Rating: 9/10

Track Amount: 12

Running Time: 52 minutes and 47 seconds

Genre: Acoustic Jazz

Personnel: Joe Pass (guitar)

Producer: Norman Granz

Record Label: Pablo Recordings

Recording Location: MGM Recording Studios, Los Angeles

Art Direction: N/A

Best Tracks: Night and Day, Sweet Lorraine, Blues For Alican

Quick Verdict: A solid and classic album of acoustic Jazz guitar virtuosity

This is the peak of Joe Pass. Joe Pass was an incredibly gifted Jazz guitarist from the USA who made a big sensation with this release. Utilising many techniques on the guitar, he was often seen as an amazing player of a high magnitude. This album has a great place in the Jazz Music history books, and it is an instrumental Jazz guitar release that anyone interested in such a genre should pay attention to. Let’s jump in and take a look at this album, and hopefully it will sound as great today as it did in 1973.

1. Night and Day begins with a neat take on a tune that Frank Sinatra once covered. The acoustic guitar playing is instantly fantastic to hear. Joe Pass plays some fantastic combinations of rhythm, melody and technique throughout this tune. It sounds extremely sweet and awesome to hear. Yes, there are no other instruments apart from the acoustic guitar, but this is amazing and beautiful to listen to. The music sure is fantastic here. It incorporates a great take on a traditional Cole Porter piece and makes it into a dramatic listen of its own. Just superb. An absolutely awesome listening experience, and something that many music fans will truly enjoy. Seriously nice to hear, and likely a one-take effort. A mindblowing listen from a true virtuoso, and absolutely breathtaking to hear. This is a great three and a half long piece of music.

2. Stella by Starlight sounds just gorgeous from the get-go. It has some dramatic and sweet guitar playing that sounds absolutely monumental to listen to. This is a Victor Young piece that is re-interpreted by Joe Pass, and sounds incredibly pretty and absolutely wonderful to listen to. This is one of the best Jazz guitar examples with playing on an acoustic guitar that you will ever hear. It is truly pretty and magical to listen to. Seriously refreshing and beautifully great, this music is a joy to hear. It is a great listen for those of you who delight in acoustic guitar-based music and purely artistic statements. This music sure is a real delight to listen to. A great, great listen for all music fans and lovers of all kinds to enjoy. This sounds like artistic and articulate guitar work that makes a real difference. It has many lyrically melodic guitar passages that sound truly fantastic. The section towards the end, in particular, sounds like an amazing and descriptive guitar solo section that is absolutely amazing to hear. Really cool music to listen to, this is a joy to hear. Fantastic from beginning to end, and a really great five-minute-long piece of music.

3. Here’s That Rainy Day is a piece by Jimmy Van Heusen. It begins with a Gibson ES-335 styled clean electric guitar, and sounds absolutely awesome to listen to. A really beautiful, wonderful, and gorgeous tune that sounds top-notch and amazing to this very day. The unique guitar playing is really awesome and fantastic Jazz-inspired listening throughout. A really smooth and sweet listen that should do many listeners justice upon hearing. If you do not play the guitar, this album alone may inspire you to pick up the instrument today and play for a lifetime. An absolutely awesome listen throughout that sounds superb. The fluidity, melodies, and likely single-take recording make it very clear that we have a classic album of sorts present here today. A really pretty and dramatic tune that will make you smile. A nice three and a half minute piece that counts in music history. Just pretty.

4. My Old Flame is a piece by Arthur Johnston. It begins with some nicely strummed chords and some neat progressions that sound absolutely mint. The sound, tone and playing are all really fantastic to listen to. This sounds lovely and dramatic throughout, with some of the best acoustic Jazz guitar chops that you will ever hear. A really sensationally good tune that is musical, magical and lovely to listen to, this music will change the way you hear solo acoustic guitar playing. Heck, even Bob Dylan would hear this sort of thing and realise he had competition. If you need to play a piece of music to impress yourself or, indeed, your own old flame, this is the tune to do it with. A really sweet and awesome piece to listen to, with some of the best and most inventive music licks throughout that sound clever and inventive to listen to. An absolutely awesome tune to listen to, with a very much pseudo-crooner Jazz flavour in the slower sections, and with some awesome shredding otherwise. A fantastic five-minute-long piece that gets the mind working, and which sounds great to hear. A very pretty and magical tune that one should hear, along with this album, many times over. Very pretty and powerful listen on acoustic guitar. Just simply fantastic. The soloing at the end is crazily good.

