback after he suffered a near fatal aneurism in 1980. The following surgery left him with a severe form of amnesia, during which he barely recognized his parents and had no recollection of his career as a guitarist. During the years that followed, he studied his own music, regaining pieces of his memory with each note learned.
Since his full return to the music scene in the 1990s, Martino has received numerous awards, including the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Heroes Award, Downbeat Magazine’s Guitar Player of the Year, and several Grammy nominations.
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by Sean Ross, Communications Intern