5. How High The Moon is a Morgan Lewis piece which runs for exactly five minutes. It has a different-sounding acoustic guitar (likely classical guitar) on this one, and it sounds absolutely fantastic from the start of it all. This music is really fantastic, and it utilises some of the best guitar work out there in music history. A seriously timeless and fantastic music piece that sounds absolutely gorgeous to listen to. The repeated melodies in the first half are extremely catchy and sweet. This tune is a wonderful listen, with some of the greatest shredding and a mixture of melodic and rhythmic guitar playing that you will ever hear on an acoustic guitar. The tune sounds incredibly Jazzy and fantastic as well. This music is a true treat for those who value genuine artistry and guitar virtuosity. The second half keeps the frenetic pace going very well and sounds extremely majestic. All in all, a seriously great listen that many more need to hear today. Absolutely awesome music from start to end, with no regrets for many listeners upon hearing. Super cool music is present here, and one can hear that with every note, this is beautifully played, executed and performed. The melodic playing will definitely grab your attention here. A truly fantastic listen from beginning to end of this piece.

6. Cherokee is a Ray Noble piece. It begins with some more upbeat and joyous-sounding acoustic guitar playing, which is deep and rich-sounding. This music is a clear winner and just sounds absolutely amazing to listen to. The guitar work and shredding on this tune are phenomenal. A really awesome and excellently played piece of music that sounds just superb. Joe Pass can shred like a maniac, without the need for amplifiers, whammy bars or two-handed tapping incorporated into it all. Seriously cool music, all in a three and a half minute long running time. This sounds sweet, pretty and beyond all, magical to listen to. The guitar playing is definitely in a class of its own on this record. A winner, and no doubt many at the time listening agreed with this. This sounds absolutely wonderful and pleasant. It gets a little slower towards the end, with some neat freeform guitar work to conclude with. Excellent.

7. Sweet Lorraine is a gorgeous-sounding piece originally by Cliff Burwell. It sounds very iconic from the beginning, with some fantastic and crisp-sounding acoustic guitar playing from the beginning. Shredded lines occur, and this tune sounds pretty, lively and unique to hear. This music is sensationally good to hear. It sounds so magically unique and consistently good that one will want to listen to this many times over. A really great piece of music that is just awesome to listen to. The music and playing throughout are stunning to hear, and this piece is one of the main albums that shred guitar can be judged by. A really cool tune to listen to, through and through. This certainly is an effortless work that is evolutionary and revolutionary musically in its approach. Why need 15 instruments when a guitar alone can do it all? A really great piece of music to listen to and to hear. This sounds simply extraordinary and pretty. An awesome slice of four minutes of musical beauty.

8. Have You Met Miss Jones? begins with some upbeat and pretty guitar chords that sound magical. This is a Richard Rodgers original. It sounds absolutely pretty and perfect, in its own way. It certainly is a fantastic listen, with some of the best music and descriptive guitar playing that you will ever hear. An absolutely gorgeous piece of music to listen to. No doubt that Jazz Music fans in particular will dig this album, as it is a creative and gorgeous listen throughout. Joe Pass puts his unique sound and personality through it all, sounding like a fantastic and accomplished guitarist. This will surprise most ordinary guitarists upon listening, and prove that there are many different ways of surprising listeners than simply plugging in a Gibson Les Paul into a Marshall amplifier. Regardless, this is an absolute winner of musically great proportions. The shredding in the second half of this piece is truly amazing to listen to. A very, very cool listen. Very articulate and awesome guitar playing is present on this tune. Towards the end, the shredding through the musical notes and individual scales sounds absolutely amazing. It winds up just before five minutes with some expressive lead guitar work. Very nice.

9. ‘Round Midnight is a piece originally by Thelonius Monk and Cootie Williams. It has some gorgeous music guitar leads, and launches into Jazz heaven shortly thereafter. The shredding and guitar playing on this one are truly awesome to hear. A very beautiful and wonderful tune to listen to. This is really sensational music that sounds just right overall. This sounds remarkably, very note-perfect and instantly wonderful for all fans of virtuoso guitar playing to enjoy. This sounds sweet and versatile in its own sense. Admittedly, this is not a Pop Music record, but it all sounds really top-notch and fantastic. This music will take you to a better, smarter and classier area of guitar virtuosity listening that one can truly appreciate. A sweet and enjoyable tune that is three and a half minutes of musical bliss. Fantastic.

10. All The Things You Are is a Jerome Kern piece. It begins with some neat and nice guitar playing that sounds descriptively pretty and unique. It has some excellent chord work in this one, alongside some great extra notes played and is followed by some tuneful shredding to boot. This sounds absolutely gorgeously sweet and has some neat and very accurate guitar playing that is the true definition of virtuosity. A really neat listen, through and through. This music sounds very lovely to listen to, but in a totally different way than The Beatles, for example. This tune sounds really descriptively beautiful and brilliant. The guitar playing is a starting point for influencing all Jazz guitarists to begin playing acoustic guitar. Towards the end, it returns to a more chord-based section foundation that is top. A really cool listen. The playing at the end is different as well. Very solid indeed.

11. Blues For Alican is a Joe Pass original. It begins with some sweet and fluid guitar work that is iconic and memorable. It sounds like an absolutely pretty listen, and is proof of the genuine artistry of Joe Pass and his awesome guitar playing. After some descending Blues based lead lines, we emerge into a tune that is pleasantly memorable throughout. This does sound super cool, and is a lot more downtempo and precise than previous tracks on this release. It sounds very, very cool to hear and to enjoy. The music at hand is solidly good and is absolutely wonderful to listen to. The playing and performance is a winner, and proves that Joe Pass could play some awesome tunes, and not just shred as well. The music and artistry of this tune are absolutely sweet. The second half is more freeform with the acoustic guitar playing, and sounds really very cool to listen to. This is awesome and delicious instrumental music to listen to. Some dramatic tempo and pace changes throughout make this a real winner to listen to. Variety is present, not just super fast shred guitar at hand. This is mostly chord-based work with some extra melodies on top, but it is played in an insanely fresh and unique way. This wraps up nicely after five and a half minutes of instrumental beauty. Great.

12. The Song Is You is written by Kern and is the final track on this album. It begins with some soft acoustic guitar chords and some descriptive lead guitar work. This sounds instantly impressive and is an absolute winner on the acoustic guitar to listen to. A really fantastic and multisectioned piece of solo acoustic guitar work, there is not a bum note throughout this shredtastic section of guitar music. This sounds really nice and sweet, and is just an absolute winner of a tune to listen to. This music is very pretty and magical to listen to. It just sounds really fast and amazing, with a neat little chord progression before this launches into more fantastic acoustic guitar work that sounds top-notch. A very musically accomplished and fantastic listen is present. This is worthy of your ears. The music and playing are really very good, and it brings a new meaning to the word virtuoso. Joe Pass finishes off this fantastic album with some incredibly gifted and fantastic guitar playing that works wonders. A very lovely tune and a great way to finish off a great album release. The final section of this tune sounds very impressive indeed.

This is an overlooked gem in the history of music. It sounds pretty, lively and magical throughout. This is also seen not only as Joe Pass’s best album to listen to and own, but also a classic album in the Jazz guitar genre. Therefore, this is a solid gold winner. Should you listen to this album? Yes, if you love guitarist virtuosity and flawless instrumentals. People who prefer song-based material will wish to look elsewhere, however.